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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

#221

Post by leeoniya »

twblalock wrote: post #151
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…

> 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. These generalizations are untrue for a lot of companies, and for a lot of teams. Software companies, even FAANGs, can be very relaxed and comfortable places to work. It all really depends on the team -- and you can end up with an abusive boss in any industry. Job secu…

> It's at least 4X, often more.

i'd say, often 2X, sometimes more.

4x would be a case of being drastically underpaid.

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

#222

Post by travisgriggs »

I have felt that for some time we are headed for a market over saturation situation like the 80's when everyone got Electrical Engineering degrees, and then it all collapsed. I know lots of people who have quit other careers to go the BootCamp route to get in on the movement. I've worried for some time this can't be sustainable.

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

#223

Post by jedberg »

I dropped out of school in 1999, and got laid off in 2001 at the start of that recession. I couldn't get a job in 2001 or 2002, so I went back to school and got scholarships to live off of, and graduated in 2003. Recession was still ongoing but I got lucky and had a friend from the first job help me get a job, but other than that, I wasn't getting a lot of interviews.

I had friends who were getting hired and then laid off just a few weeks later. One guy lucked out and got hired and fired with severance before his start date.

Job searching during a recession isn't fun. Going back to school with scholarships, if you can get them, is a good stopgap. You'll get money to live as well as extra education to make a stronger application when the recession ends.

Otherwise, work your network. Find friends who were lucky enough to get jobs and ask for referrals. Work on open source projects and try to make friends with the senior people on the project, who might like your work and get you a job.

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

#224

Post by jedberg »

wiredfool wrote: post #57
FunnyBadger wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 6 months?? I can remember situations in the past where people were hired and then fired 2 weeks later because a contract was lost. Mostly in aerospace/defense industry.

The startup I was in in the first bust (2001) hired/relocated people 2 weeks before laying everyone off.

In 2001 I had a friend get a job and then get fired with severance before his start date!

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

#225

Post by michaelrpeskin »

NDizzle wrote: post #193
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…

What are the pay ranges for the roles you have open?

It’s a pretty wide range. For juniors just out of college, I think we’re near 80-100, I’m at a principal level and am close to 200. We’re looking mostly for junior to mid. We’re a bit top heavy right now. It’s not SV levels plus equity like they get, but we don’t have unlimited budgets like the FAANGs. The owners just take a normal salary and all of the profits go to the employees as year end bonuses. So it’s pretty fair, I think.

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

#226

Post by tick_tock_tick »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #93

I'm not surprised (unfortunately, and I am truly sorry for this). Don't look to the 2008 recession for an idea of how things may go. Look to the 2000 (Tech Bubble Burst) recession. In that one, the bottom dropped out of the tech market. Web designers were especially hard hit. I have family that works for Intel, and they say that Intel tends to actually increase hiring in bear markets. I suspect that's because they ar…

Biggest difference between now at 2000 is companies have real customers and revenue. 2000 was a completely different beast and conditions that set that off aren't anywhere close. Doesn't mean it can't get bad but 2000 is not the place to look for a playbook.

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

#227

Post by michaelrpeskin »

bradlys wrote: post #185
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…

> I've never made FAANG/startup income > we're desperately trying to hire Do you wonder why people aren’t joining?

Yeah. We can’t compete with the numbers I see the SV folks making. Most of our work is directly billed to the customer so we need reasonable rates if we’re ever going to win bids. We can’t just live off of monopoly-level ad revenue.

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

#228

Post by cwilkes »

tynpeddler wrote: post #21

I've had meta and microsoft cancel on me. I also went all the way through the interview loop at one company, received very positive feedback but was told that they had decided to close the position without filling it. There's definitely a pullback and it started about 2 months ago. Update: As of now, about half of the companies I've interviewed with at one level or another, have abruptly halted their process due to e…

It’s coming up to June when MSFT does yearly planning and determining headcount so expect to hear nothing back or that they are in a holding pattern.

This happened to me last year and after asking around happens every year.

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

#229

Post by michaelrpeskin »

no_wizard wrote: post #135
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…

I’m sure you’ll get some interests folks if you post where you work here on HN!

I’d like to. I’m always caught off guard when the Who’s hiring comes around and most of our HR dept isn’t on HN to make a post. I need to make a throwaway some time and post an ad here (not looking to tie my account to real life right now)

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

#230

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

bigiain wrote: post #215
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #93

I'm not surprised (unfortunately, and I am truly sorry for this). Don't look to the 2008 recession for an idea of how things may go. Look to the 2000 (Tech Bubble Burst) recession. In that one, the bottom dropped out of the tech market. Web designers were especially hard hit. I have family that works for Intel, and they say that Intel tends to actually increase hiring in bear markets. I suspect that's because they ar…

> Look to the 2000 (Tech Bubble Burst) recession. In that one, the bottom dropped out of the tech market. Web designers were especially hard hit. I wonder if it's gonna be mobile app designers/devs this time round?

Might be. I don't particularly care, for myself (I'm done with the rat race), but there's a whole ton of folks that have the job description that may have a hard time of it.

It seems that a lot of software, these days, is "full stack" (SaaS) stuff. The app is really just the frontend. If the frontends get clobbered, the backends are just behind. Basic "food chain" stuff.

UPDATED TO ADD:

I took a peek at your HN profile, and it sounds like you have a background after my own heart (monkeying with hardware).

That's a fairly serious skillset, and not for the faint of heart. I'd say that you may have a better chance than many.

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