Starting My Career as a Developer!

Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. — Psalm 126:5–6

Introduction

I'm writing two testimonies: one about my job search, and one about a short-term mission trip. I want to reflect on the one year and nine months I spent preparing to enter the industry, and on the words God gave me through a four-day mission trip from July 9 to July 12, 2024.

Five rhema words stood out to me:

Revival — Open your mouth wide

The right person in the right place

The place where you are standing is holy ground — take off your sandals

Cast your net in the deep

Those who sow seeds will reap fruit

The Story

God knows me far better than I know myself. I've always carried a hazy dream — "I'm going to build something and change society!" or "I'll become someone who contributes to the world." But I had no idea what that meant or where to start. That was a season when I was deeply communing with God. One day, sitting in a university lecture, a thought crossed my mind: "God, if a programming class gets added to the English Literature department's lineup next semester, I'll take that as your answer and give programming a try." I logged the thought in Notion. Time passed, and the following semester — under a new initiative focused on cross-disciplinary talent — Myongji University introduced its very first programming course. I was stunned. I couldn't believe it.

Later, I started praying again, more seriously: "God, if a dev club starts at our church, I'll truly believe this is the right path for me and move forward." Eight months later, in the spring of 2022, my brother Jeonghun came up to me before worship and invited me to start one together. Right then, I lifted gratitude to God and made my decision.

I thought everything was going to be fine. I found the work interesting, and it seemed like everyone else was landing jobs effortlessly. It felt like a matter of months. So I finished a three-month bootcamp and spent from January to July 2023 sending out over 200 applications — every single one rejected. I cried out to God: "God, please help me. This is the path you led me to! Nobody wants me. My inbox is silent for 24 hours straight, nothing but spam, and my heart is breaking."

The church's slogan at the time was: "Revival — open your mouth wide, and He will fill it." Every Friday night service, I would declare over and over: "Behold, I open my mouth wide — and He will fill it." But the reality in front of me felt like an enormous mountain. No matter how loudly I cried out, nothing moved. They say even faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains — I screamed for even that much. Still, my inbox stayed quiet, and financial and family hardships kept piling up. We had to keep moving, and I was living in a single room.

Around September 2023, I miraculously received a final acceptance offer and joined a game startup. But two weeks into the job, the engineering lead resigned, and I was left adrift — a duck on a dry river, with no idea what to do. Around that time, I happened to come across a post recruiting project members. Even though I was already employed, it sounded fun, so I applied. Time passed, and after the three-month probation period, the founder told me the company's situation made it difficult to continue together. Just like that, I was back to job searching from scratch.

When I got the notice, I was in a lot of pain. Then I realized that the results announcement for the project I had applied to two months earlier was scheduled for the very next day. The next afternoon at noon, the results came out — and I was in. I left my job on January 4th, and from January 5th through March I threw myself into that project. I was overjoyed. I had been standing at the edge of a cliff, and I was being lifted back up. The feeling hit me so clearly: God knows exactly what each person needs, in exactly the right moment. I ran straight to church to give thanks.

Armed with the product we had built together over three months, I started applying again — but there were very few job postings to begin with, and my application-to-screening rate was not good. The thoughts that crept in were relentless: "It's over. You're exhausted. There are so many people smarter than you…" I was alone all day, deep in a dark week, when my pastor spoke words that changed everything: "Build an environment where you have no choice but to win." He told the story of Admiral Yi Sun-sin and the Battle of Myeongnyang. Those words met me where I was crawling on the floor and completely renewed my mind and heart. That Sunday evening, I wrote a blog post titled "Myeongnyang" on my personal blog, and at the very bottom added a single line: "I'm looking for a mentor." I thought: God is the director, but having a coach would help. Someone who could at least help me find my direction.

The next day, a comment appeared on the blog: "Juyoung, if you're open to it, I'd love to help." I read it and wept with gratitude in my room. I understood clearly what God was trying to say to me through this season of job searching: God is good and kind — He protects you and guides you. The lesson was to practice staying at peace, not giving in to worry. But I worried every time. I was sad every time. I felt sorry for that, and every day was raw — failing, occasionally succeeding, just living through it. And yet I kept practicing, all the way to the end.

We began meeting one-on-one online. My mentor — an 8-year veteran at LINE — said: "I'll help you until you land a job. Are you at Hwayang Church, by any chance? I've heard it's a church with vibrant young adults. During prayer, God stirred my heart to help you, so I'm obeying." I was so grateful I felt it in my whole body. And just like that, I wasn't doing this alone anymore — I had a coach.

Something my mentor said really moved me: "Juyoung, what if you tried studying a bit more deeply? Depth is ability. You're more than enough as a junior, but I have a strong feeling that if you dig a little deeper, you'll bear great fruit." That same day, I built and deployed a personal tech blog, and I committed to writing about things I already knew — but one or two levels deeper than before.

That week's Friday service gave me the biggest answer of my entire job-search season. "When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, 'Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.' Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.'"

Hearing those words, I laid my torn heart at the cross and resolved with fresh purpose to cast the net deep once more. From March through April — two months — I studied more deeply than ever, chasing one concept into the next, mapping connections. I wrote everything I learned in my own words on the blog. Time passed, and then unexpectedly, companies started reaching out.

"Juyoung, I read your blog and found it really moving." "Your blog helped me understand things I didn't know before — the depth of knowledge was impressive."

I started receiving interview invitations through LinkedIn, and ended up interviewing at four companies. I decided to join Futurism Labs.

After the final decision came in, I prayed: "God, I cherish Your word at Friday service. Please give me a word that wraps up this season of searching."

Conclusion

God who sees my heart — my longing toward You

Two things, I decided, I would practice thoroughly. And in that final prayer time, a worship song came to me: "Cast your net in the deep — watch what He will do." That song became the anthem that summed up one year and nine months of my life. The lyrics held comfort for everything I had been through, and they gave me new strength.

Over those one year and nine months, there were so many twists. Conflict with my father at home, financial strain, a sense of failure, depression — the attacks kept landing, and I accumulated wounds, stumbled, fell. And yet, I came to feel: God was protecting me through it all, and He had been waiting for me. I prayed "God, save me now. Please let this one work out" — and He answered every single time. I counted roughly eight major answers to prayer, and more than thirty smaller ones. It was a genuinely extraordinary season, and I am deeply, specifically grateful for it.

God's word will come to pass. God is good and kind. God's plan is deeper and wider than anything I can imagine. And when it feels like failure — that, I learned through living it, is exactly when God does His best work.