Wow ... lots of good info here. You're correct that I'm in my mid-40s, but I'm not applying for any journalism jobs. What's left of the field isn't hiring people with more than a few years of experience anyway, and what's left of my network has moved into fields like PR that I'm not categorically against, but I'm extremely picky about where I'd be willing to do that. My marketing position was the apex of my earnings ($45K in 2012), but the culture was mocking our customers for buying our products when we weren't actually writing copy.
I've done a fair amount of automation coding in previous positions, and I did a full-stack bootcamp a few years ago that did not move the needle in terms of getting an interview. I've gone to networking events, all of which featured two types of people:
not hiring: "You can think in code, so you should have no problem finding a job. My company isn't hiring right now, but send me your LinkedIn." (Narrator: They never got back to him.)
hiring: "Yeah, you need to learn X, Y and Z before anyone will look at you." (X, Y and Z were different every fucking time.)
Most of my coding has been accuracy focused, from a tool that automated the auditing of hundreds of audiobook tracks to client-communication, productivity tracking and item placement in InDesign. But I've come to realize that I'd be miserable writing code on a team, given that everything I've done has been an unsanctioned project I've brought to the higher-ups after determining obvious deficiencies and having a functioning prototype directors begrudgingly accept solves problems. Generally, that's when the wheels start turning to get me to quit.
I've been looking nationally (remote jobs for now) since getting frustrated by Austin's employment scene. But in talking with others about the issues I've run into, it sounds like it's the same bullshit no matter where you are: If you don't have inside connections, there's no point in applying.
As to LinkedIn, I hate it with the passion of a million burning suns, but it's a necessary evil. I paid for resume assistance both in 2020 and earlier this year, and I've got bullet points with specific department savings that go all the way up to 83%, and it's still crickets. I've had a couple of conversations that weren't initially work related that ended with them putting in a word for me about not-yet-posted positions, but both ghosted thereafter.
I have about 100 connections from my career and several recommendations from former directors that all touch on my ability to see the big picture, anticipate problems and solve them before they become production issues. I'm not sure if anyone even scrolls down to those, because they don't seem to be doing me any good.
I did do some consulting here and there, but it's been a while. I've got a couple of former colleagues that would happily vouch for me doing "projects" for them, but I'd of course need to give them a heads-up about the role I'm interviewing for should it ever get to that step. But adding it back in as a line item couldn't hurt in the meantime.
Ultimately, it's absurd that looking for work involves wondering how many lies I can get away with. But that's the game employers are playing, and honesty is not rewarded.
I have no idea what I want to do, just a short list of things I know I don't want to do. This is what led to the upcoming appointment, as I've done lots of online tests that are supposed to give me direction and without fail bin me into journalism, marketing or PR, the last of which would need to be for an organization I genuinely believe in. Having designed and built a 24V solar house system, renewable energy is certainly a field I'd consider, but I've not seen any PR jobs posted in that area.
Though my background is in writing, that's really not an area I want to pursue both because I do not enjoy being assigned a topic and that's where LLMs are coming in hot. I'm much happier creating and manipulating datasets, the latter of which is 90% of editing (the other 10% being qualitative -- determining things like voice and wording choices).
Conversations and research have led me to think QA, prompt engineering (I was a linguistics major after ditching CS) and data science are my best fits, but with no titles in my history to suggest competence, it circles back to already knowing someone, which goes back to networking, and I cannot stomach another fruitless couple of hours where everyone pretends to love working.
Overall, from your feedback and what I've received on Reddit, I'm leaning heavily toward blowing up my resume and LinkedIn (definition of insanity and whatnot), essentially making sure to keep positions with recommendations and ditching most everything else between 2006 and 2014 in favour of longer stints at the two shut-down papers. I have no belief that these wholesale changes alone will move the needle (I don't know what the algorithms are looking for, but every little bit helps).
While this may sound like I'm not implementing many of your suggestions, I'm looking at the resume as a starting point for how I change my approach, and focusing on that may well make some of your other suggestions seem more feasible.
Thank you for putting so much thought and experience into your response; I will be returning to this as things progress, and there's a lot of useful, actionable info for others who come across it.