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Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

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Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#231

Post by titanomachy »

shaftway wrote: post #103

Senior SWE, 20+ years of experience, based in the bay area, laid off from Meta in November. I reached out to my network and had a couple applications in same-day. One of those panned out and I just started this week. I also did a bunch of cold job applications, but didn't get a callback from any of them. The whole process led to a ton of anxiety and was really nerve-wracking, especially reading about layoffs from oth…

Same experience with cold applications, despite similarly “prestigious” CV. Did the same thing two years ago and had about 80% hit rate, this time it was close to 0%. My only hits have been through network and responding to recruiters on LinkedIn.

I think part of it is that I was applying to a lot of larger companies with efficient hiring pipelines, none of which are currently hiring.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#232

Post by whstl »

layer8 wrote: post #30
whstl wrote: post #13

Germany. I wasn't exactly laid off, just left in a bad time. Zero applications, just recruiters reaching out, I started 8 processes, 4 are still ongoing, on 2 I got ghosted, but got 2 offers so far which I gotta answer till next week. EDIT: I got 18 years of experience, web full stack (react/vue/golang/rails/C#/haskell) + devops, if that matters.

What’s the salary on the offers you have, and in which region of Germany is that? Just curious.

Berlin. 140k and 150k but I'm still shopping.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#233

Post by solarmist »

bhouston wrote: post #111
ulizzle wrote: post #93

I just got back into the market after taking a hiatus to write a novel (finished it, deleted it afterward cus I'm not proud of it) and work on my music,(more success but I'm not good enough to think I can make a career out of it). There's a definite hiring slowdown due to current market circumstances and the fact that "Senior" really doesn't mean what it used to, so there's a lot more competition for those roles now.…

Should release the novel anyhow.

Seriously, it might just feel like a failure because the organization or editing is off and another set of eyes could point it out.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#234

Post by RangerScience »

moffkalast wrote: post #45
bugbuddy wrote: post #17

I was a senior dev at a big tech and got laid off in November. I have applied to hundreds of places. Not a lot of responses. I have been doing interview preps the whole time. It has been very demoralizing and I am thinking of switching careers to something else. I have been considering skilled trades. I like carpentry in particular.

Every programmer eventually becomes a woodworker, whether they like it or not.

Apparently a lot of us also like really old books?

(mmmm 1910 manual on steel production.)

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#235

Post by koboll »

shmatt wrote: post #31
Volundr wrote: post #20

US, looking for remote. 15+ years experience been looking since early January, and I still don't feel like I have traction. Worst job market for engineers I've seen in a long time. I have hope it'll improve in March when budgets are finalized, but at the same time I'm preparing for it to be a long one. First unemployment in my career, up until now I had employers coming to me.

I suspect the remote aspect is the biggest thing slowing you down. I go in once a month, which is practically a remote job, but those who moved during the pandemic and wouldn't fly in and take a hotel on their expense once a month had to leave There are 1000 different flavors of mixed home-office working right now, but not that much fully remote

How exactly do you go about explaining something like "I live in another state but I'd be happy to fly in for 1-3 days a month" on a resume

(Asking for a friend)

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#236

Post by whstl »

Yoric wrote: post #197
whstl wrote: post #13

Germany. I wasn't exactly laid off, just left in a bad time. Zero applications, just recruiters reaching out, I started 8 processes, 4 are still ongoing, on 2 I got ghosted, but got 2 offers so far which I gotta answer till next week. EDIT: I got 18 years of experience, web full stack (react/vue/golang/rails/C#/haskell) + devops, if that matters.

Out of curiosity, any offer in Haskell?

Unfortunately not yet! However I did talk with some recruiters that wanted me to work with Clojure and Elixir, despite not having written a single line in them, purely because I knew Haskell.

Which is kinda interesting because years ago I noticed some resistance from companies in hiring Senior/Principal/Staff in languages other than their main.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#237

Post by georgeecollins »

ryandrake wrote: post #116
dixie_land wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My observation is that recent layoffs affect engineers with different seniority very differently. Senior devs I know who got laid off are just enjoying their time off (with pay! if you consider the severance) after the rocketing market in 2021 (and maybe even H1 22) made them whole and financially secure. And they won't be entertaining a startup unless significant equity or big leveling up (eg Principal or Director).…

Furthermore, some very senior employees are in this boat: They kinda have enough savings to just retire, but were hanging on to their jobs to save maybe 10% more or whatever. Now that they're out of a job they are simply saying "Whelllp, I guess I'm now retired." and not really feeling the need to look anymore. I know someone who refused a forced return to office, and when his company tried to call his bluff, he just…

>> were hanging on to their jobs to save maybe 10% more or whatever

The amount of wealth all people need is constant. It is 1.5 x whatever they have today.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#238

Post by titanomachy »

anon8056 wrote: post #28

Laid off from a US remote backend/data role in a large, FAANG-adjacent tech company in early January. I have always had a high callback rate with 20+ years of experience and a CS degree from a tier 1 university. This time, my only callbacks were through internal referrals from my network or introductions made through recruiters. I ended up with two offers by the end of January, one from a growing startup and the othe…

Similar situation, although I’ve been focusing on other things since I don’t desperately need a job yet. I think my interview skills are fine but I’ve had a hard time getting interviews. I’ve been able to mostly enjoy the time off but there have been periods of stress as well.

It’s helpful to read stories like yours and feel less isolated. Good luck.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#239

Post by xhrpost »

metadaemon wrote: post #158
shaftway wrote: post #103

Senior SWE, 20+ years of experience, based in the bay area, laid off from Meta in November. I reached out to my network and had a couple applications in same-day. One of those panned out and I just started this week. I also did a bunch of cold job applications, but didn't get a callback from any of them. The whole process led to a ton of anxiety and was really nerve-wracking, especially reading about layoffs from oth…

Man, there's definitely something broken with the cold application process. I'd estimate my success rate of getting an interview from a cold application is something like 1-5%. I almost always resort to referrals or getting lucky networking with recruiters.

Yup, and these same companies that don't reply to their application process or require extra leg work (cover letter, etc) just to apply, are the same companies complaining that recruiter fees are too high. As a dev, I've had far, far, far better luck working with external recruiters than attempting internal channels.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?

#240

Post by palmtree3000 »

RangerScience wrote: post #234
moffkalast wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every programmer eventually becomes a woodworker, whether they like it or not.

Apparently a lot of us also like really old books? (mmmm 1910 manual on steel production.)

Wait, can you link to that?
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