Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

My personal perception of the 2008 wreck is the following: a some people got royally screwed, many people got screwed, some people didn't feel a difference, and a few people actually thrive. I was in the second category.

First, my company imposed a hiring freeze. This included both hiring new people or renovating temporary contracts. Then, they relied in natural attrition to shed people. Since many people were contractors, those were the first ones to let go. When that wasn't enough, they started laying off full time employees.

I was lucky since my team was left mostly untouched, while other teams were dismissed entirely. We did get our bonuses cancelled and salary frozen for a few years, however. That, coupled to higher taxes and inflation, means that my income went down over the years, but at least I had a job.

My biggest takeaway is that YMMV (duh!). Many people are concerned now about losing their jobs. In my opinion, companies (particularly large and stable ones) will rely on hiring freezes and attrition to curb their numbers. If it comes down to it, you are more likely to see teams being fired wholesale rather than each team bleeding a bit.

There was still plenty of jobs in companies who were not affected by the crisis as much and used the opportunity to recruit talent that is very hard to attract in normal time.

So if you're in tech, it's unlikely that the job market will dry up to the point it becomes hard to find a job.

Already on it, thanks. Posted something in freelance and jobs channels yesterday, going to try again today.

But even if you saw it coming, how does this help now? Right, it doesn't.

That someone's circles saw it coming doesn't help. Wht you can do now helps. Unfortunately a lot of these folks are lacking in that department IMHO.

1) Decide which software engineering related role you want to work on (e.g. web frontends)

2) Enumerate the top skills that are relevant to that role by visiting job postings in companies you would like to work for. e.g.: React.

3) Enumerate the subset of those skills that you have. Those are your strenghts. Work in acquiring the skills you do not yet have. Those are your weaknesses (for now).

4) Visit Linkedin profiles for random employed people in such roles in various companies you would like to work for. Compare that to your own Linkedin profile.

5) In your profile, emphasize your strengths, deemphasize your weaknesses, while working on them in your spare time. And most importantly, list your skills using the skills feature. Recruiters use that to find people.

Personally I think you should leave out all mentions to "looking for a job" and such. That is a red flag. You do not want to tell recruiters that your skills are in low demand.

Also try to keep your job descriptions consistent and relevant to your target role. Rather than "role 1/role 2/role 3", just pick the most favorable/relevant description for role and stick with that.

It usually takes me 1 month to find a job.