For what it’s worth, there’s a big difference between a 2 year front end engineer and someone who has been doing it awhile. I’ve worked with both and the product from higher end folks is usually much better. Whether companies know that or not, I’m not so sure. On the downside, the front end stack seems to change every 2 years so it can be difficult to keep up. I’m more of a backend person that writes front end when it meets a need.

Wish I had some advice for him. Best I could say is to jump into some open source work (or pet projects) and make sure he understands whatever framework companies are looking for. It’ll help keep his mental health up, build his skills, and look good on a resume. Pretty sure React is still the main framework. Whenever I’ve interviewed folks I always looked kindly on anyone who could talk passionately about any project that they’ve worked on. He should have someone go over his resume as well to ensure it has the right keywords or at least no red flags (And maybe tailor it a bit to ensure it references what that specific job is looking for) HR is notorious for filtering out resumes for otherwise qualified candidates. Finally, he shouldn’t filter himself out from any jobs. Even if he looks unqualified he should make his resume look as qualified as he can and take a shot. Maybe also reach out to some headhunters. They take a cut of your pay, but it can be helpful to get in the door.

I assume he’s probably doing all of that, but figured I’d type it out just in case.