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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

#271

Post by geekbird »

fein wrote: post #139
eulers_secret wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly what happened to me when I quit. “Now I’ll have time for my projects!!” Instead it’s been “Grokking Algorithms”, “The Competitive Programmers Handbook”, Alex Xu’s “System Design”, and enough leetcode that I’m actually doing more than I did at work. What sucks is that there are still lots of medium problems I cannot do. Hards are right out. Dunno what I’ll do.

What situation are people in that they have to result to this? Is this an issue with getting laid off and trying to find a FAANG job? I was laid off from one consulting company back in 2018 or so and had a new gig with more pay a week or so later. No leetcode or dev tests, just talking with people in phone interviews. It was a company I had previously done contract work for, and they called me, but nothing at the FAA…

I get interviews with "coding challenges all. the. time. IDK why, I'm a Linux systems engineer, not a programmer.

But I constantly keep getting jerks wanting btree sorts that are like a college exam or take home challenges that assume I have industry type applications on my home network. No, folks, I don't run containers and terraform infra in my personal network. When I have to spend three hours to install a dodgy application just to start your janky "8 hour project" I lose all the enthusiasm I had for your job.

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

#272

Post by rr808 »

autotune wrote: post #119
BuckyBeaver wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COBRA is outrageously expensive. If you have no (or little) income, the ACA is a no-brainer I think.

My parents paid for it for me and refused to consider anything cheaper, so I was lucky, but yeah, it is something like $700 a month.

For my family COBRA is about $2500 a month, which is a lot when you aren't working!

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

#273

Post by rr808 »

kagakuninja wrote: post #268
stcroixx wrote: post #140

I was laid off once and didn't find much in common with anything in this article. I had two offers, not interviews, within a day or two of being laid off. Then 2-3 years later, after their outsourcing strategy imploded, they called me offering me that job back - this was the best part. Knowing they were making a mistake from day one and finally confirmation when the Cap Gemini losers were all shown the door. Maybe th…

Yes, that was me during the dotcom boom. When I decided to get a new job, I had 2 offers after an intense 2 weeks of interviews. However, once I was in my 40s, it became considerably harder to get a job. I'm now 59, and my career has never truly recovered (and yes, I have reasonably up to date skills). All I can get are contract jobs. Part of the problem is that I am introverted and on the autistic spectrum. I have n…

I agree, I think so many teams are filled with 20 somethings with a 30 yo boss, no one really likes hiring someone twice their age.

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

#275

Post by Ialdaboth »

harshalizee wrote: post #171
blagie wrote: post #74

My advice: Have one or more side projects going all the time. If you get laid off, immediately start doing a startup, open-source project, or volunteering full time. A year of unemployment? Lonely, depressing, and not good on a resume. A year of launching an unsuccessful venture? Running coding classes for the underserved? Focusing full-time on contributing to pytorch? That's a lot better, both at the time and in ret…

This is terrible, possibly toxic advice. Software devs are people too. They burn out, take time off to travel, reflect, take care of family, or just down on their luck being unemployed. The only advice I'd consider paramount is to take stock of themselves financially and mentally, to assure themselves that they can take on the chaos and uncertainty that follows. Honestly, if someone showed up with a gap in their resu…

Terrible advice. One year of lazing around and playing videogames is a good way to lose any self-discipline you would been building up to this point. There is nothing toxic in working to improve yourself and/or building projects you are passionate about - quite the contrary. The feeling of accomplishment can do wonders to one's mental health.

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

#276

Post by hello_moto »

fein wrote: post #139
eulers_secret wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly what happened to me when I quit. “Now I’ll have time for my projects!!” Instead it’s been “Grokking Algorithms”, “The Competitive Programmers Handbook”, Alex Xu’s “System Design”, and enough leetcode that I’m actually doing more than I did at work. What sucks is that there are still lots of medium problems I cannot do. Hards are right out. Dunno what I’ll do.

