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Tell HN: Job interview canceled due to looming recession

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Re: Tell HN: Job interview canceled due to looming recession

#101

Post by ramesh31 »

bergenty wrote: post #53
bnt wrote: post #2

Their honesty should be applauded. Imagine they hired you and then had to fire you in 6 months. Keep in touch with the PM if you liked them and see how they perform in the next 12 months.

Isn’t that pretty great? Get paid for 6 months of relatively light ramp up time and then a few months worth of severance for some time off once fired?

>Isn’t that pretty great? Get paid for 6 months of relatively light ramp up time and then a few months worth of severance for some time off once fired?

Nah that'll torch your resume for years. Unless you're a total rockstar otherwise, I'd be terrified to explain a 6 month stint.

Re: Tell HN: Job interview canceled due to looming recession

#102

Post by thegeomaster »

Leherenn wrote: post #32
yrgulation wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I may be living under a rock but i second the question: “what crash”? I am not aware of anything of the sort.

At least in the markets, the NASDAQ is down roughly 30% YTD.

Right, but financial markets are forward-looking (or "leading economic indicators"). They don't encode the current state, they encode a consensus prediction for some time period in the future. In this case, the stock market is pricing in a sharp downturn in profits (and margins) over at least the next few quarters, and I don't believe it's even finished.

Re: Tell HN: Job interview canceled due to looming recession

#103

Post by lordofgibbons »

wly_cdgr wrote: post #97

Go get your MS/PhD. By the time you finish, the market will be stronger, and so will your resume The Georgia Tech online MS is good and about $7k total. You can pay for it working at Starbucks

I have never once in my career seen someone with an MS get hired over someone with a BS because they had a MS. If you're doing it purely for return-on-investment, it's a massive waste of time and money.

Re: Tell HN: Job interview canceled due to looming recession

#104

Post by sakopov »

I graduated during a financial collapse in 2008 with a CS degree. I had about 2 years of internship experience at the time. My college friends were telling me "it's really bad - take what you can get." After weeks of searching I ended up taking my first engineering job which paid $25k a year. It was rough and my only advice is get ready for the worst.

Re: Tell HN: Job interview canceled due to looming recession

#105

Post by cableshaft »

the_only_law wrote: post #19
jghn wrote: post #15

I encountered this a lot in the 2001 drawback. There were mini pockets though. Things would dry up. Then people would start interviewing again. The next shoe would drop. Rinse, repeat. It was more typical of smaller companies but wound up being across the entire industry. I didn't wind up job hunting in 2008 so can't speak to that.

From the sound of it, my timing going back to school may just work out. Though I’m kinda curious if the affect is outsized mostly in the SV, VC pumped side of the tech industry. I work for what technically could be considered a tech startup but is backed by companies with heavy domain experience and traditional investment firms. As far as I’ve heard we’re still in a hiring storm.

I was laid off in early 2009 during the Great Recession. I figured instead of competing with a bunch of people getting laid off I might as well go back to school and spend the next two years finishing up my degree and ride it out a bit.

Didn't regret that decision. Although tuition has gotten totally ridiculous. Do it the cheapest way you can, like a public in-state school or something (I did that and it was still pretty expensive).

Re: Tell HN: Job interview canceled due to looming recession

#106

Post by bob1029 »

michaelrpeskin wrote: post #98

I bet the non-profitable, feeding-on-VC startups are getting worried and we'll see more of this. I work at a non-VC-funded, profitable, stable, small place and we're desperately trying to hire. I've never made FAANG/startup income, and I've always felt a little left-out because of that. But we've been stable for nearly 30 years, and have never had the big layoffs or hiring freezes including, dot-com bust, 2008, 2020…

> My advise is to find a smaller, stable, profitable place to interview at.

This is the answer. Our organization is tiny and works in an extremely boring niche - B2B banking consultants & related software shenanigans. We've been at it since the 90s.

If you adjust your expectations just a little bit (i.e. you are now OK using "boring" stuff like .NET/Java), you might be able to get something much more quickly than otherwise.

Regardless, the market has spoken and we must all adapt.

Re: Tell HN: Job interview canceled due to looming recession

#107

Post by steve_adams_86 »

I've been interviewing as well, and plenty of companies have either gone totally silent or cited hiring freezes after very positive interviews and even some offers. It really burns to put in the hours and have things go cold, but I try to remind myself how much worse it has been and could be. It's alright to have to work a little harder at times like this.

I'm looking for much different roles than you are, so our experiences will differ. My advice for anyone would be to be persistent though. There's not much to lose by keeping at it and maintaining good spirits, but there's a lot to lose by giving up. You could be surprised to find that connections you make now are rewarding when the economy is looking better, too.

The job market isn't a reflection of you, and losing out on opportunities will be easier than ever, but not by any fault of your own. Give it time and do your best, and you'll find something.

Good luck, keep your head up!

Re: Tell HN: Job interview canceled due to looming recession

#108

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

daveslash wrote: post #48
mooreds wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Usually it’s recent hires and people who’ve been there a long stretch who get cut first, of course with lots of exceptions. This was a bit confusing to me. Are you saying in your experience that it is both the most senior and most junior employees (in terms of company tenure) that get laid off?

I entered the job market during the 2008 recession. I definitely experienced the "hired... and..now you're laid off" ~ as the saying goes "when times get tough, last to hire = first to fire" . As for laying off senior folks -- I've seen this too; I've seen people who are senior by virtue of just having been there the longest (20+ years) and have had the most pay raises... but don't necessarily contribute as much valu…

Why do people think oldtimers at companies get paid better than new hires?

That is the case for traditional companies, but not for tech. I worked for one company (most of the time as a manager) for almost 27 years, and never made as much as new hires at most tech companies. My company got an insane bargain with me, and my whole team, and they knew it.

I don't think that cost is the reason that companies like firing older folks.

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