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Ask HN: What is the job market like?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the job market like?

#61

Post by untrust »

interactivecode wrote: post #39
itstotallykyle wrote: post #13

Been applying since January after a startup layoff and seeing mixed results. I have 14 years of experience spanning datacenter ops, Security certs, and all 3 major clouds. I’ve led hundreds of people across multiple technical disciplines. Right out of the gate, I was getting great callbacks and final rounds. Then, around April, the pipeline completely dried up. I’m doing the work for EVERY application like generating…

Wondering what happened in April, around that time layoffs started including at my job. No reason at all aside from “AI” and the C suite wanting larger profits.

April is the start of the second fiscal quarter, so companies had completed Q1 and were doing quarterly earnings reports. The stock market was trending downward all of Q1, so it was probably an attempt to reduce costs to ensure that Q2 would have better numbers for the Q2 earnings reports.

Re: Ask HN: What is the job market like?

#62

Post by rdtsc »

qwertyuiop_ wrote: post #53
rdtsc wrote: post #27

US tech company. Just as the RTO excuse ended it started with AI immediately. RTO was used to squeeze as hard as possible to force people to leave and not pay severance ("You're not in the office a month from now across the country? Looks like you decided to resign, sucks for you!"). First it was "be in any office, as long as you butt is in a building with our logo on it" to "well, no, you gotta be where you manager…

How do you think they all had the same remote only work, then hybrid and then 5 days a week ? They even talk and act the same at conferences with clasping seal hands. They are mostly highly paid bots, paid by the real puppeteers - boards and above to execute the common mission.

CEOs have their own hierarchies. The little startup CEO knows they are a little startup CEO and looks up to big company CEOs, who look up to Amazon CEO or Google CEO. Amazon CEO does something stupid or daring and and then everyone sits and watches for a while then decides "Hell, Amazon is doing it, it must be good and we'll do it, too. Nobody can blame us now, we'll just point at "the industry" trends.

I's all about finding the next good excuse: RTO, AI are great excuses. They can tell those stories to the investors, the media, the workers who are pushed out, even to themselves to feel less stupid and guilty. "Industry shows working in the office is better, look at the trends!", "AI can do coding now, look at such and such, my nephew built a website with a prompt!". That's a whole lot better than "well shit, we over-hired like crazy and messed up, we're pretty stupid".

Re: Ask HN: What is the job market like?

#63

Post by rognjen »

yewenjie wrote: post #25
alephnerd wrote: post #17

This gets constantly asked on HN. What matters is where you live - the hiring market in Germany or Canada is going to be different from the Bay Area or NYC.

German startups that used to be English-speaking are now asking for German. I don't understand what that solves.

Going to have to ask for a citation for that claim bub....

Re: Ask HN: What is the job market like?

#64

Post by wuschel »

throwawayhirex wrote: post #23

Staff eng at large startup in Bay Area, 7-10 YOE. Recently interviewed at the labs. Had to go through a recruiter friend at one of them to get a response. Very difficult interviews but mostly feasible to prep for. Had to get somewhat lucky to get an offer, staff-level. Took about two months from beginning to prep to signing an offer. Recruiters very responsive - a little arrogant re: other companies but insecure abou…

For those not in SF, could you please clarify what you mean by "labs"?

Re: Ask HN: What is the job market like?

#65

Post by nigel41 »

itstotallykyle wrote: post #13

Been applying since January after a startup layoff and seeing mixed results. I have 14 years of experience spanning datacenter ops, Security certs, and all 3 major clouds. I’ve led hundreds of people across multiple technical disciplines. Right out of the gate, I was getting great callbacks and final rounds. Then, around April, the pipeline completely dried up. I’m doing the work for EVERY application like generating…

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: What is the job market like?

#66

Post by nigel41 »

itstotallykyle wrote: post #13

Been applying since January after a startup layoff and seeing mixed results. I have 14 years of experience spanning datacenter ops, Security certs, and all 3 major clouds. I’ve led hundreds of people across multiple technical disciplines. Right out of the gate, I was getting great callbacks and final rounds. Then, around April, the pipeline completely dried up. I’m doing the work for EVERY application like generating…

Keep working the process. It sounds like you're doing all the right things with custom applications. One thing I've found helpful for getting past those initial HR filters is really dissecting the job descriptions for keywords they're looking for - and extending your professional narrative arc to the priorities, investments, values, direction, etc. as articulated by the C-suite (know your target better than any competing applicant). A tool like ApplicantPrime can help with that (free, btw), basically reverse-engineering what the company's ATS and hiring managers are likely looking for. It might help give your tailored resumes an extra edge.

Re: Ask HN: What is the job market like?

#67

Post by irvingprime »

rdtsc wrote: post #62
qwertyuiop_ wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you think they all had the same remote only work, then hybrid and then 5 days a week ? They even talk and act the same at conferences with clasping seal hands. They are mostly highly paid bots, paid by the real puppeteers - boards and above to execute the common mission.

CEOs have their own hierarchies. The little startup CEO knows they are a little startup CEO and looks up to big company CEOs, who look up to Amazon CEO or Google CEO. Amazon CEO does something stupid or daring and and then everyone sits and watches for a while then decides "Hell, Amazon is doing it, it must be good and we'll do it, too. Nobody can blame us now, we'll just point at "the industry" trends. I's all about…

I've had a theory for years that the free market is mostly a myth, that really most business execs are herd animals who form their strategies by copying others. Usually they copy the ones in the same industry, making them all look pretty much the same.

That's one of the reasons we have economic cycles. It's because trends come and go in waves. When one wave bankrupts a bunch of companies, they start to dig out and then the next wave hits, endlessly.

Re: Ask HN: What is the job market like?

#68

Post by turbojobapply »

icedchai wrote: post #40
MeetingsBrowser wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know how to make the statistics match my perceived reality. Both in this thread, and people I know in real life who are looking for jobs are struggling hard. Mass layoffs are becoming more common and the time spent between jobs is measured in six month increments. And yet, the numbers say we are in a hiring market with more job openings than ever, except for during the pandemic. My perceived reality and the n…

Same. I'm still employed, but am looking. I've had a few interviews but they're all for jobs I wouldn't really want. I know talented people who were laid off and have been looking for 6 to 9 months+. It's very rough out there. I've witnessed the dot-com crash, great financial crisis... this is the worst I've seen. Maybe other industries are better.

I am working on a system to scan ATS sites and help Job Seekers fight back against ATS AI if your interested in trying it out, https://turbojobapply.com
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