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Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

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Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#231

Post by _dhruva »

speeder wrote: post #80
throw_aws_inter wrote: post #16

I interviewed for 1.5 months (!!!) for AWS for a senior position, went through all the stages through the end. Then silence. I kept emailing the recruiters responsible for my interview, I kept getting out-of-office replies. Then I contacted some higher ups I found, told me they assigned my interview to other recruiters. No replies from them though. I have emailed them a bunch of times including the higher up. Then th…

That is just Amazon being Amazon. When they interviewed me the first time, the interviewer didn't show to work, so they asked another guy to interview me, he ended interviewing me in a language he didn't knew, to a position using another language entirely, the whole thing was a farce. Some years later Amazon recruiters contacted me, asked me to go interview in person. Then during the interview in their offices, they…

Over a video call, the interviewer asked a coding question and immediately put on headphones and I am sure was listening to music. There was no dialogue and I had to use visual cues to get his attention.

I coded using C++ and pass by reference. He had never seen it in his life. He refused to believe modification on a reference would modify the value in the calling function! I hoping he would be willing to discuss or run the code, this was a total let down.

Note: I have 2+ decades of coding experience

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#232

Post by jenscow »

CWuestefeld wrote: post #212
ARandomerDude wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not quite as experienced as you (I’m in the 10-15 year bracket). I never ask LeetCode questions because it’s far easier on both sides to ask experience-based questions like “what do you like/dislike about ?” If I get superficial answers that tells me something. If i get well thought-out answers from people who have clearly spent time in the trenches that tells me something too.

I've been doing this for 30+ years, and I've found the same. It's not just whether the candidate can answer correctly, but how they answer. Back when I was doing C/C++ interviews, I'd ask questions like: What's the difference between single and double quotes? A meh candidate answers something about you need single quotes for just a single character. A good candidate answers about how the data type for a double-quoted…

Both great questions, where the answer will give you a level of knowledge, rather than a yes/no.

(personally, I would be a meh candidate until you probed further - but I've not touched C for.. hmm, I'm old)

I often get questions where I need to determine if they're looking the textbook answer, or a real-life answer. Usually I will go with "well generally, the answer is $Textbook. However, ..."

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#233

Post by fxtentacle »

f1shy wrote: post #153
fxtentacle wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly disagree. Here's a family home with garden in the Berlin area that you can rent-to-own at 1900€ per month: https://www.immobilienscout24.de/expose/135035667 So with a 100k€ annual salary, one working parent alone can buy the house and feed the entire family. You consider that an "insult"?

The problem is, when you retire, you cannot pay the rent for the house anymore... what do you do then? The cost published does not include heating or any other utilities, that adds up pretty quick!

It's rent-to-own so if you start early enough, you'll own the house by the time you retire.

And yes, heating and utilities add up. But we're talking about a salary that after taxes will be 3x to 4x the down payments.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#234

Post by zamalek »

djha-skin wrote: post #156
olah_1 wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that legal? In the interview, you basically have to lie about your employment situation, right?

If it's in your contract where you promise not to work for anyone else without telling your employer, yes, it's illegal because breach of contract is illegal. But it's not illegal in its own right. However I doubt that they didn't make him sign a contract to the contrary so he's probably double dipping.

Contracts don't determine what is legal and not legal. If the said person is found out then they would be in breach of contract and could be fired or sued. They would not earn themselves a criminal record.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#235

Post by moomin »

nopenopenopeno wrote: post #157
muzani wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From being on various recruiting positions, I believe it's usually just incompetence or laziness. Hiring tends to happen when there's not enough people. Only the people who can do the job are qualified to assess whether someone can do the job. So you have people who are already at double the workload having to take time to design and handle interviews and such. And by the time you get everyone to sign off on hiring t…

>In a recession, the least useful people are probably HR. I think you mean recruiters, not HR. Big difference.

