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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?

#381

Post by rcarmo »

yieldcrv wrote: post #137
kypro wrote: post #8

I recently got laid off in the UK and it was really hard to find something decent. There's jobs out there, but most aren't all that great and the interviews were much harder to come by. I was ghosted by recruiters countless times after being told I would be put forward for certain roles which has never happened to me before...

I find UK recruiters to be the flakiest. At first I figured it was my timezone, but they seem to really just drop prospects that don't get them a sure-fire commission immediately.

Yep.

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

#382

Post by 8b16380d »

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…

Cold apps never really worked for me either. Even scammy recruiters are more likely to land you something.

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

#383

Post by replwoacause »

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…

LOL. Yeah, I'm sure these people are enjoying their severance and unemployment benefits.

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

#384

Post by greedo »

hikawaii wrote: post #301
paganel wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people going after "wealth" are a minority. The majority of us are salaried people who go to work in order to have a roof over our heads, to pay the bills and put food on the table and maybe to have enough money to have some kids. The majority of us don't actually know what we "have", because it isn't that much anyway. We do know though what we need to pay in the next 10 to 15 days(and if we somehow forget there'…

Given that the average mid level developer makes a salary and stock grant putting them well into the 1% (in USA) I find it questionable that the majority of people are "just" trying to keep a roof over their heads.

Perhaps your assumption that all "mid level developers" make FAANG income is a bit inaccurate? There are tens of thousands of developers across the US not making big bucks. And to be in the 1%, you need to be making north of $800K. The company I work for employees roughly 100 developers, and not one of them makes more than $150K (we don't award RSUs either).

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

#385

Post by TradingPlaces »

thwayunion wrote: post #334
TradingPlaces wrote: post #328

I know no one gets a CS degree dreaming of working for Walmart, but they have over 1100 openings with the word “software” in the title https://careers.walmart.com/results?q=software&page=1&sort=r...

Serious question: how is working for Walmart different from working for Amazon Retail?

Let’s start with the pay, then move to the benefits, and then move on to their Sunnyvale, CA location for many of the software jobs. Not saying it’s for everyone. But there are a lot of software layoffs and they are definitely hiring at competitive pay/benefits. Every Fortune 500 company is a tech company now.

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

#386

Post by greedo »

bluGill wrote: post #314
thetopher wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn’t true in California, and I don’t think it’s generally true in other states either. A fired employee is still eligible for unemployment as long as they were not fired because of specific misconduct. Poor performance does not constitute misconduct. Misconduct must be “willful and wanton.” (Regularly missing work or being late, stealing, fighting with coworkers, etc.) The CA guidelines are long, but contain so…

A fired employee can sue for wrongful dismissal. If this happened to your check with a lawyer, if you can show that the company had a pattern of overlooking such things, then you can get big bucks in court. I know of people who should have been fired who were talked into quitting instead just because quitting means they can't sue. In turn the company gives the official answer "X worked here between these dates and le…

Any company that states that an employee left "in bad standing" either has an idiot for counsel, or poor HR practices. Providing any information other than employment dates opens you up for lawsuits.

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

#387

Post by gen220 »

titanomachy wrote: post #177
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…

I’m a low-senior engineer recently laid off. I got lots of emails like that and politely declined. I have a bit over four months of severance pay. For the moment, I’m enjoying other fulfilling activities as well as spending some time upgrading my tech skills through independent study. I’ve considered some startups, but it seems like it’s often difficult to enforce boundaries on work… I benefit a lot from being able t…

If you're interviewing with an early stage (read: pre-series B) startup, the founders believe you're a good fit, and they have seeded a good culture, they will be happy to let you interview every person they've hired so far.

I like to ask these people "Why did you choose this company versus any of the other ones?" and "What were your expectations about [thing I'm uncertain about], and how did your experience differ from that?"

Startups actually have more signal to offer than most big tech companies. However, the onus is on you to scuttlebut, and it's true that the risks of not doing it well are more severe.

Re: compensation, if you are able to demonstrate competence and efficacy, early stage startups will offer you a cash basis comparable to that of big tech. Of course, if your expenses have inflated to the expectation of selling big tech RSUs every year, you should expect a pretty significant "real" cut in annual income unless you walk in to another public company.

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

#388

Post by greedo »

giantg2 wrote: post #371
bluGill wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If how the company acts in practice is different from their written rules, then anyone fired can sue the company for wrongful dismissal. Check with a lawyer.

The tough part is solid evidence supporting it.

It's incumbent on the employer to provide evidence to the UI board proving their case.

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

#389

Post by throwaway675309 »

mywittyname wrote: post #323
latchkey wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good link, thanks. The problem I see is that you need to find the fixer gem, but location matters. Certainly, you can buy a fixer in the middle of Ohio, but who wants to live there? There is just too much surrounding inventory with low desirability. The thing that works in my eyes is to buy in areas that are extremely desirable, even pay a bit more for it, but very low inventory. That's where the insane appreciation…

> Certainly, you can buy a fixer in the middle of Ohio, but who wants to live there? Millions of people. It's the seventh largest state in the USA, is home to three major cities and many large multinational companies.

Yeah, no. Lived in Cleveland for several years, moved overseas to Taiwan and never looked back. I could do a quick canvassing of a dozen of my friends on the top 10 desirable states to live in and Ohio wouldn't even appear a single time.

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

#390

Post by greedo »

MarkMarine wrote: post #146
michaelbuckbee wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Woodworking is a popular hobby with developers; at some level at least they're both about creating things. The "eventually" part is a nod towards retirement and then joking not having a choice.

I enjoy woodworking because it's something I can do with my hands that has a definite beginning and end, unlike most software which is often never really done. I find the completion of these whole projects very cathartic.

I like the fact that it produces something tangible and (hopefully) long lasting. None of the systems I've set up between 2000-2015 are still alive; so much time and effort lost.
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