Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#531

Post by ghm2180 » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 1:40 PM UTC

Was affected by the meta layoffs. Haven't looked seriously. Here is my read on the market situation.

1. Last 10 years of low interest rates and growth made Faang like companies seem much more valuable than they were. Now that tech is making it easier/cheaper to build and compete with their products (think TikTok vs Insta or AI driven frameworks for automating all kinds of workflows) expect the big/old companies to take time to realize and pivot to build more valuable products to stay alive. And it's not just Faang but any companies that are ripe to disruption where if you get hired it may be less stock comp or volatile job durability.

2. Also related to this, the FTC is tightening the screws(meta was blocked from supernatural, Nvidia could not buy arm) so they can't grow the way they did monopolistically like before and expect less of hiring bounties.

3. Seasonal and recession effects will slow down things for a bit but the former will wear off come January. Latter is a wildcard.

4. Don't get the first job you get without vetting the positiom even if it takes 3-4 months to find one(assuming you are not squeezed by issues like immigration or cost of living). Try vetting the companies and see if they value what you have to offer and the place is not toxic. Remember that only cracking the tech round is a zero sum game but mutual value in a work relationship is not and often more important. So vet it well.

5. If it's been a while since you last looked and are procrastinating on practice of leetcode or interview prep cause or you aren't clear on what to do like I am, take care of my mind first. Meditation, simplifying your life, figuring out what you really value in life and why you value it, is useful. Networking and talking to people on what's out there to change what you do is also useful.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#532

Post by lewispollard » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 2:02 PM UTC

oneplane wrote: post #393

throwaway5231 wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is false and ageist. I got a computer engineering degree at a non elite state school very recently and this was covered in the first c++ and c classes. For that matter c# has an “out” variable that mimics this functionality, and the intro Java class covered primitive types vs. reference types. While reference types in Java aren’t the exact same thing, they do allow a void function to modify the state of the call…

I doubt that you can make an absolute "this is false and ageist" statement in any context, but here on HN, I would have at least expected you to supply information on what location in the world and level of institutional schooling you have. Here in north-west EU C and C++ haven't been a part of the core curriculum for over 25 years (unless you do embedded work), and code with side-effects in desktop-class systems has…

UK here, graduated BSc Software Engineering in 2012, and the primary language was C++ (though we used Java in some modules).

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#533

Post by ineedasername » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 3:00 PM UTC

kirso wrote: post #526

rdoherty wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the exact same experience about 5 months ago. > 40 applications, ~30 responses from recruiter, did at least 1 phone screen at 20 of them and around 10 full interviews (4-6 modules each). It was brutal and I don't recommend it. Almost 20 years of experience at great large & small companies in the SF Bay Area. I like to think that I'm relatively intelligent and competent, but man, some of the interviews were tort…

I always ponder, after the years of experience - wouldn't you just leave the interview if it feels like torture? I never ended up in a good place when it felt this way...

I'd say it's unprofessional to out & out leave the interview. Maybe for practical purposes it doesn't make a difference (though it can be a small world sometimes and you never know when something might come back to haunt you) but there's a certain amount of social norm & politeness involved, even if your own sentiment is "well they aren't respecting my time so why should I care?"

Also it can come down to just a bad recruiting/HR process and the place itself is perfectly fine to work for, and maybe that doesn't come through in the initial screening nonsense but you figure it out from the final round. Or you just end up not having a choice if the market is tight and you would end up wanting to take the job for the paycheck even if it's only 6-12 months while you find something better.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#534

Post by 4m1rk » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 3:21 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #389

Eumenes wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I'd rather dig holes over working for Amazon - I've never heard anything positive out of that place.

It seems to be a mixed bag. Don't know folks there who are developers specifically but I know people who say they really like it (admittedly fairly senior) and I know people who couldn't wait to get out after a rather short period.

