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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?

#491

Post by cartermatic »

I got officially laid off on Dec 1st, so far:

- 38 applications

- 8 rejections with no interview

- 1 rejection after 1st round

- 1 first round with no response

- 1 2nd round interview (no response yet)

- 1 3rd round interview scheduled for this week

- 1 1st round scheduled for this week

The others I've gotten no response.

Senior Product Designer with 8 years of experience, well versed in UI/UX Design, Design Systems, Accessibility, Prototyping, Documentation. Sole designer at my last startup on a brand new product that got acquired.

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

#492

Post by tickerticker »

type-r wrote: post #227
1-6 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on how you view things, layoffs are only starting. Companies are taking a wait and see approach before taking everything off the table. Some are predicting 2023Q1 to be when it peaks.

Source?

Not OP, but weigh these.

Recession case: inflation depresses other spending, new home starts are decreasing, strong dollar, Chinese economy wobbly, EU economy weak, continued supply chain disruptions, PMI weaker, ad spending curtailed.

Soft landing case: Goldilocks scenario for USA employment; inflation has decreased; chip shortage over; few layoffs outside tech; airline, hospitality, defense, healthcare, energy sectors booming; China economy may strengthen with softened zero-covid policy.

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

#493

Post by bitL »

SoftTalker wrote: post #397
y-c-o-m-b wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you. People that doubt these things are usually projecting some kind of insecurity. "It's impossible!"... no actually, not only is it possible but it happens all the time and yes it happens with FAANG workers too. It's funny, when this topic comes up, the people that are juggling multiple jobs are usually stuck in this weird place where they want to convince people it's true but at the same time not draw to…

I can believe it happens, but not with two jobs paying $600k each.

It's total compensation (including stocks and bonuses).

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

#494

Post by [deleted] »

oneplane wrote: post #393
throwaway5231 wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is false and ageist. I got a computer engineering degree at a non elite state school very recently and this was covered in the first c++ and c classes. For that matter c# has an “out” variable that mimics this functionality, and the intro Java class covered primitive types vs. reference types. While reference types in Java aren’t the exact same thing, they do allow a void function to modify the state of the call…

I doubt that you can make an absolute "this is false and ageist" statement in any context, but here on HN, I would have at least expected you to supply information on what location in the world and level of institutional schooling you have. Here in north-west EU C and C++ haven't been a part of the core curriculum for over 25 years (unless you do embedded work), and code with side-effects in desktop-class systems has…

[deleted]

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

#495

Post by gahara31 »

token8791 wrote: post #442

I feel everyone who's in a bad place now, uncertain about the future. My approach has been often to take a mixed-risk approach, and it seems to work out well. First, no debt. Second, long-cash. After working for about ten years in relatively low paying roles I have something like a runway of about 25 years - that is I would not need to take on any job for 25 years while keeping mostly my current standard of living (p…

Feeling enough is something that money can't buy. I'm happy for you.

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

#496

Post by zoomablemind »

mcguire wrote: post #360
WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't teach pass by reference these days. Anyone you find in the real world under ~30 years old may not even be aware that you can pass a reference and modify it directly without having to make a method return a value. It's super cool to have someone explain to you side effects yet you show them a method with a null return and run it for them showing that the value has changed and they are mesmerized.

At one interview, as a joke at the end, the set of interviewers asked me if I could write code to reverse a string. I replied, "In place, or...?" which apparently confused some of them.

... at least they did not reply to you that "no, you can't take this home - gotta reverse it here"

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

#497

Post by rockemsockem »

SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #483
rockemsockem wrote: post #446

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Violating a contract is not the same as doing something unethical. People violate non-competes all the time and IMO doing so is VERY ethical.

What's unethical is saying you'll do something and then not doing that. In your example, the "ethical" way to violate a non-compete is to redact it from the original contract. I'm not saying you're the worst person ever, but littering is unethical, and so is saying you'll do something and then not doing it (or vice versa).

I agree that would be ideal, but realistically there's usually a pretty big power imbalance between someone seeking a job and a potential employer. I'd say that how ethical it is varies depending on the company. For example, Jimmy Johns has non-compete agreements. Someone working at Jimmy Johns has 0 ability to negotiate that. Are they unethical if they quit after a year or so to go work at Subway? I would say obviously not, maybe you'd think they are.

