351–360 of 594 posts
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Shockingly, sometimes Software Engineers are asked to write algorithms for their job.
And you would never plunk down a memorized verbatim fix in such a scenario.
I would love to read a European, perhaps Swedish version of this article. 12+ months of unemployment insurance is standard here. I guess it doesn't take the loneliness away, but might make unemployment less traumatic.
So yes, there is unemployment insurance in the US, and it pays almost 30% more than in Sweden. There is a HUGE gotcha, though, and that's the cost of health insurance. Unless the former employer is subsidizing, that costs about $400-700/month. There are, in general, far fewer social welfare services to rely on as well.
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You're looking for a remote job. The sort of companies I'm thinking of most likely won't do remote. Maybe it's different now in the era of COVID, but I suspect they'll still be "asses in chairs, look busy" type places. Go on monster.com (or any other job search site), type in "programmer" (or " programmer" if you only have experience in a single language) and start applying. If you don't recognize the company name or…
Yes, remote only if at all possible. I'm surprised that non-tech companies care about looking busy, since tech is a cost center for them and I would guess they're hiring grudgingly at best. I've looked mainly on LinkedIn and some smaller job boards, not Monster or Indeed or Dice or any of those. Another thing is that I'm avoiding complex applications, the ones where you're immediately asked to create an account and o…
Most likely, you'll start to recognize the different software companies use to track job applications.
My only experience was helping someone out when they got laid off. They had a mortgage to pay, a new born and a wife that quit her job to look after the new born.
Being picky about job application software wasn't a the top of our list. I think we applied to over 500 ads over the course of a few days, basically every single commutable job. I think from those, there were 20 interviews and 3 offers.
Some of the software automatically scans your CV and populates stuff. If it can't do it properly, restructure your CV until it can. You might need a few different CVs for different software.
I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but you don't sound very serious. Or at least not desperate (which is probably a good thing).
If you're looking for a job full time, you should spend a few hours a day grinding leetcode and a few hours a day filling in those shit applications. Obviously I don't know you or you situation, I have no idea if this is good advice for you or not.
- Always have savings that will cover at least 6 months of expenses, now probably a year (if indeed it takes so much time to find a new job).
- Socialize outside work, ideally have a network of people that work at other companies that you are in touch with. Sports, charities, churches etc. If this is hard, ask yourself if you are overworking yourselves/spend too much time at work.
- Be careful what you are posting on social networks. Employers are more and more concerned about the image that you have on the internet. I propose to have 2 profiles, the first a professional one with portfolio of projects, blog, articles and what's not and the second for your private views (nobody should track that profile to your person using publicly available information).
Also I wonder what the author is doing professionally. I don't see any hard tech articles on his blog. Maybe he is into niche tech or doing some no longer hyped stuff like data science? That would explain why it took the author so long to find a new job. Maybe if this is the case the author should reflect on his skills and maybe change his niche to something more marketable?
I don't even like tech anymore, maybe it's more fulfilling to start a farm or coffee shop
I would love to read a European, perhaps Swedish version of this article. 12+ months of unemployment insurance is standard here. I guess it doesn't take the loneliness away, but might make unemployment less traumatic.
I really liked the article, one of the few on this subject that doesn't feel like self-help or a humble brag. So kudos to the author. That said, like you, I wonder if this is an American thing. It feels to me as if many Americans are one job away from total collapse, like their country is only ok for people with a good employment and an utter nightmare for everyone else, with no safety net at all except your own savi…
Yes, that is pretty much correct. Many many Americans, even ones considered well-off, live a threadbare existence. To Europeans it's unfathomable what can happen in the United States but it's just as bad as you think if not worse. There is literally no bottom in this society, there's no limits to the depths you can fall.
I survived the dot com crash (yes I'm old). I have hired (interviewing team member, or hiring manager) hundreds of engineers. If you are hearing "let me know if I can help" (number 5) you might be doing something wrong. You should be hearing some version of " I will talk to my boss" or "I will call for you" or "XXX person I know is looking". I have a list of about 30 people who if they call me I'm going to go out of…
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If a company asks you about stuff that isn't any of their business you have my permission (not that you need it) to lie your ass off if you think it will help you. The power asymmetry is such that unless the counterparty is extremely careful about abusing that power that you will end up being cornered and taken advantage of. If you present yourself as more desirable than you are based on your current situation and it…
I always lie (through omission) in job interviews, because there's no federal protection against discrimination on basis of sexual orientation.