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Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

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Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

#51

Post by icedchai »

Newlaptop wrote: post #41
BiraIgnacio wrote: post #22

What I find paradoxical is that despite the fact there's a lot of people "on the market" (or so many say), I'm having a hard time finding software engineers to fill a few open positions. Granted, I work for a small company doing things that may be considered boring and maybe people are looking elsewhere. I would be curious to know if that feels like the case for other companies too.

Is comp below market? There are many people "on the market" who are either A) employed but looking for something better or B) not interested in taking a lower salary than their previous job. Salaries skyrocketed in 2021 (along with prices for houses, groceries, etc), and there are going to be a lot of potential candidates who are anchoring on those wages as their expectation for next role.

Yep. I've had a few recruiters contact me about interesting roles. I tell them I'm a passive job seeker, so the comp needs to be somewhat enticing. Then they reveal they're paying 30% below my current salary...

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

#52

Post by njtransit »

vineyardlabs wrote: post #23

Yes/No. It's probably the worst it's been in a decade, but it's my understanding it's nothing even resembling the 2008 crash or the dotcom bubble (I wasn't working during those times). With that said, it feels worse than it is because the 2021-2022 period was uniquely euphoric. Key driving factors are people who have been laid off working to find positions against the backdrop of many tech companies not adding headco…

Your understand is wrong. 2008 was not a bad time for tech at all.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

#53

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

laidoffamazon wrote: post #34
atleastoptimal wrote: post #3

Yes. I'm the CEO of Google and I can't even get an internship at Google But tbh yes, it seems job postings for software jobs are the lowest in 4 years, almost as low as the dip that occurred just after the pandemic. The COVID job boom was clearly temporary and is now being massively offset by AI https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?width=880&he... It's over. Best alpha for people who aren't being flooded r…

> It's over Is there a good phrase for people that make sweeping definitive statements like this with fairly tepid evidence?

Probably the same phrase applies to people who say this:

> Almost everything that needs to be built digitally, has been built

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

#54

Post by xpl »

kajecounterhack wrote: post #46
chongli wrote: post #29

I graduated recently and have been looking ever since. It’s abysmal. No replies at all. Compared to co-op where I was interviewing a dozen times a week and getting half a dozen offers, it’s post-apocalyptic. No one’s interested in taking on anyone at recent grad / entry-level. Not sure what to do.

Have you talked to any startups? Young hungry folks were historically valued at startups, especially ones who have some OGs who can spare bandwidth to onboard / grow new hires, though maybe the game has changed.

Startups today are interested in profits, not in valuation.

This means they now need to crank out a working product as quickly as possible, and that means hiring only seasoned seniors with an impressive track record.

Previously, they could have gotten away with having no product at all (all while hiring as no tomorrow, just to pump up their valuation). But those days are gone with the low interest rates.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

#55

Post by specproc »

linotype wrote: post #36
specproc wrote: post #24

Side bar: I've been back in the UK for a longer spell for the first time in years, and the number of adverts for "blue collar" jobs I've seen just walking around is unreal. So many places looking for kitchen staff, waiters, carers etc. Might just be that I've been in smaller towns with leaner recruitment pools, but it's been striking.

Probably related to Brexit right?

Not a terrible hypothesis

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

#56

Post by austin-cheney »

So it’s weird. I was unemployed for 6 months last year after being laid off. That long 6 month span was largely self inflicted. As a JavaScript developer I got tired of the hyper insecurity of nobody knowing to program in that language so I waited until I found something else to do.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

#57

Post by tacostakohashi »

scelerat wrote: post #28

Been looking for a year and a half for something full-time and permanent. No luck so far. Chopped about fifteen years off my resume, and that seemed to help get more interviews, but I think that backfired because then they were surprised by my wrinkles and bald spot and figured if I was lying about my experience, I was lying about other things too. One thing that does not help was a string of startups I worked for wh…

Probably you are better off putting some or all of the fifteen years back on, but abbreviate those positions down to a one sentence/line summary.

Also, work on your narrative for those startups / patreon... "I learnt a lot in a short time" or "they were having financial troubles so they had to lay off some of their best people", or something not mad and resentful.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

#58

Post by oumua_don17 »

scelerat wrote: post #28

Been looking for a year and a half for something full-time and permanent. No luck so far. Chopped about fifteen years off my resume, and that seemed to help get more interviews, but I think that backfired because then they were surprised by my wrinkles and bald spot and figured if I was lying about my experience, I was lying about other things too. One thing that does not help was a string of startups I worked for wh…

>> Chopped about fifteen years off my resume

Just a suggestion. It may instead be preferable to put a `Other Work Experience` section with a bullet point highlighting either tech skills or domain or a mix with the duration.

``` Java, J2EE, .NET

Various Companies

mm/dd/yyyy to mm/dd/yyyy

Enterprise app development

- Design and implement various travel, finance applications/modules ```

edit: formatting

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

#59

Post by datavirtue »

glorpsicle wrote: post #47
datavirtue wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is everyone searching for these FTE spots? That paradigm is dying.

Could you elaborate?

The FTE slot has become a really bad deal. I have worked alongside people who were making less than half what I was. The company treated us slightly different in that employees time was sucked down with meetings, performance reviews, mandatory certification and team building. Lump on some more hours and demands and you have a complete shit show. Companies also have to do a song and dance about how great it is to be an employee (elitism) and to thank the gods they arent one of the lowly contractors that they "manage."

- Easier to get a job as a contractor (college degrees and certification standards are relaxed) - Pays a lot more - Skips all the happy horseshit - Treated like an adult

Sometimes FTE can be good but by default it is a bad deal for most.

Re: Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?

#60

Post by [deleted] »

datavirtue wrote: post #45
AIorNot wrote: post #27

Yes - 20 years of tech experience at major players and not able to find a single full time role in over a year- looking remote anywhere or in person in Seattle Have been doing contract work - currently doing AI engineering

Why is everyone searching for these FTE spots? That paradigm is dying.

[deleted]
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