Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tell HN: Job interview canceled due to looming recession

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

561–570 of 576 posts

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

#561

Post by woobilicious »

Jensson wrote: post #305
majormajor wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there strong evidence yet that this is a 2010-bubble-pop vs a 2020-bubble-pop? The last few years were particularly nuts in a lot of speculative markets. Big difference between back to normal or even a bit slowed from 2019 and a huge downturn, but I'm not seeing indicators yet that things are gonna fall off a cliff. People are still spending a lot of money and demand for a lot of things is still high - that might…

> People are still spending a lot of money and demand for a lot of things is still high Yes, that is how you create a gigantic crash. Look at this graph, click 25 years, does this look to go in the right direction? The US economy is shifting more and more towards consumption of imported goods instead of producing things itself, this isn't sustainable. You see how the 2008 crash got the curve back and track, a similar…

You're looking an a macro economic indicator that only politicians seem to care about, Most other countries don't even bother to measure it.

Trade deficit is just as much an indicator for foreign sentiment to hold US cash, as it is to import non-US made stuff.

All that indicator says is that consumer behavior changes during a recession.

You can argue the same thing with private debt.

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/private-debt-to-g...

https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2017/KleinBoudreaux...

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

#562

Post by lodovic »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #402
eastbound wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At risk? We’ll just stop having overinflated salaries. The current situation is insane for employers: - Employees are not willing to put a little extra (paid extra, I mean - and we’re at the 35hrs week here), - Not willing to study afterwork to improve their career, - Not willing to work on legacy products where we pay them 40% more. - In the first 2 years, I can pay someone 35 -> 50 -> +10k bonus, and they’ll leave…

Where are you located that you have a 35h week while enjoying such great benefits like employer investing in your training? I'd like to move there. In my EU country the working hours are 38.5 which isn't as good as 35h, but it isn't that bad, but no employer hires you to invest in your training. Every company wants only seniors, preferably for junior wages, and scream there's a shortage while offering no WFH because…

I think your reply sort of proves his point, if 38.5 -> 35 hour workweek is enough to move, well, employers are not getting the best deal.

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

#563

Post by eastbound »

californical wrote: post #426
zmxz wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a terrible person, doesn't have access to infinite money and can't afford to overpay underskilled staff.

If you can’t pay competitively for competent people, then complain that nobody wants to work for you, I think the real problem is that your business is unviable since you can’t cover the costs to operate it

Those are 20% above market rate in France, probably 40% above when you don’t have an engineer’s degree.

The blanket “YOU PAY THEM TOO LITTLE” and its brother “EVEN AT THE BEGINNING OF MY CAREER I NEVER STUDY AT HOME AND I JUST DO WHAT MY EMPLOYER TELLS ME ON A WRITTEN SHEET OF PAPER WITH DEFINITIVE SIGN OFF” mentality needs to go.

You choose:

- Want to work in a factory? €1200 net per month,

- Job that requires that you come with a skillset? €2400 pm.

- Job where you build an unknown product with lots of leeway, innovation, networking and entrepreneurship? 5400€ to 20k€ per month. 20k€ is President Macron’s salary, so it’s not so low.

I’ll give my 200k€ dividends to whoever accepts to perform the odd tasks like maintain the jQuery app AND clean the bathrooms AND notice when they need cleaning AND launch a new product when it needs launching AND close one down and find suitable ways out for customers.

“How do you expect them to work for you if you make them clean the toilets!” well that’s why I’m getting the bonus. To anyone willing to bend for the toilets when needed, there is a job available here.

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

#564

Post by eastbound »

CalRobert wrote: post #438
zmxz wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't read what's written the way it suits you in order to come out as a better person, also commenting on someone's business with literally 0 facts means only that you're posting from an image you created in which you're good and me - evil. Competent people are worth every penny and then some. We're all talking about incompetent ones who throw a huge shadow over the competent ones. I think you're aware of that but y…

I agree competent people are worth every penny. Why are you not paying enough to get them? The salaries you listed are half what they'd be in Ireland and something like a quarter - maybe less - of what they'd be in California.

> Why are you not paying enough to get them?

Because they’re not competent?

I pay my senior 30% above what he asked, he still doesn’t want to test all edge cases and lets slip many things because he wants us to hire a tester.

Actually competent people are paid surprisingly little, because then they struggle to increase their wage.

