Ask HN: How's the Job Hunt Going?

The bar has been raised. Not like a few years ago when they were hiring zero experience bootcamp devs (much to respect to these folks who are hard workers from non-traditional backgrounds). Questions are not easy, you can be tossed out for any perceived slight or giving a non-optimal solution. Experience is disregarded unless web scale. At least IME, but maybe it was always that way. You'll have to rely hard on your personal network to get your foot in the door somewhere.

Well we use a software from Centrics called ARCH which was really confusing when they asked me if I knew ARCH and I thought they meant Arch Linux. ARCH itself is basically just a MS SQL database and a SMB server. When I started here they were spending a lot of time using the GUI client Centrics provides to copy/paste data from ARCH into excel spreadsheets, but I found it's a lot faster and more accurate to just have a computer query the database and put the data in the spreadsheets automatically.

And the spreadsheets are good because they make it easy for someone who isn't connected to the network to view data from ARCH.

And ARCH is helpful because it keeps track of the orders, makes sure the products get printed out, packaged, and shipped to the right places. ARCH can do billing too, but I think we use quickbooks to do that.

Also the printers are necessary because we print out designs on paper and then use heat to sublimate the ink onto the textiles. I've heard rumors that we might start doing direct-to-garment printing but that would require a lot of changes to our process and I think it might not even be cost effective.

You don't disclose your age in the US either, but it's pretty easy to find via linkedin graduation dates, or just... looking at you. I think most companies just judge during the video screening.

Maybe we can have AI spruce up our video call avatars to be better looking and more mature. Haha.

Hopefully the 20 YOE isn't scaring anyone off. I truly see it as a benefit and would say that I'm in the prime of my capabilities so far.

I'm looking for a FT remote position (as I'm based in central PA). I've previously worked in the NYC area for about 10 years and prior to that was a traveling consultant at IBM.

Some of the positions have received quite a few resumes. Others have not or were applied to outside of LinkedIn/Indeed. LinkedIn has listed me as being in the Top 10% or Top 25% of applicants for some of the positions. So far this seems to be the toughest job market that I have been searching in.

At this point, I’m convinced remote is a dying fad, and will fade into something that’s more of a rare perk (I worked remote prior to the the whole Covid debacle, but only ever once).

When I go to look at jobs, and I put on the remote filter, it significantly decreases options. For example at the current moment if I look at jobs on LinkedIn with the search I’ve been using that have been posted within the last day, I get a little over 500 results. However I used uBlock to cut out “promoted” positions which are often stale and irrelevant to my search, so there’s probably less than that. What remains are mix of weird niche positions, low quality agency spam, a bit of non-dev or otherwise irrelevant listings, and a minority of jobs that I actually look qualified for worth applying to.

Comparatively, when I switch to filter for only on-site or hybrid positions with the same search, I get over 3000 results, with many more jobs relevant to my resume.

I really, really, really do not want to move right now, and I’m not sure if in the end I’d rather just settle for an on site position that will force me into a costly move, or just cut my losses and try to start my life over from scratch while I still have the chance.