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In Mika Flowers’s October 1, 2026 snapshot, 59 applications had produced six confirmed rejections, one technical screening, one interview, and 51 applications without a substantive response. The 51 were not all equally old: 23 had been submitted just before the snapshot, while 20 had already been waiting at least a week. Flowers also reported a separate paid technical-writing gig, which she did not count among the 59 applications.
What the 14-day count showed
Flowers says she began her search on September 17 and verified 59 separate applications submitted between September 17 and September 30, removing duplicates caused by multiple confirmation emails. Her October 1 snapshot divides those applications by outcome:
| Outcome as of October 1, 2026 | Applications | Share reported by Flowers |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmed rejection | 6 | About 10% |
| Technical screening | 1 | About 2% |
| Interview | 1 | About 2% |
| No substantive response yet | 51 | About 86% |
| Total applications | 59 | 100% |
The figures are Flowers’s self-reported results from one short personal experiment, not a measure of hiring-market response rates. Read the original account for its context and details: Mika Flowers’s Day 14 report on DEV Community.
“No response” needs an age as well as a status
Of the 51 applications without a substantive response, 23 had gone out on September 29 or 30—only shortly before the October 1 snapshot. Flowers says it would be inaccurate to call all of those ghosted when some had been pending for barely a day. But the unanswered group also included 20 applications that had already been waiting at least a week.
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Those two groups are both pending, but they represent different amounts of waiting. The snapshot does not say what eventually happened to either group. It does show why a useful tracker should record both the latest outcome and the date submitted, rather than treating every unanswered application as the same result.
Which roles led to the interview?
Flowers applied across several role categories. Her first interview came from a technical-writer application submitted September 24; she says the interview followed four days later. Separately, a Python/JavaScript full-stack role led to a technical screening, which she distinguishes from an interview.
| Role category | Applications | Reported result noted in the account |
|---|---|---|
| Software engineering or development | 42 | A Python/JavaScript full-stack role produced one technical screening |
| Technical writing or content | 8 | The first interview came from a technical-writer application |
| Support, implementation, or solutions | 7 | No specific result stated |
| Other adjacent roles | 2 | No specific result stated |
The interview from a writing-oriented application is a reason to keep tracking that category, not evidence that technical writing is a more effective path in general. Eight applications are a very small sample, and this early account does not provide a reliable conversion-rate comparison between role types.
The paid writing gig was a separate channel
During the same period, Flowers also reported paid technical-writing work with Sinch. She explicitly kept it outside the 59-application count: it did not come through that application funnel, and she did not describe it as an offer from one of those applications. She places the work alongside building, publishing, and demonstrating work publicly.
That distinction makes the overall search easier to understand. Applications produced the outcomes counted in the table; the paid gig came through a different route. Tracking both can help show where opportunities arise without mixing unlike outcomes into one application total.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A practical way to read the snapshot
Flowers’s account centers on a question about whether her experience, projects, freelance development, open-source work, and self-taught background could lead to full-time software or technical-writing work through normal applications. At Day 14, the count made the search more legible, but it could not settle that question: most applications had not yet produced a substantive response, and many were still recent.
- Record each application once, even if multiple confirmation emails arrive.
- Track outcome separately—such as rejection, screening, interview, or still pending—and include the submission date.
- Keep opportunities from other channels, such as paid freelance work, in a separate category rather than adding them to application outcomes.
- Treat apparent differences between role categories as observations to revisit, especially when the groups are small.
Flowers described Day 14 as an early checkpoint and planned a Day 30 review. The applications still pending on October 1 could change the eventual picture; this snapshot captures what was known then, not the final result.
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