Wow lot of complains here. I've had a good experience interviewing with Amazon few months ago. Recuiter was supper supportive and following up constantly. The interview rounds were also relatively nice. The only thing was to prep for all those behavioral questions. Been working there for a few weeks and so far better than what I expected.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#535

Post by _dhruva » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 3:24 PM UTC

muffinman26 wrote: post #416

oneplane wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that you can make an absolute "this is false and ageist" statement in any context, but here on HN, I would have at least expected you to supply information on what location in the world and level of institutional schooling you have. Here in north-west EU C and C++ haven't been a part of the core curriculum for over 25 years (unless you do embedded work), and code with side-effects in desktop-class systems has…

The core project for my compilers course in Germany in 2016 was about writing a C compiler in C++. I didn't do my intro courses at that university, but the professor clearly assumed all the students were already familiar with the language. A lot of people seem to underestimate the prevalence of C/C++. I've had people tell me that C/C++ is completely dead and the future is machine learning entirely written in Python,…

I work at a fairly large Python shop and we have some real performance problems with Python.

Most real world software will use many core libraries implemented in C/C++ for doing the heavy lifting. Just the FFI and creating all those Python objects makes it slow.

Python is a great language for prototyping and/or usage as a glue code.

Personally, I am more inclined to use Go for anything quick and performant. If Carbon language becomes a reality, I would bet on that since it allows seamless interoperability with C++ (and there is a large existing eco system). Else, time to learn Rust.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#536

Post by mywittyname » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 3:34 PM UTC

rockemsockem wrote: post #447

mywittyname wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you sign a contract, then it is breach of contract, which would be a kind of illegal. I don't see the ethical quandaries though. So long as one is doing the work promised, and the company is satisfied with their output. It's not any more unethical than working on any other side project after hours.

Not the sort of illegal that'll get you thrown in jail though.

Right, it's the sort of illegal where you go to civil court.

Sure, if you lose you probably just end up paying money. But lots of "real" crimes have punishments that amount to paying some fines but no jail time.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#537

Post by kubami » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 3:41 PM UTC

ARandomerDude wrote: post #107

Jenk wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also not OP, and also similar experience. Most of my interviews are an hour or two of conversation, sometimes with a "I've been told I have to ask.. " techy question but never involves any actual code/whiteboard. Several times the interviewer has said something to the effect of "I won't insult you by asking you to do a tech test, it's clear to me that you understand the work" or similar. One occassion (some years ago…

Not quite as experienced as you (I’m in the 10-15 year bracket). I never ask LeetCode questions because it’s far easier on both sides to ask experience-based questions like “what do you like/dislike about ?” If I get superficial answers that tells me something. If i get well thought-out answers from people who have clearly spent time in the trenches that tells me something too.

Exactly this! I haven't been interviewed for a long time now, but since the beginning of my career, when I have interviewed people I ask deeper questions. Even with tech tests, I use them as a jumping board for diving deeper into language design, tradeoffs and experiences. Even a trivial, reverse-a-string kind of questions can take you deep into candidate's knowledge.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#538

Post by Arubis » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 3:52 PM UTC

clumsysmurf wrote: post #396

Arubis wrote: post #140

If you're having trouble finding new work, know that the turn of the year is _always_ slow, every year. Hiring tends to pick up mid- to late January.

During the turn of the year, do you think its better to wait until January to apply? I imagine people coming back from the office and just purging the last 30 days of resumes :(

Maybe? Depends on what you need personally.

If you need a job _now_, by all means, keep going. Just know that the system isn't as friendly right now, so it's not your fault when things are hard.

If you've got the runway to take a month, ask yourself: would you benefit more from building the inertia of keeping down the job application path, or from taking a breather and starting fresh in the new year? Both are valid.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#539

Post by the_jeremy » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 4:20 PM UTC

nolevels wrote: post #480

the_jeremy wrote: post #171

Not laid off, but got an offer this month. All I did was turn on "open to work" on LinkedIn, respond to >400 recruiters, ~3% of which were offering good enough compensation. Had 4 on-sites, 2 rejections, 1 I rejected before offer stage, and 1 offer. Senior SRE, no leetcode / system design, but they did have a take-home project.

What was the salary range?

~$275k total comp b/t base/bonus/RSUs in MCOL.

Re: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

#540

Post by the_jeremy » Wed, Dec 07, 2022, 4:24 PM UTC

mixmastamyk wrote: post #388

the_jeremy wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My contract says I can't be employed anywhere else. Part of it is for IP reasons, because they want to own everything I create.

I hope they are paying handsomely for that provision.

I'm in the top 25% compensation for senior SWEs in my area, according to levels.fyi, and I only have 5 YOE, so I guess so. I don't know that either me or them feel like that provision is the driver of this, but if it weren't a great offer I'd probably fight harder.