Ask HN: Is the Great Resignation in tech real? If so, why?

“Having money isn't everything, not having it is.” - Kanye West

I hope you can find a middle ground of decent pay and culture similar to academia.

It's completely to do with work from home. Everyone is fed up after what they had to deal with in 2020, and tech workers (almost 100% of them) got to work from home, many for the first time ever. After everything they've been through in 2020, it makes zero sense to willingly go back to work in an office where you put yourself at risk and have to deal with all those horrible things you had to deal with before 2020. So it's simple -- companies that try to make their employees go back to the office are losing tech workers to companies that embrace remote work. This creates the perception of a mass exodus, which increases the value of everyone's labor, which results in even more people switching jobs so they can cash in on their increased value, but I assure you, the root cause of this is the sudden realization that work from home is possible, and/or that non-shitty working conditions with a higher salary is indeed possible and easily attainable in this industry.

Yup.

Also, I bristle when people suggest the govnerment was just "handing out checks" willy-nilly. That seems to be the perception every time I hear someone complaining about "the government giving people checks."

If you were unemployed before the pandemic, you got nothing. So for example if you did seasonal work, and the pandemic hit during the off season, forget it. If you weren't employed for a fair bit of time before you lost your job during the pandemic, you got nothing.

If you were self-employed, you got nothing (at least at first. It took a while but they eventually came through.)

Getting any sort of welfare or government assistance usually involves a lot of paperwork and time and hassle. For example, WIC - Women with Infants or Children - a program for mothers who can't afford to feed an infant or child - requires them to come into an office in person during business hours, every 6 months, to "re-certify" their children.

Most states require regular paperwork and record-keeping to "prove" you were "actively searching" for work, and a signed statement that you did so, etc.

Many state unemployment offices were completely overwhelmed and I remember during the early months people who lost their jobs were getting really desperate because paperwork wasn't getting approved, payments weren't showing up, phones weren't being answered. Lots of redditors in my city were talking about not knowing how they were going to buy groceries because they'd been waiting for so long. I knew a fair number of people who ended up moving back with parents because they couldn't afford rent or groceries.

At least in my state the unemployment office that was so overwhelmed? Now they have lots of extra time on their hands, it seems, and are chasing down people they claim they overpaid.

Anecdotally, it's the opposite for me and my friends. We are new graduates who joined the workforce in 2020, and the value of our initial stock grants has atleast doubled. That's made it very attractive to stay for atleast 4 years rather than jump interview hoops for another company who'd probably pay less in stock/sign-on bonuses.