J'ai travaillé -- still working, shouldn't it be present tense with depuis?

Question

In this story, the writer is still waiting the response from the interviewers, thus I would assume he is still working. Hence shouldn't we use Je travaille tellement dur depuis quelques années ? I assume he is still working hard....  :)

Accepted Answer

Hi Earl,
He is talking about a period in the past 'ces dernières années'.
I have worked so hard these last few years = J'ai travaillé tellement dur ces dernières années
So this action is definitely finished. It doesn't mean that he is not still working hard but implies that the work carried out in the past years should result in him getting this job.
Bonne Continuation !