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Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#531

Post by murukesh_s »

ccajas wrote: post #353
Rebles wrote: post #44

At the beginning of the year, I decided it was time to find a new job after 10 years with my employer. I spent February doing interview prep and conducting interviews. Back then, the COVID-19 was mostly limited to China, markets and governments weren't terribly concerned about COVID-19. I accept a job offer, put in my two weeks notice, and my last day at was last Friday. Hardly anyone was seriously concerned about CO…

I have been laid off just before 2015 and I haven't found any stable work since then. I have been under-employed for a long while before the outbreak, and I don't even know what new change-ups in job hunting I should be doing now. For a long time, many people have said that my years of experience make me valuable so that I should have gotten offers very quickly, but the reality hasn't shown that. Heck, even the found…

I glanced over your LinkedIn profile, to me it looks like you need to add more 'modern' tech skills to your profile. It sucks, but the industry moves to new tech quickly and unless you are an enterprise Java developer, your skills get pretty much outdated in few years and you need to catch up at a fast pace.

I would learn (or highlight it if you already know) React.js and Node.js immediately, along with Postgres and MongoDB. That should get a good boost to the resume.

If you are going full stack, you would definitely need to put in AWS, especially micro services and serverless experience along with golang if possible. You can also learn Python if you want to try your hands on Machine learning as well, but I would recommend just focussing on React and Node.js as they are low hanging fruits and there are good enough openings for those two alone..

I have been in your shoes before and I know it could be overwhelming but you can do it.

https://github.com/kamranahmedse/developer-roadmap

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#532

Post by Bombthecat »

I'm interviewing right now... Wanted to "switch up". Now I'm not so sure anymore.

Even though they are pretty big, i have no idea how they woild handle 20 percent jobless and an economy in the shitters... Seriously. No company and job is save. The big ones will feel the lower sales too.

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#533

Post by cmurf »

caseysoftware wrote: post #498
gurumeditations wrote: post #494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Politico article is about the travel ban involving Muslim countries, not China or any Asian country. Do you read your own sources?

Look at the date of the article very closely and realize that it covered all travel bans as noted in the subhead: "The legislation would void all of Trump's executive actions establishing travel restrictions."

No, it's very narrow in what bans it would void; and even those can be reinstituted as soon as the President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Homeland Security comply with the requirement that they address specific acts implicating a compelling government interest. Because the entire dispute is about Trump applying his decades long racial and religious animus to government policy, rather than the policy addressing a compelling state interest.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2214...

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#534

Post by Bombthecat »

baby wrote: post #237
rpastuszak wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quit my job in mid January because of burnout, left London for a couple of weeks and came back this Sunday. I’m looking for remote roles exclusively. Now I’m not sure if the timing is perfect or just plain terrible:) Also, I stopped reading the news. I just don’t think refreshing Twitter every 10 min whilst self isolating can be good to your mental health.

I need to stop reading the news too, I’m in pretty deep now...

Me too.. Read this morning where Italy wil move to in 8 days.. Yeah shouldnt have read that...

I need to quit reading news...

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#535

Post by martijn_himself »

Miktor wrote: post #349

This is probably a long shot - and I'm sure you'll see quite a few posts like this over the coming weeks - but I'm going to swallow my pride and ask nonetheless. I've been a data entry clerk for the past twenty years, working for a major bookmaker in Northern Ireland. With the coronavirus pandemic hitting recently, many businesses have decided to lay off large numbers of staff. I've just become one of the unfortunate…

Hi Miktor,

I'm really sorry to hear about your situation! I'm in Northern Ireland too and I'm lucky to be employed (for now) and WFH. All I can do is ask around for you if you drop me an e-mail!

Cheers,

Martijn

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#536

Post by cmurf »

caseysoftware wrote: post #464
martinpw wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was other news organizations than the ones you listed that were the primary culprits in screaming "it's just the flu"

Read https://twitter.com/balajis starting early February and documented many of the posts. He was one of the earliest to call out their BS and anti-scientific agenda. And then the House tried to remove Trump's travel ban: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/12/house-committee-vot... You can play politics or you can look at reality.

https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/fcdckgt368/econTabReport.pdf

page 9 Do you think the coronavirus epidemic is a national emergency? yes, democrats 81%; no, republicans 53%

page 18 Which cable news network do you watch the most? Democrats, 42% CNN, 48% MSNBC; Republicans, 89% Fox News

Trump himself has been downplaying it this whole time. https://www.factcheck.org/2020/03/trumps-statements-about-th...

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#537

Post by krolley »

Rebles wrote: post #235
PopeDotNinja wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Start interviewing again. Seriously. Worst case scenario your new job works out. That's pretty good downside.

This is solid advice. If I'm afraid of losing my future job, then, better start looking now! Thanks!

It's a good idea to hedge your bets, but at my company (>50k people) we now have a hiring freeze so anybody that already got an offer is lucky to have just squeezed in. If you can get in touch with your hiring manager perhaps you could talk to them about it directly?

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#538

Post by 101404 »

inlined wrote: post #476
ccajas wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been laid off just before 2015 and I haven't found any stable work since then. I have been under-employed for a long while before the outbreak, and I don't even know what new change-ups in job hunting I should be doing now. For a long time, many people have said that my years of experience make me valuable so that I should have gotten offers very quickly, but the reality hasn't shown that. Heck, even the found…

“Under qualified for your years” is ageist bullshit. You’re either a capable L3,4,5,etc. Any coupling of those achievement brackets to age ranges (which cannot be completely detached from experience level) is discrimination.

Pretty sure it means "years of work" and not age.

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#539

Post by arvinsim »

ccajas wrote: post #378
dathinab wrote: post #192

My predictions: DISCLAIMER: I'm not a expert wrt. any of this. Don't listen to me ;=). It's all just speculation. Companies which plan to downsize since a will will do it now, using COVID19 as a excuse. Companies who have shifted some "bad consequences" into the future might now book them using COVID19 as a excuse for why they exist. Companies who are already on the last straw will end now, (Such which without COVID1…

A remark about the unrelated tip: A good chunk of companies, if not the majority, out there are looking for "just a programmer", noted by how much they advertise and place emphasis that you must know specific languages and software tools (especially if React or Java is gonna be part of your job title), over broader concepts like design patterns and algorithms. This can be a problem when you want to sell yourself as a…

There really is no silver bullet. If you really want to cover most cases, you have to

- Be generalist to cover all general concepts as you outlined

- Be a "programmer". That is knowledgeable in specific frameworks and languages

- Be data structure and algorithms guy. Most technical interviews involve them even if they are not needed in job.

Re: Ask HN: Have you been laid off?

#540

Post by arvinsim »

_bxg1 wrote: post #415
jee1shi wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the difference between a software engineer and "just" a programmer?

Lately "software engineer" feels a bit pretentious to me, with all the articles about how we're co-opting the word "engineer". I've started using the word "programmer" just to avoid the pretention and because it has a nice old-school ring to it. I kind of doubt employers read it as such a technical term that it would factor into the hiring process.

Engineer seems too pretentious. Programmer seems....low trade?

If so, why not just use developer?

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