> when all the talking heads were saying a recession was inevitable. Sound familiar?
This is the very same recession we've been talking about :)
Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
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Re: Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
#22This is a high interest rate phenomenon. They'd be writing a very different article if written in July 2021.
Re: Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
#23>You’re going to have to grind Leetcode. Yes, even the dynamic programming problems.
Why there isn't this much problem with having to learn yet another JS framework,
get familiarity with database of the month, learn some tool like docker/k8s/ansible/vagrant/blabla or yet another proprietary toolchain like AWS/Azure/GCP
but foundational cs/programming knowledge is top hated thing, that people even call it "discriminatory for people with families" or something like that
Re: Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
#24#1 it's lonely? April 2020, 1 month into the pandemic. 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 the…
Hey, author here. I get it, trust me. This post meant to encapsulate my feelings during the one year I spent unemployed. During that entire time, I was alone. I had a falling out with my parents. I moved to a foreign country where I knew no one in order to stretch my savings. I totally get it.
If you need to chat with someone, I'm happy to lend an ear. Contact info is in my profile.
Re: Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
#25> Come up with a more, uh, positive reason for why you’re interviewing instead of disclosing that you were laid off.
I don’t understand this assertion, unless “laid off” now means “fired with cause”. People are laid off all the time, for no reason other than the company wants to reduce their labor costs.
Perhaps the author is assuming that the company is also making a judgement about their skills, e.g. that they’re somehow not up to some arbitrary standard? (I think that it is very easy to make this assumption, especially when laid off the first time.)
Anyway, there should be no need to give a potential employer a reason about why you were let go other than the position was eliminated.
Re: Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
#26> You will have to interview for jobs where you will use a language you despise. Maybe even Java. Definitely Javascript. No. Or rather, maybe? I have been fortunate enough that in a couple decades in this industry, including two major downturns, I've never been in a position that I /must/ find a job on a particular timeline to pay the bills. While my life situation helps with this, I do recognize that luck is a major…
I started programming c/c++ then perl/python and i hated java initially, but it actually taught me CS. Java has very mature and powerful libraries, e.g. rxjava and guava.
Re: Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
#27Hey everyone, author here. Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I decided to spend Christmas break in CDMX[0] by myself in order to reflect not only on the past year, but just how far I've come since I got laid off. This is the result. Thanks for making all those hours at the café (instead of at a museum or bar or whatever) worthwhile. [0] I'll be here for a few more days if you'd like to meet up!
> Only in retrospect did I understand the connotations that post broadcast to potential employers.
So, you wanna share with us what the connotations were? Is it just that the recruiter read "oh, you're failing a lot, you must suck"? Or is there something else more interesting to this?
I'm disappointed that this post is somewhat vague on specifics. But on the one situation that is set up very specifically, we don't get the punchline.
Re: Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
#28> Hard Truth #6: Honesty can only hurt you
I think the author has come away with the wrong lesson here.
Many engineers, particularly those that don't pay too much heed to social mores, think they have some God-given right to share details of all their private interactions publicly. Every tech test they do is pushed to GitHub with an accompanying blog post. Every interview has a transcript (somewhat one-sided) published and shared to Twitter. This is typical oafish behaviour displayed by mamy engineers and frankly, it annoys people. It's often considered a red flag when hiring. Understanding when to be discreet is an important skill for any employee.
Lying about why you're looking for work is a bad idea. That small lie will escalate, you'll have to start stringing together more lies, and when you get found out it won't reflect well.
This has nothing to do with radical honesty. I'm not suggesting you air all your dirty laundry during an interview. But don't lie. And don't publish all private interactions because you're a fan of free software. It's not the same thing.
Re: Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
#29> You will have to interview for jobs where you will use a language you despise. Maybe even Java. Definitely Javascript. No. Or rather, maybe? I have been fortunate enough that in a couple decades in this industry, including two major downturns, I've never been in a position that I /must/ find a job on a particular timeline to pay the bills. While my life situation helps with this, I do recognize that luck is a major…
I think you're in a more fortunate position than many.
> Better to take a personal bridge loan
You often won't be able to get a loan without verifiable steady income.
> Maybe I can put up with it for six months, but what's the point?
To bring in income. Pay for living expenses. Pay off debts. Provide for family. Start/increase/replenish savings.
> hold out for that, don't settle for doing what you "despise" instead.
People with families and multiple financial responsibilities beyond their immediate needs often have to do things they "despise", if even/only for a short while.
Your post, while not having anything specifically 'wrong' in it, comes across as a bit privileged. You recognize that luck is a part of it, and you recognize your own life situation helps, but you still tell people to 'hold out' for 'building cool shit'. Not everyone can hold out, for a multitude of reasons.
Re: Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
#30I'm guessing #7 contributed to the fact that it took the author 1 year to find another job. If you're desperate, you can most likely find an _okay_ job in 3 months. If you don't have the luxury to wait for a "good" job, finding a job tends to happen faster.
The bar can get very low! Look into local low prestige consulting companies if you’re really desperate for something. I worked at one after moving to the US and the hiring bar was extremely low and I was working there a few days later
I am not sure this apply to western EU thought. N=1 but I had a long dry spell even though I work IT.
I think it's like for successful startups: luck, luck and luck.
edit: And for having been on the hiring side a bit: I know luck's involved, more than people think or - worse - than they want to admit.