Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: With recent layoffs, how would you advise new grads entering the market?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 270 posts

Re: Ask HN: With recent layoffs, how would you advise new grads entering the market?

#191

Post by baby »

justapassenger wrote: post #187

Maybe unpopular opinion, but if you can, look for companies that don’t hire too much remotely. 2 reasons: 1. Less competition. 2. (More important one IMO) For people starting their career, in person interactions are extremely valuable. You’ll learn a ton from hallway/lunch conversations. In your first few years, likely even more than from your job. YMMV, of course, but all those chats shaped me as an engineer.

The problem with that is that you move to a new city/country and POP your offer gets revoked or you get laid off a few days after you moved.

Re: Ask HN: With recent layoffs, how would you advise new grads entering the market?

#192

Post by fishtoaster »

adra wrote: post #110
Aaronstotle wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll add to this, I've had 5 jobs within 5 years of graduating. The first 2 jumps were due to compensation, was able to get a nice raise each time. The third job was a good fit, however the role evolved into something I didn't like as much and didn't fit my career goals. I took the fourth job to try something new, quickly found out the role had nothing I enjoyed doing. All of the experiences were valuable in terms of…

An average tenure of 1 year in a job is a red hot flag I'd almost immediately reject. Life's too short to spend a month wasted training an employee that's just going to jump again. It's my number 1 no-hire criteria. Good on you for convincing so many hiring managers that you're worth the risk though I suppose?

Eh, 5-in-5 is a yellow flag for me, maybe depending on what the longest tenure was. It's probably something I'd bring up. The explanation Aaronstotle gave for leaving each place would be plenty reasonable for me.

Re: Ask HN: With recent layoffs, how would you advise new grads entering the market?

#193

Post by abeppu »

I left school in spring 2008. Setting aside how to search and what to pick, a thing I didn't understand at the time was how to think about the offer I received:

- on the one hand, I was in no position to negotiate the offers I received

- on the other hand, the modest (commensurate with my lack of experience) equity component in my compensation package was calculated based on current (low) prices. It didn't seem important at the time, but when the market picked back up, this seemed really fortunate.

- I joined a team of people who, having seen their unvested equity take recent hit, were less than exuberant in their outlook about the near term. I did not realize: their problems were not my problems.

If you do land a job at a company which can survive and even grow, now could be an great time to start your career.

Re: Ask HN: With recent layoffs, how would you advise new grads entering the market?

#194

Post by crawfordcomeaux »

I would advise them to immediately learn what their universal human needs are and how to effectively meet them. Learn to let go of what isn't needed and learn learn how to meet needs through moderation. Learn how to ask for things to be given to you because so much is locked up behind money and it's real people who can let it out for free, but they almost never do it without asking unless it's to their benefit.

This will help keep cost of living way down so you don't have to give a shit of you're tossed on your ass without any notice or severance. Stop pretending the business landscape was made with your wellbeing in mind; if that were the case, your onboarding package (or interview?) would involve making sure you're aware of your needs and how to meet them. Any business unable to produce such a document is not designed with your wellbeing in mind.

Re: Ask HN: With recent layoffs, how would you advise new grads entering the market?

#195

Post by twblalock »

I wouldn't give different advice than I would have last year. It's harder to find a job now, but the approach has not changed.

Most jobs are found through personal connections. Getting referrals from those people is a lot better than submitting your resume into hundreds of web forms, along with all the other applicants.

New grads have fewer connections than people who are established in their careers, but they may have contacts from prior work experience, internships, classmates, and friends.

Really the most useful advice would be to people who have not yet graduated: make sure you do some internships and build those connections while you are in school!

Re: Ask HN: With recent layoffs, how would you advise new grads entering the market?

#196

Post by henryfjordan »

liquid_stranger wrote: post #86
topkai22 wrote: post #31

As a new grad I don’t think you need to do much different. At my Megacorp the college hire budget is separate from everything else. Even during the strictest hiring freeze college hiring continued. I would advise shifting expectations a bit, it’s likely offers will still be good but not quite as lucrative as last year. As for accepting any job- just because you’ve accepted a job does not mean you can’t keep interview…

> Of the 20 people we had, 3 had new jobs within 3 months of hire. I am coming up on month 3 of my new job and not liking the team and leadership. I can tell it will only get worse. I really want to leave and luckily have the opportunity to close the loop on all my current projects. Should I just make it quick and send an email to manager tomorrow that I feel it's not a good fit and Friday is my last day? Make it qui…

Everyone else is giving advice to stick it out until you get a new job, and that's probably good advice, but if you really can't stand it then leave soon. Things will probably work out. It's not all doom and gloom out there.

Like another responder, I left my job in Feb 2020 without something lined up. There were bumps, one company I was in the hiring pipeline with laid off their whole recruiting dept. It took a few months more than I was expecting but I had a better paying job by summer.

My current company had steep layoffs late last year but has some openings already. I suspect many companies will be the same, with positions opening up again.

Re: Ask HN: With recent layoffs, how would you advise new grads entering the market?

#197

Post by heyoni »

kweingar wrote: post #185
AnotherGoodName wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked at multiple of the FAANG. Everyone acknowledges they study for the interview. You may occasionally get someone trying to make out they could pass without study but even then they acknowledged they studied. This isn't something to be arrogant about. It's a process designed to filter out those who'd refuse to study to get the job. You have to study. Doesn't matter if you have a PhD and write books on CS. St…

Study doesn’t need to be intense. I got my current job with about 6 hours of leetcode and no CS degree (although I did take a small handful of CS courses)

What difficulty did you manage with 6 hours of study?

Re: Ask HN: With recent layoffs, how would you advise new grads entering the market?

#198

Post by MandieD »

As someone who graduated into the Dotcom Bust, your expectations need to be pulled back a bit from what you saw your somewhat older friends get right away.

Not only the amount of your starting salary (it was about a 30-50% decrease for those of us in Class of 2002 vs our friends in Class of 2000), but also the coolness of the job (Them: web startups. Us: government contracting.)

I also watched some of those slightly older friends struggle with car and/or condo payments taken on the presumption of salary and stock options going nowhere but up. Ouch.

If you get a job offer you can stand in a place you wouldn’t mind living even if the job went away, you should probably take it. As others have said, it’s a lot easier to get a job if you have one. You’re a lot less likely to become desperate and have to accept something awful if you’re already in an ok job.

As for pay expectations, look at what similarly-educated mechanical engineers in your region make.

Post reply on HN