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Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

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Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#201

Post by scalesolved »

nilkn wrote: post #44

I've always told myself that if I'm ever laid off in my 20s or early 30s (at the latest) and I don't have kids yet or a mortgage then I'll become a dentist. It's something I've always wanted to do, but I can't really justify giving up a great job with a great income to go back to school. But should I find myself unexpectedly without said job, then maybe I just would, unless other obligations prevent it. My point is s…

Start saving, study anything you can that would help you achieve that dream and just go for it. Don't waste your life away on the chance of being laid off.

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#202

Post by obstacle1 »

misiti3780 wrote: post #101
golgappi wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work at a startup and I am 25. I have saved up some money and seriously considering retirement by the time I am 30. Not that I have a lot of money saved up. I just have a couple of thousand bucks. Nothing fancy. But to me it is a seed money to try out new things, at an age where making huge mistakes wouldn't result in me being 70 and penniless. There will still be enough time to return back to IT once (if) I fail m…

a couple hundred thousand is not enough to retire at 30 though ....

Note he said a couple thousand, not a couple hundred thousand.

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#203

Post by obstacle1 »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #197
frostmatthew wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, there's no amount of equity that would be "adequate" - if a company wants to include some in an offer, great, but it's not going to be a factor in my decision. Most likely the equity will be worth nothing or very little - I thus value it at zero so I'm not willing to give up any amount of salary for it.

I like equity for what it does to me. It makes me primal and on top of my game. It helps me continue to give a shit. All these things benefit me because instead of wasting time (On HN :P) I am focused on delivering and increasing the leverage of my contributions to my team (ie, Making bigger moves) .

Probably would be better for your career if you learned how to motivate intrinsically, rather than relying on carrots and sticks. At some point the carrot is going to disappear, and you'll realize that the folks holding the stick made off like bandits.

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#204

Post by jhildings »

fat0wl wrote: post #187
frostmatthew wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing when most people [on HN] are comparing big companies to startups they're thinking of tech companies. What you describe may not be unusual for large non-tech companies - but it's pretty horrible compared to large tech ones. If it's feasible you may want to consider looking for a new job. [And FWIW some great advice I got when starting out as a developer was never work where software is a cost-center].

This cost-center point is key. I work for one of the big international electronics corps as an enterprise web dev, but they have no interest in the quality of our work. They don't understand it, they have no belief in codebase maintainability (everything is new development or bugfix, basically as soon as an app is written it becomes frozen legacy code that will sit for 5+ years until a rewrite is finally budgeted). A…

> I've been lookin for a new gig at a tech company for quite a while but it was tough to make a change cuz this is my first gig out of grad school, had to prove myself a bit & build resume.

Why not try to apply for some jobs now? You don't know how good your resume is until you try it

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#205

Post by jhildings »

jacquesm wrote: post #26
johnnyg wrote: post #9

We're a LAMP shop that is doing more and more angular. I contract with many HNers. Please email johnny d0t goodman @ cpap d07 com if interested in discussing further and setting up a fizzbuzz.

Props to you for reaching out, but would you still apply a fizzbuzz test to someone that has just been the major driver behind building an angular app?

For someone like that a FizzBuzz would take like maximum 5-10 minutes so...

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#206

Post by fat0wl »

jhildings wrote: post #204
fat0wl wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This cost-center point is key. I work for one of the big international electronics corps as an enterprise web dev, but they have no interest in the quality of our work. They don't understand it, they have no belief in codebase maintainability (everything is new development or bugfix, basically as soon as an app is written it becomes frozen legacy code that will sit for 5+ years until a rewrite is finally budgeted). A…

> I've been lookin for a new gig at a tech company for quite a while but it was tough to make a change cuz this is my first gig out of grad school, had to prove myself a bit & build resume. Why not try to apply for some jobs now? You don't know how good your resume is until you try it

heh thanks for the words of encouragement. i'm going to try now, yes. but basically.... to be fair i'm getting paid a pretty good wage so i really just need some experience to avoid looking like a dabbler. I'm looking at senior level positions now & they seem to want to see that you're really committed to a certain type of code.

I went from research Matlab / dabbling in C# at a dayjob, to RoR, to javascript, to now pretty hardcore backend Java (EE, Spring, high concurrency for last 2 yrs), trying to move into Clojure a bit more. Most well-funded companies don't seem to like polyglots from what I can tell... But yeah I will be looking for the ones that do, plus I am studying C++ to make a bit of a more lateral move into audio digital signal processing / data-mining / machine learning.

I don't know... companies tell me I'm too expensive for the level of experience I have, yet all the high-paid seniors I work with are awful so I don't want to lower my salary expectations unless I can find a company thats actually worth sacrificing for.

Re: Ask HN: I got let go this morning. What should I do next?

#207

Post by sqyttles »

BRitterbeck wrote: post #115
sqyttles wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never worked for a start-up in a development role before, but I think I would like it. I am 28, fresh out of grad school and working for a bank currently. I like my coworkers and the work but when I walk by management and I overhear "We're not a development shop," I get disheartened because banks are becoming data centers and have to be in the software game. Take a look at... Dwolla: they are out to destroy the…

Is your background more tech or more finance?

Tech definitely.
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