No one has mentioned considering the military. An MIT grad could be an excellent candidate for an officer. Joining the military has been the way many young men and now women have got out on their own.
Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends
41–50 of 247 posts
Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends
#42It's hard to face this when fresh out of school, but one piece of advice I can offer is to network as much as you can. Talk to folks you know that graduated before you and have a job. Talk to professors who might have industry ties in their history. Talk to folks in the career center. Try to be as visible as you can. Yes, I know that seems trivial considering you don't have job experience, but even building relations…
Agreed with this — don't give up, start asking around. It's fairly well studied at this point so if you'd rather believe a sociologist, read Granovetter https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2023/07/strength-weak-ties
Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends
#43Yeah, the world is a illusion, it tells you "study here or there and you'll have an amazing job and will win a lot of money!" but a lot of times, that never happen. You ended up felting like "was all for nothing?". I see my dad now working with his 60+ years old and I can't say to him "You can rest now, I'll pay your bills", at least was something that I was dreaming for a long time and now I know that will never be possible. I can't give you advice since you and I are on the same boat (I'm not an MIT senior but you get it, right?) but try not to lose hope and don't be harsh with yourself
Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends
#44I find this seriously unlikely. Most MIT grads are getting into Jane Street or at minimum Google - they literally think working at Amazon is beneath them. Course 6 grads are not going unemployed.
It is funny to hear that this person might have an unstable environment though - that isn't the profile of someone that gets into MIT.
If OP is actually serious I'm more than willing to give resume advice - including in person living in the area. But again, I seriously doubt this is real, or if people like OP are willing to take advice from failures like me.
Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends
#45I’m a MIT grad from ‘12. PM me (email is on my profile)
Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends
#46Truly sorry you feel this way. For what it’s worth, this was common for people graduating into the 2008 financial crisis, too. It’s actually unusual that we went for so long without another period of contraction. From last time around: The people who kept pushing and took any job, anywhere turned out okay. This translated to a lot of people taking jobs below what they expected to get or having to move when they didn’…
> You’re early in your career. This current period of turmoil doesn’t mean that much Is that true? I seem to remember data showing that the 2008-2010 graduate cohorts never overall caught up to the ones that came immediately before or after them. Like sure sure OP has an engineering degree from MIT they're more like the ones that did catch up. But I'll bet there are a lot more people reading this who are about to gra…
I suspect what really happens is you're set back a few years compared to someone with more fortunate timing. In a away, this is never catching up, but framing it as a setback gives a better picture of what happens.
Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends
#47Send me an email — I'm an '18 and if you're telling the truth about side projects, interview skills, graduating, etc. then I should be able to help you find a job very quickly, either in my own org or with someone I know who is hiring. > I’m facing the very real possibility of moving back home to an unstable and abusive environment while continuing to job hunt You don't have to do this. You can do anything you want y…
> Realizing that I am owed nothing, and focusing on ways to get what I want.
I don't think the system _ever_ fails people with "merit" like MIT grads. It fails people like me that can't get into top schools that went to 50% accept rate public schools.
I graduated in 2018 too - I guarantee people like you consider me and my career accomplishments in the intervening years to be failure worthy. I genuinely think a typical MIT Course 6 grad from 2018 would be clinically depressed if they were in my shoes.
Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends
#48Truly sorry you feel this way. For what it’s worth, this was common for people graduating into the 2008 financial crisis, too. It’s actually unusual that we went for so long without another period of contraction. From last time around: The people who kept pushing and took any job, anywhere turned out okay. This translated to a lot of people taking jobs below what they expected to get or having to move when they didn’…
+1 to this. If I go look at social media the job market is ending. But if I look at the signals around me there's plenty of opportunities. Also consider taking something below (or even much below) expectations. It's much easier to work your way up with connections than it is to get in the door with no references.
MIT students expect (not unfairly) to work at Jane Street/HRT/Jump/Citadel Securities/OpenAI/Anthropic and then "settle" for Google or Facebook. They're not going to work for Fidelity or Raytheon.
Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends
#49I am seeing this in my community as well, it has become nearly impossible for early career folks to find opportunities and it is due to a number of factors. In addition to economy, the fast ramp up of hiring in covid and of course AI, we now have geo-political headwinds in the mix. If you are in this situation, or if you would like to help make a difference, please reach out to me, email is in profile. @Dang, if this is not appropriate, please let me know.
Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends
#50I received a campus offer in 2008, but then the recession hit. Since it was with a large company, I graduated in 2009 and was supposed to join afterward. However, just a few weeks before my start date, they postponed it indefinitely. I found myself back at square one and it took more than six months to land a job at a mid-sized company with a lower salary. Eventually, things worked out. So, don’t lose hope—just keep trying. Best of luck!