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I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

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Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#41

Post by ianai »

MattGaiser wrote: post #24
ianai wrote: post #12

Seems really well written. I’d add that stability in the work environment is something many (most?) people want. Experimental fighter pilots are a rare breed, after all. I’m weighing this against my own career. I’ve worked with very short sighted business managers a lot (IT at a large casino). They absolutely don’t care about tech the way us techies do. They also don’t care about a technician or engineer enjoying the…

> I’d add that stability in the work environment is something many (most?) people want. Seriously. I have had 7 managers in my 2 year career. Yet to be in a job where more than half of the team I started with stayed a year. It has always been frustrating, but granted I can't blame them and jump around myself as that's where the raises are.

Good point. So that population of people probably has some functional constraints. Sorta like seasonal laborer numbers increase in the fall/winter and diminish after. Or frictional unemployment always exists as some portion of the labor pool latently reacts to changing work conditions. Ie the two year hoppers are probably doing their usual thing if only because they’re within their 2 year commitment period at the current place.

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#43

Post by eatonphil »

Great post! I think part of the problem for hiring managers at any not-small company is that the things that attract great engineers are not really things that a single hiring manager can solely control. If you're an excellent manager in a mediocre or bad environment there's only so much excellence you can promote in your team alone. And larger orgs must tend toward mediocrity/average by nature. I don't know where I'm going with this philosophical exercise. Maybe individuals would be best served intellectually if there were only small companies to work for?

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#44

Post by robotresearcher »

techsupporter wrote: post #26
mrkentutbabi wrote: post #17

That’s weird. I like money more than “work for cool stuff”. Cool stuff don’t pay bills. Heh, maybe this is why I am an average engineer.

> Cool stuff don’t pay bills. I'm very much on board with this. I put stability and money on about the same pedestal and is why I still work where I do after many years for a salary that is fantastic for 90% of the country but is "merely average" for Seattle. Working for a rock solid medium-sized that's been in existence for a hundred years and funded by a stable endowment and a pile of public service contracts and h…

How are the long term employment prospects for today’s SpaceX engineers?

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#45

Post by srcreigh »

thedougd wrote: post #30
Waterluvian wrote: post #15

I’ve gotten 7 recruitment emails since Sunday and none of them have come close to sufficiently explaining what the company or job is for me to even consider responding. It’s bizarre how secretive they are. I imagine the recruiters are looking out for their own interests. Recruiters are in the way.

I was once told recruiters did this because they didn't want you reading the email and heading straight to the company's site to apply. If you applied directly, the recruiter was out of the loop and thus out of a commission. I suppose I _might_ be able to negotiate that commission in the form of a larger signing bonus. I doubt that's a winning strategy. It seems like it would usually be in the best interest of the po…

> I suppose I _might_ be able to negotiate that commission

Asking for a friend. Does anybody know what this commission is?

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#46

Post by Apocryphon »

reikonomusha wrote: post #29

Purely anecdotal: In my experience as a hiring manager seeing trends change over the past 10 years, and selecting from the top 10% of candidates by some vague metric, it's primarily about "does it pay a lot" and secondarily "does it offer full-remote"? A lot of my friends, former colleagues, and candidates I've failed to hire end up going to either a FAANG or a very successful brand-name company (typically a SV compa…

On the flip side, dissatisfaction about engineering work conditions at AMZN (the notorious PIP culture) is a rising deterrent.

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#47

Post by vmception »

mrkentutbabi wrote: post #17

That’s weird. I like money more than “work for cool stuff”. Cool stuff don’t pay bills. Heh, maybe this is why I am an average engineer.

Same here, and I learned to pretend and smile at the hiring manager and founders who were trying to make money priority sound weird. Eventually the money was being paid by the same people who offered the cool stuff to work on.

Now I can be choosy, for even more money

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#48

Post by symlinkk »

hguant wrote: post #8

There comes a point where the money just isn't a motivating factor anymore, and companies are struggling to figure out how to work in that environment. This bit from the author hits the nail on the head: >Is an extra $10k per year worth learning a new org, a new skillset, a new set of expectations, a new set of coworkers, and a new boss? For many engineers, the answer is: “No.” Yes I could quit and get a ~20k raise b…

You must live in the sticks or something. I make well over 6 figures and can’t afford a house.

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#49

Post by greatpostman »

pavlov wrote: post #25
greatpostman wrote: post #22

I just threatened to walk out at my current FAANG job. Crippling tech debt and unreasonable deadlines. Three levels of management apologized. Any other job market? They would probably be looking for a way to push me out. Very strong signal to me that the market is hot.

They’re probably also looking for a way to push you out now.

Honestly don’t think so, always a possibility, and even if they do it’s not a big deal

Re: I think I know why you can't hire engineers right now

#50

Post by matthewfcarlson »

Waterluvian wrote: post #15

I’ve gotten 7 recruitment emails since Sunday and none of them have come close to sufficiently explaining what the company or job is for me to even consider responding. It’s bizarre how secretive they are. I imagine the recruiters are looking out for their own interests. Recruiters are in the way.

As a rule, I don’t trust any third party recruiters but that generally limits me to mid sized and up companies unless I actively seek them out. On the other hand, I get an email from Amazon recruitment nearly every day and I have zero desire to work the bozos.
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