It may help to know that I was hired as an associate web developer at the beginning of the year, and around April we began a full stack financial dashboard from scratch for our accounting team to use. (it's a bit more specialized than that but that's the jist.) I've had a hand in the thing on all sides from the very beginning, so I think me being so familiar with the product created a cheaper-to-keep-him situation.

Crazy, isn't it. The offer I got was because the guy liked me a lot, it had almost nothing to do with the skills I had.

My boss wanted to leave too. We all did when shiz was hitting the fan. Many actually did leave. My boss and I actually chatted about our job hunts together for a while. When things redtabalized and the future looked brighter, we decided to stay put, though I expressed I was struggling to pay my bills. They said they saw value in me, so they gave me a raise and promotion. A decent one too, about 25%.

They're a great company. Everyone was very understanding, which is rare. Appreciate your advice though, usually that is the case!

Well I only had one pair-programming session and I bombed it, due to my 6 months experience in software eng. That's all I meant.

Fair I suppose. I do live in the US though, which is a very large talent pool in itself. Pretty much guarantees that any job I apply to has many more qualified applicants for me to compete with.

Pair programming was probably the most valuable learning experience out of all of this. What did I say that made you think I didn't think it wasn't?

Beginner experience for sure. I'm also sure the market is saturated a bit. Recruiters have access to the entire talent pool of the world thanks to remote work; makes it rough for juniors!

Tool used: https://sankeymatic.com/build/

Source: My own spreadsheets!

A bit more context: The small company I work for is being purchased, and there were some sudden, heavy layoffs. Although I survived, things still looked rough with the acquisition and I wanted to make sure I had job security. I peaked at 34 applications in one day. However, the situation shaped up and the acquisition went through, and I presented my company with the offer I had received. They came up with a counter-offer to promote me, which I happily accepted.

Searching with 6 months experience is rough. Of course I told everyone I had 1 year, but that's hard to back that up when it's pair-programming time.

Edit: as people are pointing out, I think this data certainly supports the theory that quick-apply buttons are typically a waste of time (that's obviously what I was doing), and you're better off carefully selecting the positions you apply for and tweaking your resume and cover letters each time.