Indeed. HR handles layoffs. Well, unless you like lawsuits.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#236

Post by seanmcdirmid »

century19 wrote: post #100
adamcharnock wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the OP, but with similar experience levels and I’ve never done a LeetCode interview, and even regular interviews are pretty light. I mostly contract though, and they generally offer me full time after a little while if I want it.

Contracting interviews are nothing like FAANG though, I literally had one that was a 30m chat with a couple of softball questions. Compared to FAANG they are all a walk in the park and barely need any prep.

I give contractors a coding question related to the job. Unlike LeetCode, it isn’t really challenging (not even fizzbuz), just a test that they can learn a few APIs (that are given descriptions) and write down code. You’d be surprised how many candidates freak out at that point. Unfortunately, it’s often needed for the role.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#237

Post by fxtentacle »

throwaway908365 wrote: post #130
fxtentacle wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100k€ for 15 years of experience seems about right for me. If you factor in all the freebies and tax refunds and stuff, that's roughly equivalent to earning 1000€ per billable day as a German freelancer, or the equivalent of about $150 per hour in the US. Typical freebies in Germany include: - 13th salary as a Christmas gift (so +8.3% salary) - only half of your health insurance costs are included in the nominal sala…

> - 13th salary as a Christmas gift (so +8.3% salary) My 100k number is all-in. > Also, with a bit of searching, you can rent a house with garden for €2000 per month even in large cities like Hamburg or Berlin. As a result, an 100k€ annual salary will be enough for you alone to comfortably bankroll a family of 5 - something that's almost impossible in the bay area due to high rents and insane costs of living. That is…

Yes of course. A 100k€ annual salary won't let you retire early if you are the only one working in your family and you want to buy a nice house in a nice area of the city.

But then again, would that work out if you were to work in San Francisco for $200k annually?

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#238

Post by fxtentacle »

whiddershins wrote: post #166
fxtentacle wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100k€ for 15 years of experience seems about right for me. If you factor in all the freebies and tax refunds and stuff, that's roughly equivalent to earning 1000€ per billable day as a German freelancer, or the equivalent of about $150 per hour in the US. Typical freebies in Germany include: - 13th salary as a Christmas gift (so +8.3% salary) - only half of your health insurance costs are included in the nominal sala…

The only thing on here that is in any way better than what I get in the U.S. would be the free daycare. Everything else is worse than what I earn as a fully remote employee, who could choose to live in any number of second or third tier American cities that are nearly as cheap as Berlin.

(and probably the healthcare system that doesn't bankrupt you)

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#239

Post by akhmatova »

trentnix wrote: post #195
binarydreams wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate on "other warning signs"? Maybe others could learn a thing or two.

Absolutely. In the case I mentioned, interviewers did more talking than asking and listening, interviews were far too easy (I’m glad you like me but if you can’t really discern whether I’m good at my job, you’ve probably hired other people who are bad at theirs), and bad answers to questions about their business model (when stock options were part of the compensation package). It just didn’t feel like a fit.

interviews were far too easy (I’m glad you like me but if you can’t really discern whether I’m good at my job, you’ve probably hired other people who are bad at theirs),

Maybe they have ways of evaluating your potential without subjecting you to an endless barrage of gratuitously difficult (or simply tedious) questioning.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#240

Post by driverdan »

dxxvi wrote: post #110
throw_aws_inter wrote: post #16

I interviewed for 1.5 months (!!!) for AWS for a senior position, went through all the stages through the end. Then silence. I kept emailing the recruiters responsible for my interview, I kept getting out-of-office replies. Then I contacted some higher ups I found, told me they assigned my interview to other recruiters. No replies from them though. I have emailed them a bunch of times including the higher up. Then th…

This is my own experience: if the recruiters don't call me back, that means I fail. Calling them just makes me more stressful/sad.

It's also a sign of having bad culture. Companies should always contact candidates in a reasonable amount of time.
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