What situation are people in that they have to result to this? Is this an issue with getting laid off and trying to find a FAANG job? I was laid off from one consulting company back in 2018 or so and had a new gig with more pay a week or so later. No leetcode or dev tests, just talking with people in phone interviews. It was a company I had previously done contract work for, and they called me, but nothing at the FAA…

>I was laid off from one consulting company back in 2018 or so and had a new gig with more pay a week or so later. No leetcode or dev tests, just talking with people in phone interviews. It was a company I had previously done contract work for, and they called me, but nothing at the FAANG level.

There's your answer: consulting companies and contract works.

You have a different bubble compare to the LeetCode crowds. The Leetcode crowds tend to work for Product companies as a Full-Time employee in major Hi-Tech cities. Product, Full-Time, major Hi-tech cities, hit those 3 characteristics => higher chance of getting the Leetcode interview jackpot.

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

#277

Post by ctvo »

hintymad wrote: post #261

> dynamic programming problems Truth be told, most of the dynamic programming problems in Leetcode are relatively straightforward: find the recursive relation or state transition equation in general, identify the initial condition, and then build up the transition from bottom up. What's much harder, at least to me, are those ad-hoc LeetCode-Hard problems that require insights or clever tricks.

You're already ahead of most people interviewing.

My advice if you're currently prepping: Don't worry too much about hard problems. They're much more rare. While true you may get an interviewer who hasn't properly calibrated their question, but more often than not, it's easy or mediums. Invest your time into telling a convincing story about your previous experiences, the impact you made at companies, and how great it'd be to work with you.

During a downturn, Big Tech doesn't send out a memo to increase the difficulty of algo / DS questions. It's being more picky about culture fit, skill match, prior experience, recommendations from current staff, etc..

It's more do we hire Bob who is qualified and could learn embedded software for hardware devices or hire Jill who is just as qualified but has experience in the space. Previously we'd hire both. Now we hire Jill.

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

#278

Post by anon50118810 »

ctvo wrote: post #220
okaram wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not so much the (closed) gaps, but the time since last job. The first job after you take a year off will be harder to get. After that, most people won't care.

I don't think it matters as much as people here seem to think. You're the current CTO of a unicorn looking for a more technical role with stability so you apply to be a staff+ engineer at Google. Now the opposite: you've taken a year off to take care of an elderly parent. In both cases, your resume is one of the lowest signals we have. You're going to need to pass that interview. HR folks aren't even looking this clo…

All else equal, people with resume gaps are going to get sorted to the bottom of the pile. Maybe at the high end of the market, the FAANG staff level, there aren't enough applicants so it's not a big deal, and they'll get to those applications eventually. At the lower end of the market however, there's more competition and more likelihood that someone else from the top of the pile will get hired before they get down to the bottom.

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

#279

Post by [deleted] »

ThePadawan wrote: post #226
anon50118810 wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's really no way to hide you're currently unemployed, or at least not employed in the tech field, unless you make up an entire fantasy world. Not only will you have to put the lie into your resume, and maybe provide fake references, but you'll also get tons of interview questions about skills and projects and challenges from your current job.

You're bang on - I was asked in the very first call for two references. Also in this case I really don't mind disclosing - I was laid off because my position was made redundant entirely.

[deleted]

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

#280

Post by FpUser »

anon50118810 wrote: post #218
FpUser wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"so if you've been looking for X months, surely there's something wrong with you - and anyway, we've already signed a contract with someone else in the 5 days since we last spoke." I think letting them know you are currently unemployed is a mistake. Frankly your current state of affairs is not their business. You can always tell them that you are ok but looking for a better job. Very simple and understandable. Yes i…

There's really no way to hide you're currently unemployed, or at least not employed in the tech field, unless you make up an entire fantasy world. Not only will you have to put the lie into your resume, and maybe provide fake references, but you'll also get tons of interview questions about skills and projects and challenges from your current job.

>"There's really no way to hide you're currently unemployed"

It is absolutely trivial.

>"but you'll also get tons of interview questions about skills and projects and challenges from your current job"

Your last job unless it is 10 years old should provide all of the answers. Any really identifying details should not be asked / answered as the employee is normally under NDA.

Same for references. Reference from "current job" can simply be refused. I can hardly imagine employee going to their boss and asking for a job reference while still working.

Anyways I am independent and run my own company. Maybe I am not up to date about how deep the US employers are able to stick their fingers up that proverbial hole.

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