Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era • Hacker News Board

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#481

Post by capelio » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:00 AM UTC

the_only_law wrote: post #100

I hate that the market is so great right now because I really can’t take advantage of it. I would love to start the process, to try and get a salary increase anywhere from 30%-100% but unfortunately I’ve stagnated sharply skills wise. Don’t qualify for the jobs I see I think I’d enjoy, and don’t even qualify for the jobs that meet my salary preferences that I’d otherwise dislike. I also would have to be looking at im…

You’re right. You can’t take advantage of it. But not for any of the reasons you listed.

You’ve already decided you would fail, and that’s all it takes to seal the deal.

Dare a little. You’ve already made a list of your weaknesses. Now make a list of your strengths. Then sell yourself on how each weakness can be explained as a strength. If there’s nothing there at the end of the exercise, you haven’t lost anything. But you may just end up with some useful clarity on your worth in the marketplace.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#482

Post by WalterBright » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:01 AM UTC

dbish wrote: post #4

Even if you think you’re well paid, now is the time to look around. I’ve had a lot of friends, mentees, and coworkers get huge bumps on total compensation even as relatively senior engineers and managers. Pay is jumping and companies aren’t doing a great job keeping that up for their people who have been around for a few years. As an employer, that should be the top worry, keep comp up, don’t lose your people because…

It's interesting reading this thread after the scores (hundreds?) of previous threads saying one cannot negotiate with employers because of power and information asymmetry.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#483

Post by hizxy » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:14 AM UTC

Lol the companies they referenced are awful. What the hell is “Zeeto”?

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#484

Post by ornornor » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:28 AM UTC

the_only_law wrote: post #345

alfiedotwtf wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Time sink, especially with people talking about 4-5 stage interviews. From friends who are at FAANGs, it sounds like the prep work has been about 100 hours. That's re-reading things like Sedgewick and burning all your spare time at things like leetcode.

Maybe, but I don’t have much energy anymore, I can’t even manage to pay attention to a 15m YouTube video before describing to slump off back to bed. I also feel slow in general these days, probably from a number of factors. But I was mainly referring to the actually interviews themselves. 4-5 seems like so many, especially if they fly you out vs just being done remotely.

There is no shame in staying comfortable. HN makes us feel inadequate all the time but that’s not what matters.

If your job is comfortable, pays well enough, and doesn’t demand all your waking time then why chnage?

Sure you can always get more money elsewhere, sure there are jobs that pay double what you’re making now, sure there are jobs where you get to do insanely cool shit… but it’s a lot of luck and effort to get these jobs. And then, you free time might vanish (either because it turns out these jobs are “always on” type of jobs, and/or because you’re so drained at the end of your day that you don’t have energy for anything else)

There is really nothing wrong with contempt in my opinion. Especially after 10+ years when you understand how most jobs are basically the same, that there is more to life than work, and that we can’t all be doing cool stuff all the time.

To hedge against being in a position where you’re laid off and can’t get a new job anymore, consider saving aggressively. 50% of net pay is a good starting point. This makes you give very little fucks about whether you’ll get laid off or not and after about 12 years of doing that, you won’t even really need a job anymore.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#485

Post by robotresearcher » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:29 AM UTC

brailsafe wrote: post #304

robotresearcher wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get the job and then learn the skill. The value proposition you present is that you can learn stuff. This is not a flippant reply! I’m totally serious.

Ya but companies genuinely don't care about that. We'd all like them to, but when the first step of an interview process is an automatically generated global talent test, administered by an hr person, there's no room for this sales pitch really. "Lets hire this guy who tells us he can learn, or let's hire this new grad who's been grinding leetcode for 2 years straight and happens to test well on the tech we bet our w…

> this guy who tells us he can learn

I'm assuming you have actually learned something and can show the results. Don't just declare yourself a learner, unless your real skill is amazing charisma.

Graduating and acing leetcode is evidence of ability to learn something. What's yours?

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#486

Post by leratrace » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:31 AM UTC

aleksiy wrote: post #432

leratrace wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

mind naming some of those high-paying ones in Canada? I'll be shopping soon and curious. edit: also in Van.

Wish is one. Though I'm not a big fan of their product. The other is a Series D startup based in SF

yup - Wish paid a lot in TO as well but then again, their product isn't necessarily appealing.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#487

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:39 AM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #455

starky wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be easy for a senior to provide $40k more value than a junior employee, especially considering that a lot of the value a junior employee creates can be due to mentorship and working with senior employees.

But how do you evaluate value on a multi person and even multi team project? Is the tester or security person valued as much as the senior dev? Without them the devs work might do more harm than good, right? How do we put value on those intangibles?

[deleted]

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#488

Post by blahyawnblah » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:46 AM UTC

skeeter2020 wrote: post #192

dbish wrote: post #4

Even if you think you’re well paid, now is the time to look around. I’ve had a lot of friends, mentees, and coworkers get huge bumps on total compensation even as relatively senior engineers and managers. Pay is jumping and companies aren’t doing a great job keeping that up for their people who have been around for a few years. As an employer, that should be the top worry, keep comp up, don’t lose your people because…

We just gave our devs relatively modest increases, and only one raised any objections and ended up with a more than a 15% increase. I worry about all those devs who won't say anything (why should they have to?) and will just go somewhere else for a 20% bump.

You can get good raises by changing jobs. You can also get good raises by talking to your manager. Don't be passive about the income that you get.

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#489

Post by sjs7007 » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:47 AM UTC

ergocoder wrote: post #356

dbish wrote: post #4

Even if you think you’re well paid, now is the time to look around. I’ve had a lot of friends, mentees, and coworkers get huge bumps on total compensation even as relatively senior engineers and managers. Pay is jumping and companies aren’t doing a great job keeping that up for their people who have been around for a few years. As an employer, that should be the top worry, keep comp up, don’t lose your people because…

I'm at a FAANG-like company with 1m USD TC because of stock appreciation. Where would I get a job like this? I hate my job a little but the hate is not strong enough for me to leave a 1m TC job for a lower TC. I'm stuck basically. I'll be gone after 4y definitely

Jesus, how much did the stock rise? What was your TC before appreciation?

Re: Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

#490

Post by paulmendoza » Mon, Aug 02, 2021, 5:53 AM UTC

ProjectArcturis wrote: post #190

nemo44x wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing about the .com crash is all the investors were mainly right, besides some ridiculous things. They were just too early as the web didn’t have critical mass until 10 years later and today’s web makes the one of 10 years ago appear quaint. Because of that critical mass I think a similar crash is unlikely across the entire sector.

I don't know, I thought pets.com was stupid then, and chewy.com is stupid now. The main difference is the Chewy guys were smart enough to cash out before the bubble burst again, rather than spending their cash on stadium naming rights.

VCs are now demanding real revenue these days. Same for public companies. You can still be losing money but as long as there is real revenue growth then it works. Eyeballs or app installs isn’t enough anymore. That’s why I don’t see a crash either.