Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job

I found the pandemic lonely. I saw less than 1 person a month for the first 14 months of the pandemic. And i find WFH incredibly lonely. I haven't recovered. I'm utterly alone most weeks. I see no one. Even if I go to work, no one is there. I moved cities a year ago and have only 1 friend and 2 acquaintances in the new city. 2 of those 3 are married and I see them maybe once a month, if I'm lucky. The 3rd I haven't seen since August. The pandemic as killed meetup.com. It used to be full of activities. I don't think there is 1/20th of the activities there used to be.

If the company is mid-size or better AND it’s not a sweat shop, take it while you assess your next move.

Don’t make the mistake of staying put, however, unless the team or company aligns with your interests.

Context: I took a break, got married, and started looking for SWE work just when the “great recession” was looming.

It took me six months and some unpopular niche skills just happened to open some opportunities. Just barely.

Personally, I'd love to get to work with Java, after (many) years of C++. Such an amazing technology and ecosystem.

For what it's worth, I thought the same. I applied to over 50 companies and not all of them were FAANG by any stretch of the imagination. I'll admit I'm not the best at interviewing, which certainly was a factor. But even as I broadened my search to the "okay" roles, I still had difficulty landing work.

Exhibit A of why not to take your day job too seriously. Be professional — but that’s as far as it goes.

> Come up with a more, uh, positive reason for why you’re interviewing instead of disclosing that you were laid off.

There’s nothing wrong with being laid off. I was, last week. Saw it coming from a mile away. Told my new employer about it.

Here’s the secret for getting a job you’re happy with. Try to have competing offers. I would have had to take over a 60% reduction in salary if I hadn’t had one. But I did, and so it was merely a 37% reduction. I’m very happy with it.

This is an area where I have to give tptacek lots of credit. I sort of shuffled from job to job until he posted this nugget of wisdom, and it’s quite true. None of the points in the article applied to me because of a fundamental shift in mindset. It happened around 7 years ago.

I think the loneliness aspect is intertwined with the reason why most people don’t try to go interview while you already have a job. You see your job as something more. It’s not just a job; it gives your life rhythm.

Maybe so. But in my experience, the way to be happy is not to care so darn much about it. Do a good job. But try to get a better one. And when you’re on the market, try to get multiple.

The recent thread about the engineer who got their offer rescinded from two different YC companies is exhibit B. They mentioned that they stopped looking for new jobs after things seemed to be going well during the pre-offer phase. Don’t do this. You should be doing a breadth-first search of all possible opportunities: talk to as many people as possible, and spend your time weighted by expected outcome.