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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?

#351

Post by ghaff »

mywittyname wrote: post #294
Yoric wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can testify to that. Of course, your team can be considered strategic one day, then disbanded the next.

I've definitely seen some "strategic" people being shown the door over the past few rounds of layoffs, and at least two boomerangs (laid off, then rehired). These are very confusing times.

It's also the case that things change to the point where "strategic" people become less strategic for any number of reasons (the company changes, they're "rich and tired" to use a marvelous phrase from a colleague, etc.). Under what's been normal circumstances at Big Tech until recently companies often keep such people around anyway because they're probably the sort of people who can be pretty effective fixers with a half-day of work and such people may be happy to keep collecting a bunch of money. But a lot of companies are scrutinizing more today.

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

#352

Post by whstl »

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.

I'm definitely seeing a pattern in the posts here.

Referrals and recruiters = success.

Apply to a position = failure.

I've had in the past a few recruiters on the lazier side ask me to "please apply directly at the company portal" and that had a perfectly round 0% success rate.

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

#353

Post by zem »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #207
jaxomlotus wrote: post #66

Here's the flip side: I was hiring (at a stealth vc-funded startup). I reached out to every designer and coder laid off from Twitter and Amazon (one of my investors sent me a spreadsheet that those laid off folks added their contact info to). I didn't receive a single interested response to my reach outs. Now granted, I'm sure they were bombarded with lots of startup offers and being picky what company/stage they wer…

Or they are looking at those juicy severance checks and deciding to take a 6 month vacation before applying anywhere again, using state of the economy as an excuse.

why does taking a six month vacation that you can afford need an "excuse"?

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

#354

Post by lovich »

I wasn’t laid off but was bored enough at my job to be looking. Interviews dialed back in quantity around august but I was able to find and interview with another company or two every week and accepted a position in December(was waiting to come across the right job, not just any job). We’re still hiring too and not just for technical positions. I have friends at several other companies who are as well.

The FAANGs gobbled up so much talent just to deny it to their competition that it sucked all the oxygen out of the industry and now that the people are available there’s still companies desperate to hire even with the higher cost of capital and inflation

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

#355

Post by bradlys »

shmatt wrote: post #154
jaxomlotus wrote: post #66

Here's the flip side: I was hiring (at a stealth vc-funded startup). I reached out to every designer and coder laid off from Twitter and Amazon (one of my investors sent me a spreadsheet that those laid off folks added their contact info to). I didn't receive a single interested response to my reach outs. Now granted, I'm sure they were bombarded with lots of startup offers and being picky what company/stage they wer…

Wild guess says you're not paying Amazon/Twitter compensation. And thats fine, they shouldn't be your target It would not be smart of them to accept a lower paying job immediately. A lot of them have life expenses directly tied to the amount of money they're making. Maybe those who haven't found anything for 3 months can join your company, move to a new place, change their childrens' daycare, and do a lot of life cha…

It’s wild that this isn’t the top response.

I get a ton of emails from random startups in stealth mode, early funding, whatever.

You know where they all go? Spam folder. As far as I’m concerned, they pay the equivalent of dog shit and are mostly full of extremely entitled founders. They rarely offer equity that’s even remotely worth the risk. I’m way better off joining a company at Series B/C. I can often get a very similar amount of stock that even seed or series A folks have with having avoided a huge amount of risk. Tbh - I find joining pre-IPO probably has close to the best reward+risk for non-public entities.

There’s just no benefit to joining early startups as a non-founder. Maybe when founders start offering serious percentages of stock that isn’t going to be diluted into nothing - I’ll be more inclined. Until then - no way!

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

#356

Post by Volundr »

disordinary wrote: post #281
Volundr wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not so sure, at least I know plenty of people in tech hubs that are in a similar position. Certainly anything that reduces the number of jobs you can accept will limit your opportunities, but I'm not sure being open to in-office would immediately solve the problem. In the end it doesn't matter. Due to family concerns relocation is not an option, and anything local would be a huge pay cut. I'll go that route if I…

You might have to take a paycut even working remotely. A lot of companies now pay what you'd expect locally rather than in a tech hub. So, if you worked remotely from San Francisco you'd earn more than if you worked remotely from somewhere rural.

I fully expect to, if for no other reason than the market is no longer on my side. It's a question of degrees.

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

#357

Post by bradlys »

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.

My cold application process works pretty well historically. I can’t speak for the current conditions though.

I’ve gotten all my jobs through non-referrals in the past. It does work. Can’t speak for now though - could be most places just aren’t hiring even though they make it seem like they are.

Folks here need to spend more time on the hiring side and see how the meat is made.

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

#358

Post by nyarlathotep_ »

metadaemon wrote: post #153
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).…

I guess if you are used to the security (or lack thereof) and coast-ability of large tech companies, you might be inclined to stick to the big names. However, I've recently discovered how fulfilling startup work is. Ironically, I feel more secure in my current role at a startup than I ever did at big tech. That's thanks a lot to the industry I'm in, but regardless senior devs are missing a lot if they completely disc…

> "and coast-ability of large tech companies"

Is this really broadly true? I worked for a FAANG for a ~year and half and was constantly over-burdened (rarely with enjoyable or challenging technical work).

I assumed outside of the TikTok "Day in the Life" PMs most folks were grinding away on build issues 50hours a week.

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

#360

Post by giantg2 »

pcthrowaway wrote: post #292
giantg2 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just bad at everything and don't have any skills.

I mean.. that sounds like a legitimate reason to not extend you an offer. But it's good that you know this about yourself and can hopefully formulate an actionable path to improvement!

I'm just going to coast/struggle at my current job.
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