I work remotely from Orange County for a big company that 'doesn't do remote'. I contributed to open source projects that were already in use by the company, and I had to start out on a '3 month contract' (working remote) before they were ok with hiring remote.
Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
31–40 of 48 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
#32A major difference between now and 5 years ago is that you have been self-employed for 5 years. From an employer's perspective, you have tasted the forbidden fruit of independence. You no longer fit in a nice box, guaranteed to obey your manager and believe in the corporate mission statement. You can think for yourself. There are companies that value your new skills. But more companies will find those new skills scar…
Completely agree. It's not only about the skills, but also (from my experience) working for a company isn't that satisfying and motivating as for yourself.
Re: Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
#33[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
#34A major difference between now and 5 years ago is that you have been self-employed for 5 years. From an employer's perspective, you have tasted the forbidden fruit of independence. You no longer fit in a nice box, guaranteed to obey your manager and believe in the corporate mission statement. You can think for yourself. There are companies that value your new skills. But more companies will find those new skills scar…
This is a throwaway account, so I'm going to be straight up. My business has been declining for the last three years. It's still very good though and pays out more than an employer would.
But, boy, you hit the nail on the head. I don't ever want to go back to employment. I really only want a remote job as a buffer to continue working on my own.
I don't have FU money, so even though I have free time, I spend a lot of it worrying. I think that's why people are so easy to reach for VC. They feel comfortable when others have skin in the game. They don't feel so alone -- like I do.
Just wish it would last forever, but these headwinds are good for me. I need a kick in the ass. I've wasted a lot of time.
Re: Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
#35I get a feeling that the tech job market is oversaturated right now, and there are plenty of people running around with all the "achievements" (diplomas, certifications, etc) and no actual knowledge. On my last job i sat right next to the corner where we interviewed candidates, so i could hear everything and would occasionally pop in to participate. There was a scary amount of people like that - boasting a big resume…
They can build functional, well-written products and solve complex problems, but they don't know this arbitrary task-specific trivia! Terrible!
Re: Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
#36I was a network engineer for 2.5 years, started out right from college. Recently went to two interviews, devops and full stack engineer and got offers from both. This was in Stockholm.
Re: Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
#37A major difference between now and 5 years ago is that you have been self-employed for 5 years. From an employer's perspective, you have tasted the forbidden fruit of independence. You no longer fit in a nice box, guaranteed to obey your manager and believe in the corporate mission statement. You can think for yourself. There are companies that value your new skills. But more companies will find those new skills scar…
This is a throwaway account, so I'm going to be straight up. My business has been declining for the last three years. It's still very good though and pays out more than an employer would. But, boy, you hit the nail on the head. I don't ever want to go back to employment. I really only want a remote job as a buffer to continue working on my own. I don't have FU money, so even though I have free time, I spend a lot of…
The honesty in this post is really refreshing and insightful. There are a lot of people in tech who would kill to be in your position (see every monthly-ish thread about how to make passive income or how to make money off of an app). It's interesting to think about what proportion of those such people who achieve their goal would end up feeling like how you feel - having a lot of free time, and spending a large chunk of it worrying instead of being as hyper-productive as they imagined they could be.
Re: Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
#38I get a feeling that the tech job market is oversaturated right now, and there are plenty of people running around with all the "achievements" (diplomas, certifications, etc) and no actual knowledge. On my last job i sat right next to the corner where we interviewed candidates, so i could hear everything and would occasionally pop in to participate. There was a scary amount of people like that - boasting a big resume…
They can build functional, well-written products and solve complex problems, but they don't know this arbitrary task-specific trivia! Terrible!
Well, it was for a project that deals with distributed low level high performance data processing. Not something a JS or even a typical application level programmer need to know about these days.
Re: Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
#39I get a feeling that the tech job market is oversaturated right now, and there are plenty of people running around with all the "achievements" (diplomas, certifications, etc) and no actual knowledge. On my last job i sat right next to the corner where we interviewed candidates, so i could hear everything and would occasionally pop in to participate. There was a scary amount of people like that - boasting a big resume…
>boasting a big resume but unable to tell a mutex from a semaphore Is it bad that I have no idea what either of those are?
Only if you claim to be experienced in building distributed, multi threaded systems.
Re: Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a throwaway account, so I'm going to be straight up. My business has been declining for the last three years. It's still very good though and pays out more than an employer would. But, boy, you hit the nail on the head. I don't ever want to go back to employment. I really only want a remote job as a buffer to continue working on my own. I don't have FU money, so even though I have free time, I spend a lot of…
The honesty in this post is really refreshing and insightful. There are a lot of people in tech who would kill to be in your position (see every monthly-ish thread about how to make passive income or how to make money off of an app). It's interesting to think about what proportion of those such people who achieve their goal would end up feeling like how you feel - having a lot of free time, and spending a large chunk…
Thanks. Yeah, it's definitely been great, but challenging in some regards.
For the first two years I mostly spent time worrying about an older brother who unfortunately won't speak with me anymore. He was really pissed that my app took off and the side work he was doing didn't pan out.
I got over him, and spent most of my time reading books, which feels healthy at first, but then starts feeling counterproductive. Why read all this crap if you're not doing anything with what you're learning?
So, about a year or so ago, I finally got around to realizing that all the stuff I was reading could be distilled into a 2 things: Focus and hard work. The people who are successful do the work. Working hard is what originally put me in this position, and along the way, I lost myself and started thinking I got here because I'm smart. The biggest mistake I've made is wasting time, and it doesn't matter how smart you are when you do that.
Started reading books like "Flow" which gives me a lot of motivation and I've been on a solid hard-work streak for some time. Hoping I can build something else before it all comes crashing down around me.
Fun stuff...