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Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years?

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Re: Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years?

#491

Post by james_marks »

pluc wrote: post #319
dzhiurgis wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you ensure linkedin history isn’t falsified? I’ve seen all sort of false claims, but ultimately small programming task is best to sift out people.

Seriously. I could write 20 years of fake FAANG experience, connect with every rando posting AI slop since they just farm connections, and that would be better according to what i'm reading here.

No, because that would be a lie and seen through.

You made a big jump from “post your work history” to “commit fraud”, so you can justify ignoring consensus.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years?

#492

Post by mrbombastic »

johnh-hn wrote: post #179
w10-1 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW I’m Hoping that the combination of AI and ridiculously powerful small devices will finally get us to the point where we can interact with computers primarily through voice. A limiting factor seems to be misunderstanding what’s actually required, and you likely have insight and can build experience there. So if you were able to on your own time, build some small systems and demonstrate effective voice interaction…

Thank you for the thoughtful comment. It's funny you mention this, because I've wondered about something similar. But I'm not sold on computers being controlled primarily through voice while CEOs demand a return to the office. It would make an office too noisy which makes me think remote work would be a necessary precondition for it. You're correct about becoming an independent developer though. This whole experience…

Fwiw and you probably know but being almost legally blind puts you in a protected class, most employers would make exceptions to allow you to do your job. And it would be entirely reasonable to say that you need speech to text tools to work and don’t want to bother other coworkers.

Edit: was speaking from a US perspective before realizing you were in the UK, but would be surprised if you didn’t have even better protections

Extra edit: this hit the front page a while back about a blind developers dev setup: https://www.vincit.com/blog/software-development-450-words-p... it may be outdated at this point but maybe worth reaching out for best practices these days?

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years?

#495

Post by soulofmischief »

kulahan wrote: post #435
kulahan wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I just put “computer programmer” for every position listed on LinkedIn - why would that be any more valid?

[flagged]

noobs on HN have been claiming this since the site was created. It's so tiresome that it's actually against site guidelines to make this kind of comment. If you want HN to be a nicer place than reddit, try to follow the guidelines.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years?

#496

Post by mixmastamyk »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #165

My husband. Financially we’re fine, because he wasn’t in tech anyway and made 1/4 of what I do. Emotionally I’m really starting to resent it (he is not on the “I sent out 1000 resumes” track, he’s made a lot of progress in EVE).

On the positive side, sending out 1k resumes is a complete waste of time. Ask me how I know.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years?

#497

Post by mixmastamyk »

lattrommi wrote: post #324
squigz wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any field of tech in particular that interests you? Programming? Game design? Systems stuff?

Quite a lot of it. I was a huge gamer for years but quit playing them as a new years resolution (along with watching TV and movies) the same day I lost my job, so I could improve myself and learn more. I've learned how to install Linux. I haven't used Windows since September 2021. I got my amateur radio technicians license 2 years ago. I've programmed "Hello world!" in 14 different programming languages, because that…

You might have luck as a systems administrator, IT, or hardware tech, though some are not growing fields.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years?

#498

Post by NGRhodes »

Dayshine wrote: post #438
johnh-hn wrote: post #41

I've been out of work coming up to six years. I had to look after my dad during the pandemic. I've been looking for work in London, UK, since January. During that time I've had a total of 2 interviews. Recruiters, who seem to do a keyword search only, message me from time-to-time on LinkedIn. I reply and they almost invariably never respond, presumably because they look more closely and see the large gap in employmen…

You're in the UK: take advantage of the various schemes that allow people with disabilities to get guaranteed first interviews. If you need any software job you might even have luck with graduate schemes at companies like BT who I believe will have similar shortcuts through recruitment for those with disabilities.

Also access to work: https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years?

#499

Post by trod1234 »

You go where the work is, and you have unrelated skills you can fall back on to put food on the table.

If society wants to burn itself down by forcing competent people into poverty and homelessness, then it loses the benefits that those people would bring. That can only go on for so long, the worse it is, the more violent the times become because people become more desperate and without future; a complete abandonment of the social contract.

Its a sticky choice of recognizing bad investments. If the loud voices want to pretend its not happening, they can pretend, but they aren't fooling anyone. They just show how malicious they are, and while violence can never be justified in a civilized society, when you have systems forcing people to poverty/slavery you are no longer in a civilized society.

All it takes is around 10-20 years of continuous systemic abuse, the people remember and talk, and the generation that comes after are not fooled by the lies. They come prepared to do what's necessary, such is the rise and fall of empires historically.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone else been unemployed for over two years?

#500

Post by rdtsc »

Wurdan wrote: post #146
rdtsc wrote: post #97

Wonder if this is a coincidence that the other major discussion item on the front page is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45305845 (Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says) with the large majority seemingly disagreeing with the policy and sort encouraging ramping up H-1Bs and such since it's generally great for the country. But then I see a lot of young grads and unemployed laid off fol…

The thing is pitching your salary lower doesn’t always make you more attractive as a candidate. If you’re going in lower than market rate then many recruiters start wondering about your past performance, confidence, etc. As a hiring manager in a big company, salary isn’t really much of a consideration for me. The company has salary bands per role that I have very little control over. If a candidate is above that band…

> As a hiring manager in a big company, salary isn’t really much of a consideration for me.

I think this happen higher up. Policies like work from home or not or how many roles to open in what region, how many H1Bs to sponsor is something that happens above the hiring manager roles. Hiring managers sort of work on standard bands or levels I think in most larger companies.

> So in our process, somebody wouldn’t accidentally price themselves out of an opportunity.

The way I had seen it work, is usually positions have to open first. They would be something like "we're opening 3 architect IV positions in Poland and/or UK". So that kind if indicates there is no point in interviewing someone from Seattle asking for a architect V salary band.

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