# Are you looking for a new engineering job, too? - Publication: Loop Labs Lab Notes (https://looplabs.cc/blog/) - Author: Rich Steinmetz - Published: 9 Nov 2026 - Canonical HTML: https://looplabs.cc/blog/SearchJob-Factory/ --- In my last email to you, I wrote about ambition and scaling my software factory efforts. As you might have noticed, shit's changing quickly in our industry, and so between last week and today, I'm no longer gonna be able to keep my promise to keep you posted about pumping through an insane amount of API features at ClickFunnels because I'm not at the company anymore. Oooops. However, I'm still having the time of my life with a ChatGPT Plus subscription and 35,730.08 Codex credits to get this all sorted. Also, a few months of Grok Bot from a Cursor hackathon I attended two months ago. So I want to keep you all posted here now about how I did it while keeping the ambitious part from Wednesday and inviting you to join me on the journey, especially if you are looking for a new job, too! More on this invite in the dedicated section below. Basically, we are going from Software Factory to SearchJob Factory here for the next few weeks (months? years? 😅). Getting hit by the layoff wasn't a total surprise to me. I've already started casually applying and putting out feelers a while ago. And so, like probably a million other engineers, I've built my personal job application tracker based on my open-source `looplabs-skills` repo's "local Rails app" instructions: ![](https://looplabs.cc/assets/SearchJob-Factory/applications-flow.png) *I'll be sharing more stats with you as we go.* Grok Bot and Codex are working with it locally whenever I discuss the different applications with them or press the submit buttons on the applications. It tracks the state of the applications, my desired roles and conditions, relevant links, the customized Resume PDF for the company/position and the text I filled out in the web UI boxes. Like those on AshbyHQ that HR seems to be crazy about these days. I think these records are extremely useful when you get to talk to the interviewers. You can recap what you wrote before you actually talk to the interviewers. IF, you get to talk to them, that is. I'm still early in the sending CVs out cold game, so maybe I might be wrong about this and my approach will totally work out quickly (🤣), but that game is most probably a waste of time. I'm also hearing this from other engineers, but hey, who knows? Maybe I'm playing it differently and have totally figured it out? The one thing that feels like a better bet is my network. I dropped a post on LinkedIn, X and Facebook about the end of my ClickFunnels era and got tons of support from friends, colleagues, ex-colleagues, bots and strangers that I'm extremely grateful for. That support also includes some real recommendations, so there is a chance for some real interviews soon. Keep tuned and root for my success or failure, whatever is more fun to you! 🤗 ## Boardy Boardman One fun distraction in this journey is the Boardy bot, which seems to be following my steps on X, LinkedIn and now also Gmail. He even set up a meeting with me on Sunday at 9 a.m., and we talked about my goals and the type of introductions he ought to be making for me in the next 7, 30 and 90 days. It's a fun product and a really weird time we are living in. ## Coding Challenges I've recently learned about Andela. One of their recruiters pinged me a while ago about giving AI engineering workshops, which I thought sounded really fun and right up my alley. However, part of their interview process is a 90-minute Ruby tech assessment. Part of the tech assessment is coding challenges you gotta hand-code without AI assistance. I did their 3-minute practice lesson, coding by hand for the first time in 2026, which was fun and bizarre. ![](https://looplabs.cc/assets/the-work-after-the-code/ruby-practice-assessment.png) *I went for speed here and errored out on tests twice due to syntax errors. 🤭* But then, I stared at the actual task for 1.5 minutes, my heart fell, and I jumped out. It's just not the process anymore that I want to use for even mildly complex tasks. For a brain-dead activity like a machine-generated coding challenge in 2026, I want to dissect it with an agent, figure out the important parts and nail the details. Then attack it. ## Are you looking for a job, too? Since I started the Rails.Builders groups in early 2025, I've always wanted to bring this format to engineers who are seeking jobs in the industry. Now that I'm a full-time job seeker myself, I think it's the best time to try it because devs in the group often report that they ship more, hold each other accountable, learn from each other, and feel a sense of community. That sounds a lot better than grinding through job applications alone in your basement. It will be a free cohort group with the tried-and-tested Rails.Builders format with weekly meetings, exchanging strategies, kicking each other's asses (AKA holding ourselves accountable), plus coaching each other where we can. I will be taking registrations until I've signed my next contract, and once you are registered, I will show up for the sessions *until you have your next gig*! 🤝 If you like the deal, we can start rolling with the first session on Wednesday. You can register here: [softwaremakers.ai](https://softwaremakers.ai) **Prerequisites:** - You gotta be looking for an engineering job. - You gotta be comfortable speaking about your journey during the live sessions. - You gotta want to have (at least a little bit of) fun with the process. - You have to at least not hate AI.