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Ask HN: How is your job search going?

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Re: Ask HN: How is your job search going?

#51

Post by throwaway4233 »

VoodooJuJu wrote: post #3

It's grim seeing seniors struggling to get jobs. As a junior, I'm eagerly awaiting my cue to start applying again. That is, once the deluge of threads about struggling seniors abates, which has been happening for quite a while and doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. I hope you guys make it, because if you can't, that means I definitely can't.

Based on my personal experience, interviewing for senior roles in technology feels much more difficult than the interviews I did for a junior or mid level roles. Interviewing in general, is like a Venn diagram where your experience and the interviewer's experience are the circles and you need to find a way to ensure that the questions being asked end up in the intersection where you both know well enough to showcase your skills.

As the role one is applying for more gets more senior, the larger the circles on both sides become, and it sometimes ends up being too hard to get to that intersection in the short duration of an interview.

That being said, I would recommend to to start applying for jobs, since the interview experience itself would be helpful to understand where you might need to improve.

Re: Ask HN: How is your job search going?

#52

Post by distortionfield »

kypro wrote: post #20

Where are you located? It's awful here in the UK. I'm my experience live technical assessments are mostly just luck, especially when interviewers are being overly opinionated about how things should be done. When you're a certain level of seniority anything in your code which isn't a mistake is typically a debatable decision. Formatting, naming, where and when to optimise, what patterns to use and avoid, etc... And t…

I’m in the states.

I think things will pick up in the new year too, I’ve had a few replies telling me to contact them again in January or February so that’s sort of hopeful.

two of my friends in VC say that their respective firms have tons of capital ready to deploy but that their bosses are being extremely choosy. I think right now it’s almost like they’re waiting to see how the new year goes and how AI stuff shakes out.

Re: Ask HN: How is your job search going?

#54

Post by johnnyanmac »

kypro wrote: post #20

Where are you located? It's awful here in the UK. I'm my experience live technical assessments are mostly just luck, especially when interviewers are being overly opinionated about how things should be done. When you're a certain level of seniority anything in your code which isn't a mistake is typically a debatable decision. Formatting, naming, where and when to optimise, what patterns to use and avoid, etc... And t…

If I may rant for a bit: I do hate how my aspect of the job market can feel like "guess the interview format". If I see a position marked "Unreal Engine Senior Graphics programmer", I have anywhere from

- core graphics programmer knowledge - Unreal engine specific knowledge - c++ general knowledge - fundamental Comp Sci knowledge (data structure concept, heaps, performance) - Software engineering knowledge (GoF software patterns, coding structure, etc.)

Or you know, I could still end up being metaphorically asked (or literally) to invert a binary tree. These aren't theoretical either, I've been quizzed on all these topics the past 3 months.

Like, none of these are hard for me, but if you want a confident, knowledgeable interview where I talk off the cuff about these I'd probably want some prep time. But alas, I was screened out almost every time, for reasons that may or may not even have to do with any of the above. I try not to blame myself and just accept that everyone's having a bad time, but not knowing how else to improve for test, or even WHAT they want to test me on feels discouraging. Why bother continuing to tinker on my renderer if they are just going to leetcode me? Why bother grinding leetcode (which I hate, mind you) if instead I end up in a role that never asks any?

I agree things will pick up in January. In the meantime I'll probably just relax and let interviews come to me.

Re: Ask HN: How is your job search going?

#55

Post by johnnyanmac »

scyzoryk_xyz wrote: post #34

Could one say at this point that a bubble is popping in tech? Fewer people than ever seem to be talking about starting up projects around here. Move and more talk about job-hunting. Can’t tell if it’s just me becoming disillusioned… With my few years in med-edu-tech start-up experience as a PM, I recently came across an unexpected opportunity to go back into film production. Low-pay but high-prestige apprenticeship b…

nah, it's the economy. You're not going to want to take risks starting up stuff and you'll get more frustrated job seekers (like me) when money is looking tight.

Hard to tell if the bubble has bursted right now, gotta wait until the economy recovers. But something tells me the FAANG companies aren't gonna go bust all of a sudden over this.

Re: Ask HN: How is your job search going?

#56

Post by johnnyanmac »

8b16380d wrote: post #32
distortionfield wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been interviewing a lot lately (naturally) and I've had a similar experience. I keep getting really good initial feedback on my resume, make it through several rounds of interviews with more good feedback, and then come out the other side with "We're reprioritizing our 2024 plans" or some version on that theme.

I think the macro economic environment has really spooked companies over the past 18months when it comes to adjusting headcount. Hopefully 2024 will be better? I am lucky enough to still have a decent position. I have real sympathy for all those who have been laid off in the past year, it's gotta be tough.

Laid off twice in 12 months. I hate life.

That said, My domain (games) does do leetcode style BS but fortunately haven't had to come across system design questions. Think that veers too far from games architecture to really matter unless you're looking for a backend role.

Re: Ask HN: How is your job search going?

#57

Post by johnnyanmac »

bdcravens wrote: post #8
VoodooJuJu wrote: post #3

It's grim seeing seniors struggling to get jobs. As a junior, I'm eagerly awaiting my cue to start applying again. That is, once the deluge of threads about struggling seniors abates, which has been happening for quite a while and doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. I hope you guys make it, because if you can't, that means I definitely can't.

Not necessarily true. The types, locations, and pay of roles vary, and HN can create a type of confirmation bias. Boring jobs looking to hire on the lower end can't really be compared with the senior who is used to making $300k with equity.

I mean, I'd be fine with mid-senior level and 120k with basic benefits. But jobs in general are tighter, not just the cream of the crop.

Re: Ask HN: How is your job search going?

#59

Post by gwnywg »

jason2323 wrote: post #43
geuis wrote: post #14

I've been looking for most of the past year. My back is against the wall. I've applied to more companies than I can keep track of. I've exhausted my savings. Friends and family have already helped as much as they can. I'm days away from having some life changing situational events happen. I've recently seen a small uptick in interviews, but over the last year almost nothing has moved past the initial call/zoom meetin…

Stories like yours absolutely kill me and I feel so much anger toward the management class that thought it would be a good idea to overhire to such an extent and cut us off like it doesn't matter. I know this is unpopular on HN, but I have never felt more cynical about founders than I have as of late. Almost every founder i've spoken too seems to be drinking from the same jar of koolaid and thinks of workers as dispe…

> Almost every founder i've spoken too

I know it does not help but the founder I work for is absolutely not in that train. When world was hiring like crazy he was executing his plan which was driven by sustainability and revenue. So when crisis knocked to our door, not a single dev was laid off, and we actually hired two (unfortunately we are not hiring now..). This guy is a role model for me when it comes to doing business.

Re: Ask HN: How is your job search going?

#60

Post by movetonextplace »

Has anyone in Europe have a role for me? I am looking to relocate to any place in EU.

I have 2yrs of experience (and lot of experience with Open Source from long before that). I mostly work on Rust,Go,Python and Javascript (also Java). I have worked on Backend(microservices,DB,grpc),Frontend(react and svelte) and bit of devops(had written kubernetes code once).

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