I'm sure you're thinking "but we're talking about software jobs where people have a lot more choice and bargaining power", which is definitely the case, hence why I mentioned that it depends on the company. On the most unethical end of contract violation I'd put the small startup that treats its people right and on the other end I'd put Walmart.

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

#498

Post by oneplane »

joeyaiello wrote: post #479
oneplane wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that you can make an absolute "this is false and ageist" statement in any context, but here on HN, I would have at least expected you to supply information on what location in the world and level of institutional schooling you have. Here in north-west EU C and C++ haven't been a part of the core curriculum for over 25 years (unless you do embedded work), and code with side-effects in desktop-class systems has…

I'm a PM and I ended up graduating with an econ BA instead of a CS degree, but I took a few intro CS classes at UCLA in...2011/2012. Intro to Programming 1 and 2 were taught in C++. Can't remember which one taught pass by reference, but it was definitely in one of those two. Third class I took was Intro to Systems or something like that. The whole class was C and x86 ASM. Lots of binary operations in that one, used K…

I never stated my own position on this piece of knowledge, so no, __I__ did not have anything to do with your point.

C and C++ (and Assembly and compilers) are not part of the standard college software engineering curriculum here. Your opinion on that doesn't matter (just like mine doesn't matter) because it is a verifiable fact. And as such, it is also not strange to not see this bit of knowledge being prevalent. K&R isn't used much except if you are either taking the purely theoretical CS degree courses or if you tack them on to the normal required courses. Even the Gang of Four is only mentioned in passing when talking about patterns.

You __could__ argue if this is foundational knowledge, and if so, you __could__ argue that therefore the curriculum is in need of adjustment. But I didn't.

Regarding what this was all about (WrtCdEvrydy's comment), he might be talking out of the wrong hole, or he might be in a similar location as I am where this is how it works and that might be different from where you are.

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

#499

Post by oneplane »

muffinman26 wrote: post #416
oneplane wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that you can make an absolute "this is false and ageist" statement in any context, but here on HN, I would have at least expected you to supply information on what location in the world and level of institutional schooling you have. Here in north-west EU C and C++ haven't been a part of the core curriculum for over 25 years (unless you do embedded work), and code with side-effects in desktop-class systems has…

The core project for my compilers course in Germany in 2016 was about writing a C compiler in C++. I didn't do my intro courses at that university, but the professor clearly assumed all the students were already familiar with the language. A lot of people seem to underestimate the prevalence of C/C++. I've had people tell me that C/C++ is completely dead and the future is machine learning entirely written in Python,…

There isn't even a compilers course here, unless you go for a science masters. This likely got shaped this way due to the lack of interest and a push from industry to deliver more 'ready to use' engineers.

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

#500

Post by SpeedilyDamage »

rockemsockem wrote: post #497
SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's unethical is saying you'll do something and then not doing that. In your example, the "ethical" way to violate a non-compete is to redact it from the original contract. I'm not saying you're the worst person ever, but littering is unethical, and so is saying you'll do something and then not doing it (or vice versa).

I agree that would be ideal, but realistically there's usually a pretty big power imbalance between someone seeking a job and a potential employer. I'd say that how ethical it is varies depending on the company. For example, Jimmy Johns has non-compete agreements. Someone working at Jimmy Johns has 0 ability to negotiate that. Are they unethical if they quit after a year or so to go work at Subway? I would say obviou…

No; this is simple, if difficult. If you want to be ethical, you cannot sign an agreement knowing what it says in full, and then violate that agreement when the counterparty has operated in good faith.

What the person in your Jimmy Johns example has is the ability to seek work elsewhere.

They are indeed acting unethically if they choose to work at Jimmy Johns, knowing what Jimmy Johns requires of its employees, then proceed to quit and then go work at Subway.

I'm concerned you're considering "acting unethically" as a kind of condemnation. It's not. Life happens, and nobody's being sent to the stockade for acting unethically, but that is what you're doing when you violate a contract.

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