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Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

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Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#111

Post by demarq »

avip wrote: post #73
ithrow wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, how does a bartender ends up staying reading HN?

If you read this forum carefully you'll find it indeed contains constructors, truck drivers, firefighters, pilots, physicians, teachers... just to name a few from memory. All these "non-developers" are priceless when discussions pop up which require domain expertise (which we developers usually lack) [edit: they are also priceless generally speaking]

ha I tried to find out what people are on HN, but I didn't get any responses. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21484252

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#112

Post by gazelle21 »

ithrow wrote: post #37
cammikebrown wrote: post #24

I’m a bartender. At least 75% of my friends have been laid off. Not just bartenders, but servers, bussers, most cooks, managers, and everyone I know who works in hotels as well.

Just curious, how does a bartender ends up staying reading HN?

I use to read hackernews when I was working at Macdonald's non stop, it was the only thing that kept me sane.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#113

Post by fred_is_fred »

seniordevconfuz wrote: post #104
fred_is_fred wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if you are in the US, but if you are apply for unemployment and apply now. The sooner you do it the longer your savings will last. And having gone through this before, you need to cut spending to the bone. Beyond not going out to eat since that is handled, but see if you can reduce your car insurance, drop online recurring services, etc.

That's a great advice. Yes I am in the US.I will start that application right now. I panic paid off my car insurance just in case things get worse. I'll shop for a cheaper phone plan. Gym memberships, online streaming and frivolous stuff will go. Capitalism for the win.

You should have already put your gym on hold - see if they will freeze it. Presumably you have not been in at least 2 weeks.

Also if you are not driving you can perhaps get a discount for the mileage reduction. You might also just let them know you are laid off.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#114

Post by hackinthebochs »

topherPedersen wrote: post #31

I landed my first job as full-time professional software developer doing React-Native development right before the Coronavirus pandemic struck. By the time I finished filling out all of the hiring paperwork, drug tests, etc., they reneged on the offer. Was pretty upset about it at the time, but I guess it's hit everyone else just as hard.

Where was the job located? It seems odd that you had to take a drug test for the job. I don't think I've heard of that happening in the tech field.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#115

Post by LarryDarrell »

The company I'm contracting for is flaming out fast. It's sad to see the death spiral in action. It's a shame, because it's the best work I've ever done and I don't know if anyone will ever see it. The software team was 100% remote and they were the best colleagues I've ever had.

It sucks to have graduated in 07, and feel like you've hit your stride in 20.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#116

Post by nsxwolf »

I haven't been laid off yet but I expect it to happen any moment. This will be my second layoff this year. I went through coding interview hell to get this job too, and I was so happy and things were really looking up. This is hard.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#117

Post by jedberg »

seniordevconfuz wrote: post #104
fred_is_fred wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if you are in the US, but if you are apply for unemployment and apply now. The sooner you do it the longer your savings will last. And having gone through this before, you need to cut spending to the bone. Beyond not going out to eat since that is handled, but see if you can reduce your car insurance, drop online recurring services, etc.

That's a great advice. Yes I am in the US.I will start that application right now. I panic paid off my car insurance just in case things get worse. I'll shop for a cheaper phone plan. Gym memberships, online streaming and frivolous stuff will go. Capitalism for the win.

Before you cut everything, keep in mind that you're still a human being and have psychological needs. If that streaming service brings you hours of joy, it might be cheaper to keep it than the bills for your mental health treatment down the line.

Don't just cut everything out of your life cold turkey. Keep something that brings you joy.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#118

Post by glippiglop »

cammikebrown wrote: post #62
ithrow wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, how does a bartender ends up staying reading HN?

I have a physics degree. It turns out a bachelor’s degree doesn’t help much, and I was too burnt out at the time to go to grad school. I took a few introductory programming classes and I’ve been trying to get back into it lately. Try talking to a bartender sometime, you may find out they’re not as dumb as rocks.

I met a programmer many years back who had previously been a physicist at CERN. I'd never have guessed but I think he picked up the programming bug there. If you think coding is your thing then go for it and all the best to you!

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#119

Post by unemphysbro »

aerovistae wrote: post #106
seniordevconfuz wrote: post #77

I woke up today with a nice surprise from HR. I got laid off. It was the most impersonal and robotic email I received. 20 minutes later all my accounts got disabled, not a chance to even say farewell to my nice co-workers. It sucks. I don't have a ton of savings. Luckily my car is paid off, and I only have student loans left. I was very tempted to inflate my lifestyle after I got a big raise. I didn't do it, otherwis…

You can stop your student loans completely. I went a very long time without paying them when I was unemployed.

I believe if the loans are non-stafford interest accrues.

I had to pause my repayments this month because of job-hunt.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#120

Post by erikbye »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #63
3pt14159 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry to hear that dude. Haskell is a demanding language, so you're almost certainly a pretty senior dev. If so, consider volunteering to help organizations during the downtime. Worst case, if you can't get that dream gig back it will certainly make your resume stand out when you're looking for your next thing. Best of luck.

Where can people volunteer with tech skills? Is there a demand for it?

While not what you meant, if people with coding skills have free time, it is greatly appreciated if they contribute to open source projects that are widely used. A lot of OSS are critical components in many systems we rely on daily, your contributions can have more value than you can even imagine.

It would be great if all devs could keep this in mind, but especially the ones that are about to get some time off (if life does not get too stressful for you).

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