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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

#321
post #249

recessions are always looming . They're a natural part of the business cycle. sounds like you dodged a red flag to me.

… no, not like this they're not. Most quarters have positive GDP, most quarters we've not got half a recession under the belt already, and the way this quarter is going, it is very likely we are already in one and are just waiting for the numbers to come in.

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

#322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FAANGs are slowing down and freezing hiring too. It's not just startups that are worried.

There are also recently IPO'd companies that are dependent on share dilution. This was in the Wallstreet Journal today.

Mind sharing a link to that article?

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

#323
post #189
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine that FAANGs are sensitive to offering higher and higher proportions of equity pools to keep up with total comp expectations.

I imagine FAANGs will mostly let RSU compensation drift downward as the stock market does.

You don’t have to imagine it. Amazon publicly said as much and I believe Microsoft made a similar announcement.

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

#324
post #205
post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine FAANGs will mostly let RSU compensation drift downward as the stock market does.

It will for unvested past grants. New future grants are named in $ not shares, so have to be explicit.

My grants were named in shares.

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

#325

I always get flak for this but here we go anyway: the key is to manage expectations in the short term. First realize that the market you know is far from the norm. We were at the end of the longest bull run in history and the hottest tech job market in memory. These are things you can kiss good bye for a while: eye popping salaries with little experience, kombucha on tap and Prosecco Friday, headcount doubling every…

I'm really skeptical of all the "sky is falling" talk. Asset prices have been wildly inflated since COVID opened the taps on QE. That they are now coming down to reality is the entire point. The Fed is doing its' job. This isn't 2008. There isn't a systemic risk. Revenues are strong, consumer spending is strong, and savings are at historical levels. A wildly inflated sector of the economy is being unwound, and there…

I don't think the sky is falling either. But the weather is certainly changing, and you better get that raincoat out of the closet and make sure there are no holes in it.

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

#326

I always get flak for this but here we go anyway: the key is to manage expectations in the short term. First realize that the market you know is far from the norm. We were at the end of the longest bull run in history and the hottest tech job market in memory. These are things you can kiss good bye for a while: eye popping salaries with little experience, kombucha on tap and Prosecco Friday, headcount doubling every…

I'm really skeptical of all the "sky is falling" talk. Asset prices have been wildly inflated since COVID opened the taps on QE. That they are now coming down to reality is the entire point. The Fed is doing its' job. This isn't 2008. There isn't a systemic risk. Revenues are strong, consumer spending is strong, and savings are at historical levels. A wildly inflated sector of the economy is being unwound, and there…

I think an aspect is still true though. Many companies have been operating with an extreme growth mindset for a long time. Trying to achieve more than 40% yoy growth, getting investors to bankroll huge salaries and hiring pushes, etc. Many startups operate like this and leave sustainable profits as a problem for the future. (E.g. spend way more than revenue on hiring now and hope to be profitable later once you have more users.) That strategy relies on cash from investors.

I think these types of companies are driving the big salaries people see, which is impacting the larger hiring market. I can talk to my employer about a raise because my peers get hired at a higher rate too.

If companies adjust back into a more sustainable growth strategy, it’s likely salaries won’t continue to be as large, just because the hiring market stops driving big wage increases. And if investors aren’t willing to bankroll as much spending, companies will have to cut back on different costs if they aren’t profitable.

I think we’re still in a good career, especially at a stable company in a good financial position.

But the startup market is defined by initially unsustainable business strategies [1], so I think it’s fair to think some amount of instability is in the future if investors cut back.

1: by this I just mean the classic startup strategy which uses investor money to hire lots of devs and grow users, and then in X years, start monetizing to find profitability. It’s not sustainable until it becomes sustainable at the end, so there’s a lot of room for weird situations!

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

#327

Just to give you my own experience right now, I literally just accepted a new job yesterday after job hunting for 3-ish weeks. I had multiple job interviews, even more job interview requests. I don't say this to brag, so I apologize if it comes off that way. I just wanted to give you what could be a cancelling-out anecdata point to your own experience. I wouldn't let it get you down too much. Keep hunting and keep ap…

@dang If you wouldn't mind helping a guy out, I need to remove this link from my post but I cannot edit the post anymore. I don't believe I was supposed to post the link on HN like this and I need to prevent others from clicking it please... TO ANYONE ELSE: Please don't click that link anymore!

I didn't even notice the link until you told me not to click it, and then you bet I noticed it!

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

#328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salaries at FANG have been cut 50% in the past 12 months? I have to give that a massive Citations Needed.

Total comp has likely come down, not salaries. If a significant part of your comp is in stock, then yeah, that portion of your pay is down potentially 70% or more in six months (Netflix). There’s probably some employees at FAANG that are negative on their equity.

Netflix historically paid in all cash. Recently, they started letting their employees choose.

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

#329
I graduated in 2001. I had an offer from campus placement in the summer of 2000. Things were rosy till March, April 2000. And then everything moved very fast, most of the offers were cancelled. I was utterly unprepared for this. I picked up pieces and went for the masters. About 18 month later I was in the middle of masters I got an email from the company saying they are honoring their offer.

2008 wasn’t that harsh for the tech sector. I was at Amazon. I was visiting colleges for campus recruitment, we were given reduced head counts to fill but nothing bad. And I don’t remember there being any mass layoffs.

Given this experience I would say the current downturn to last for about 18 months. Here’s what I’d do differently.

1. Always be on the lookout for opportunities. Even if you get a job offer don’t make plans around it.

2. Develop network your university alumni who are employed. Figure out ways of making yourself useful for them.

3. Internship or part time work is totally OK. You will be abreast of the ecosystem.

4. Learn macroeconomics and business cycles. We all are impacted by it. Whether we like it or not. So we might as well be prepared.

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

#330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

for FAANGers, how does everyone feel about their wild comps now that the stock prices have come back to earth?

Back down to whose earth?

Even if you’re only making $250K, that puts you well within the top 10% of earners in the US.

I think Amazon has seen the largest drop out of the BigTech companies and it is down 30% year to date. Amazon has been adjusting SDEs cash component up even before the crash.

Netflix should have never been put in the same category as the 1 trillion+ market cap companies.

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