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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

#121

Post by ineptech »

If you want to be recession-proof, get a job at a non-software company (or in academia, state/city government, etc).

In theory, "programmer" is the same job whether you work for a startup or the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation, but in practice they feel like completely different industries. In one, you can make fantastic money but the interviews are famously difficult, the culture can be borderline abusive, and layoffs are a way of life. In the other, the money is only pretty good but you leave at 5, the toughest interview question you'll get is "Please name three design patterns," and your job is mostly immune to macro trends.

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

#122

Post by xur17 »

EamonnMR wrote: post #83

Anecdotally, the recruiter calls surged in the previous few months and have slowed to a trickle in the last couple.

My email volume doesn't seem to have dropped much at all, but perhaps they're trying to take advantage of the uptick in layoffs..

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

#123

Post by namecheapTA »

tunesmith wrote: post #120

The 2000 recession sucked and lasted a while. I remember Intel was hiring web programmers for $12/hour and were getting swarmed with applicants. In those kinds of environments, contractors do a little better. Employers are all freaked out, they want to get work done but they don't want to make long-term commitments. It's not until they start making noise about contractors being expensive and wanting to convert you to…

What happens in times like this and people's issues with wage discrimination for example? Are there people left at the company still making $50 an hour for a similar role to someone new hired making $20? Do all these salaries get readjusted eventually?

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

#124

Post by alar44 »

ineptech wrote: post #121

If you want to be recession-proof, get a job at a non-software company (or in academia, state/city government, etc). In theory, "programmer" is the same job whether you work for a startup or the Minnesota Dept. of Transportation, but in practice they feel like completely different industries. In one, you can make fantastic money but the interviews are famously difficult, the culture can be borderline abusive, and lay…

This is a great point. I work for a medical device manufacturing company. Times have never been better for us. There was a dip in the beginning of Covid, but after a few months we just started sucking up clients from companies that went under.

Joining that industry was a conscious decision I made because I want to work for a company that makes tangible things, not "just" software. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with "just software" but I find it's more interesting when you're making widgets and the software needs to interface with the physical world.

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

#125

Post by michaelrpeskin »

bob1029 wrote: post #106
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 oth…

Yes, forgot boring! We're kind of boring. Our customers are boring, our technology is boring (Java 8!), but the problems we solve are actually pretty exciting - we just solve them in a boring way :)

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

#126

Post by muzani »

yodsanklai wrote: post #100
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

> the market will be stronger what makes you think so?

People anticipate the drop to hit hardest in 6 months, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as everyone cancels hiring immediately to see how the market will end up.

I don't think companies are stopping because they're out of money. They're just slamming the brakes because something strange and unexpected happened.

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

#127

Post by muzani »

glintik wrote: post #118

Markets need to cool down sometimes to wipe out millions of ineffective businesses. Others will optimize their processes to cut off expenses. Real estate will be cheaper. These moments are positive.

I thought that was what covid was for

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

#128

Post by bluemania2 »

lordofgibbons wrote: post #103
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.

You may be underestimating the number of job descriptions which demand a masters degree to even be considered. This is especially the case for data science roles for tech/fin/blue chip. From experience OMSCS is perfect for this.

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

#129

Post by amackera »

lordofgibbons wrote: post #103
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.

As a counter example: I've seen that plenty of times. PhDs too.
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