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Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#331

Post by alexpetralia »

zests wrote: post #99

I’m about to leave my extremely safe job for a tiny startup. I have to put in notice by the end of the week. The startup seems to still want to hire me and is showing no signs of pulling the offer. I think they planned on getting more funding at the end of the year. I’m at a loss for what to do. I’m excited about the opportunity but am not sure that now is the right time to leave. I plan on calling and asking for mor…

Definitely push the start date back - too risky to be stuck without a seat. Try pushing it back a few weeks, continually, until you feel it's safe to move.

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#332

Post by slimsag »

ma2rten wrote: post #323
lamberciak wrote: post #138

Really sorry for everyone affected by the current situation. We have open roles at DuckDuckGo for SREs and director level hands-on engineers (in mobile and frontend). There should be a senior frontend engineer role coming up soon too. Check out all open roles at: https://duckduckgo.com/hiring/#open . We're a fully distributed team of 85 aiming to raise the standard of trust online and have been profitable for over 5…

What are "director level hands-on engineers"?

I would assume that means "senior engineers looking to provide guidance to entire teams eventually, but in the near term are very hands on and would act as ICs"

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#334

Post by tobltobs »

tathougies wrote: post #84
BossingAround wrote: post #2

Seeing as the stock market is utterly tanking, I would be very surprised if the world didn't go into recession, and consequently, if there weren't a number of people losing their jobs in order to make the businesses lean again. This is especially true of countries like the US, where it seems very simple to fire someone.

Recession in a technical sense, yes, but not in a societal sense. A recession typically implies that people don't want to buy stuff or don't have the funds to. This time however, consumer demand is going to be probably the highest it's ever been the moment the quarantines are lifted.

> consumer demand is going to be probably the highest it's ever been the moment the quarantines are lifted.

Happy debt bubble land is over, for a long time.

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#335

Post by treyfitty »

User23 wrote: post #293
treyfitty wrote: post #281

I was laid off in 2018 because I took a generous 5-month paternity leave. 2 months after my leave, I was given the pink slip. Contacted a lawyer and was pretty much told "you have no proof it was BECAUSE you took the leave." Based on my conversation with my boss, I know for a fact that's why. His quote: "H1B's are cheap and loyal. The mere fact that you committed to taking the full 5 months showed 0 loyalty." This wa…

No lawyer worth his salt will take a wrongful termination case without the prospect of being awarded punitive damages and that is a very high bar to clear.

You'd be surprised. The onus of "wrongful termination" is on the employee. I had no justification to show why I was "wrongfully terminated" amongst 100 others across the larger organization. I was just an easy target.

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#336

Post by pedalpete »

zests wrote: post #99

I’m about to leave my extremely safe job for a tiny startup. I have to put in notice by the end of the week. The startup seems to still want to hire me and is showing no signs of pulling the offer. I think they planned on getting more funding at the end of the year. I’m at a loss for what to do. I’m excited about the opportunity but am not sure that now is the right time to leave. I plan on calling and asking for mor…

While I agree with most of the responses to your situation, I'd also suggest this.

How much do you believe in the start-up?

How much do you want to work there?

Personally, I'd have a VERY frank discussion with the founders about the current situation. They should respect what you are giving up, and be concerned about putting you in a difficult situation.

Who knows, they may suggest that you hang onto your current position and circle back in a few months once they have funding. Maybe they offer you more equity for greater risk. Maybe they're flippant about the effect this change may have on you and ignore the risks.

Whatever the result, you'll get a better feel for where they are at, and get some answers to your current questions.

If they can't be open and honest with you now, or you feel they aren't being, would you still feel safe with the move?

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#337

Post by derekja »

diN0bot wrote: post #73

My heart goes out to everyone getting laid off or looking for work for any reason. Would anyone be interested in a free "lightning round no-bs Q&A for engineering candidates webinar"? I do interview and negotiation prep with candidates, and while there is a lot of general advice out there, I've found specific advice to be incredibly helpful to individuals. I'm imagining a zoom call where one person at a time briefly…

yup, I'd be interested in that. Working remotely currently so can make most times work!

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#339

Post by nilkn »

zests wrote: post #99

I’m about to leave my extremely safe job for a tiny startup. I have to put in notice by the end of the week. The startup seems to still want to hire me and is showing no signs of pulling the offer. I think they planned on getting more funding at the end of the year. I’m at a loss for what to do. I’m excited about the opportunity but am not sure that now is the right time to leave. I plan on calling and asking for mor…

I would strongly advise you to reverse this course immediately if possible. Even if you dislike your current job, I’d stick it out until this recession has passed. We don’t know how bad it’s going to get and this startup could go bust in a month and there may not be another job to even apply to at that time.

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#340

Post by MrFoof »

_5659 wrote: post #274

I was in the midst of several interview processes and things were looking optimistic. Everything changed literally overnight. Interviews were cancelled, postponed indefinitely, or I'd be plain 100% ghosted by a company. I'm extremely distraught because I've been looking for employment for a while now and I don't know how I'll support myself. Even my remote opportunities seem to have vanished as uncertainty increases.

Same boat, except for multiple weeks I was “offer pending” after playing hardball to get market rate (as others have mentioned, market really wanted seniors only if they were cheap). Now everyone’s on hold. I last tied up a contract nearly 6 months ago and had been eating savings since.

Good news is I’m both really frugal and willing to dig in. Not ideal, but working in an Amazon fulfillment center covers most of my fixed expenses (despite Boston not being cheap) so I start that in a week and it lets me continue to search/interview during the day without feeling much pressure.

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