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

#565

Post by alephnan »

angarg12 wrote: post #535
alephnan wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Imagine living paycheck to paycheck working as a software engineer Is that supposed to be hard to imagine ? Most of the population don’t have entitlement about this.

In a world where new grads can easily make 6 figure salaries as software engineers, yes. I mean, everyone I tell literally has a hard time believing I was making a poverty-level wage as a programmer.

If you have a family, six figures in San Francisco is below the poverty line.

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

#566

Post by riffic »

deathanatos wrote: post #321
riffic wrote: 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.

my core point is that recessions are inevitable and are considered an unavoidable part of the business cycle.

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

#567

Post by eikenberry »

DeathArrow wrote: post #416
eikenberry wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd recommend the opposite approach and go for stable software companies as the best employers. Non-software companies usually see software as a cost that is often at the top of the list when layoffs come up. IMO working for a software company means not only better treatment (eg. see the recent discussions on staff vs. line jobs) but you get better stability as you are core to the business. None of this applies to st…

Not sure about that. Let's say you work for a bank. ATMs still need to work, wiring money still need to work, accounts still need to be tracked and new legal regulations still need to be implemented. I guess they aren't going to fire their IT department.

Better job in this case is the ATM company. They are the hardware/software vendor that has the better chance of being a good employer as the ATM is their product. Working for a bank on ATMs would probably suck.

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

#568

Post by rocgf »

glouwbug wrote: post #545
rocgf wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are grossly misunderstanding the situation if you actually believe this to be the case.

The market is emotion driven. With rising stock everyone touts they won't sell during the hard times, but when the hard times hit everyone sings the tune of gloom. We literally have zero idea what the market will bring.

Nobody really knows what will happen, but we are at an inflection point. It is very hard to believe that the market will reach new highs in 8 months.

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

#569

Post by fennecfoxy »

zmxz wrote: post #411
ornornor wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Employees are not willing to put a little extra (and we’re at the 35hrs week here), > - Not willing to study afterwork to improve their career, Some of your points make sense but these two…

What's wrong with those two? I'm genuinely interested, software engineers are overpaid as is with benefits that nearly every other industry can only dream about and you're upset about not being able to put extra 5 hours of time a week to improve your skills related to something that's your career? And we wonder why quality of everything is awful and why people are unreliable and entitled.

>software engineers are overpaid as is with benefits that nearly every other industry can only dream about

Maybe in some parts of America. Even highly paid developers generally do work that not many people outside of the industry can't do (though I encourage everyone I know to try programming).

In my mind software developers and other tech workers are one of the driving forces of human development, though not quite so much as those working on the forefront of technology (ie proper engineering/research and development). The industry I hold in the highest regard is the medical industry; doctors are just amazing and I appreciate what they do and their importance (fair warning that this is a non-American/public healthcare perspective).

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

#570

Post by cryptica »

kergonath wrote: post #417
cryptica wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that a good thing? You can earn good money in 6 months. One time I took a 2-week web development job to stand in for someone who left for a holiday while a project was overdue. It was an interesting experience. I wish the economy was more like this; more unpredictable and more focused on deliverables than hours worked.

> I wish the economy was more like this; more unpredictable and more focused on deliverables than hours worked. That would be fine for single people or couples without children and enough savings to relocate or live on whilst job hunting, but absolutely devastating for everyone else. As if there weren’t enough uncertainty already…

As someone who has a dependent spouse and child, I disagree. You can't cancel the laws of nature. Everyone must participate in the free market on equal terms. When the system makes it artificially easier for one set of people, it artificially makes it harder for a different set of people behind the scenes. If someone can't handle the risk of sustaining themselves and their family in the real world, they shouldn't have children. But of course we need a fair monetary system in order to make it feasible.

I can speak from experience that in our pyramid scheme economy propped up by big government and big bank money printing it's extremely difficult to support a child if you're not part of the 'inside crowd' who has access to the easy money (cheap loans, investments and subsidies). It doesn't have to be that way though. But to expect total safety is immoral because it relies on some kind of financial scheme operating behind the scenes. You can't create any real value in this world without taking a risk. If you're not taking any risks, you're not creating any value. Nobody owes it to you to support your children; especially if it means that they themselves can't afford to support their own children by participating in the free market.

Post reply on HN