New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: How to stand out as a junior engineer

Ask HN: How to stand out as a junior engineer
2 by batt4good | 0 comments on Hacker News.
I graduated from an above average CS program in Boston, have stellar intern experience along with side projects on GitHub, but unfortunately my launch into the professional world didn't go as smooth as I would've liked. I've had 1.2 years at a very risky startup but got to do really cool work and then 8mo. at a FAANG (joined a large 150person startup that had recently been acquired by said FAANG) but unfortunately my team was terminated for reasons out of my control. I've been looking for work since October and unfortunately I feel completely backed into a corner. I don't have a huge tenure anywhere above 1.2 years. I'm not hugely experienced in any one thing. Standouts are really just Go, Elixir and Vue knowledge. I have references, but most of them are barred behind NDAs or from the first company I worked for where I didn't leave on the best terms because they were withholding salary. I've had a handful of on-sites and made it through 2-3 rounds in 10-12 other interviews but just can't seem to get offers. Being in the workforce has also lead to my leetcode skills suffering, something in college I usually made up for with stellar side projects. I feel trapped and for the first time in my life really don't know how I should go about digging myself out of this. I feel like I've picked the wrong career or that something is wrong with me - I sincerely appreciate any help or advice any of you are generous enough to offer.