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Ask HN: V2 – Laid off folks, are you getting hired yet?

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Re: Ask HN: V2 – Laid off folks, are you getting hired yet?

#51

Post by iaaan »

I was laid off about a month ago (senior software engineer). I remember the whole job search for my last position, back in June 2021, lasted all of about two weeks. This time, it feels like there's significantly fewer interesting positions open, and the ones I apply to aren't even leading to HR screening calls. I've probably applied to about 30 positions.

The one place that did call me back gave me their take-home coding test, but their automated grading system said I failed, so they sent me a rejection email with no details about what their automated system didn't like about my code and then never responded to my request for more info.

I've really enjoyed the first month or so of unemployment, getting to hang out more with my spouse, do hobbies, work on the house, etc., but the anxiety about running out of emergency fund runway is slowly creeping in. We've got about another 4 months before things get really dire, not accounting for unemployment checks. With UI, we can probably double that before we'd need to dip into investment accounts.

For sure a more fortunate position to be in financially than most get, but it's still really unnerving not knowing when/if I'll get another interview. I've been consistently employed full time since the moment I graduated high school (about 10 years ago), so this is literally the first time I've ever not had a job in my adult life.

Re: Ask HN: V2 – Laid off folks, are you getting hired yet?

#52

Post by lettergram »

fnbr wrote: post #31

I work as an AI research engineer, so I’m having a totally different experience than the others I’m seeing here. Job market is very very strong for senior AI roles. Multiple offers that were >2x what I was making at a BigTech research lab (depending on how you value the equity). Interview process was much easier than I was expecting- mostly situational interviews (although I was referred in for those). Having said th…

LLMs have been interesting - I need to update my resume to focus on it. I have experience working on models like that since 2018 and are frankly less interesting than some alternatives (to me).

My guess is a lot of companies / hiring managers are searching for key terms. Screening is likely not from people who know what they’re talking about

Re: Ask HN: V2 – Laid off folks, are you getting hired yet?

#53

Post by DoreenMichele »

71a54xd wrote: post #3

Nope, it's pretty bad. Out of maybe 40 applications I've had 2 interviews, made it to round two for one of them, no offer. LinkedIn positions get 150+ applications within hours. For the first time I got nearly zero response from HN Hiring as well. I think the issue is everything is skewing wildly towards senior roles, even non-senior roles are getting inundated with 200+ applicants that are over qualified. If you're…

Have someone look over your resume and see if it can't be improved in areas like readability.

Re: Ask HN: V2 – Laid off folks, are you getting hired yet?

#54

Post by jakeinspace »

fnbr wrote: post #31

I work as an AI research engineer, so I’m having a totally different experience than the others I’m seeing here. Job market is very very strong for senior AI roles. Multiple offers that were >2x what I was making at a BigTech research lab (depending on how you value the equity). Interview process was much easier than I was expecting- mostly situational interviews (although I was referred in for those). Having said th…

I’m assuming that "AI research engineer" implies a PhD, but I’m curious what your progression was. How long were you in academia before moving to industry research?

Re: Ask HN: V2 – Laid off folks, are you getting hired yet?

#55

Post by lotsofpulp »

ra1231963 wrote: post #50
throwaway5959 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously. How has someone not gotten high at least once in their life?

I think there are plenty who haven’t, probably lots for religious reasons. But to not have heard that term is very surprising. There’s even a movie, half baked.

I am not aware of any major religion that outright bans cannabis consumption. If anything, it is probably the fact that cannabis possession has enough of a chance to derail one’s life via the judicial system in many places around the world so that people do not want to risk it.

Re: Ask HN: V2 – Laid off folks, are you getting hired yet?

#56

Post by oarabbus_ »

71a54xd wrote: post #3

Nope, it's pretty bad. Out of maybe 40 applications I've had 2 interviews, made it to round two for one of them, no offer. LinkedIn positions get 150+ applications within hours. For the first time I got nearly zero response from HN Hiring as well. I think the issue is everything is skewing wildly towards senior roles, even non-senior roles are getting inundated with 200+ applicants that are over qualified. If you're…

>If you're like me and have 3yrs of (FAANG and growth stage startups) SWE and 1yr of product eng / TPM'ing you're basically fucked.

I hope you find something soon, but let's be realistic here, claiming SWEs with FAANG experience on the resume are "fucked" is some real extreme hyperbole.

If you could pass the engineering hiring bar at FAANG, surely you can do an approximation of how many people with 4 years of career experience don't have FAANG on their resume, aren't engineers, or both. You have an advantage over nearly all of them.

Like others have said, networking/connections are key, but that's still true even when the job market is hot.

Re: Ask HN: V2 – Laid off folks, are you getting hired yet?

#58

Post by hackily »

I was laid off a month ago, senior frontend engineer. I've reached out to my network and have been talking to various startups, but it seems like most of the bigger companies do not want to bite.

Compounding that is my desire to keep working remotely, or somewhere local to the DC metro area, so many of the same opportunities that would be available to me in the Bay area, had I remained there, are closed to me, because they're using a hybrid model.

I'm not in much of a rush, and I'm hopeful that I'll find interesting work with some startup.

Re: Ask HN: V2 – Laid off folks, are you getting hired yet?

#59

Post by rippercushions »

throwaway5959 wrote: post #42
hiddencost wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um, I just wanted to let you know that I had never considered that anyone didn't know that slang. So, thank you for that data point. There's such a big world out there!

Seriously. How has someone not gotten high at least once in their life?

Drug slang is incredibly regional, so "baked" is common in the US but not elsewhere.

Re: Ask HN: V2 – Laid off folks, are you getting hired yet?

#60

Post by shrimp_emoji »

throwaway5959 wrote: post #42
hiddencost wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um, I just wanted to let you know that I had never considered that anyone didn't know that slang. So, thank you for that data point. There's such a big world out there!

Seriously. How has someone not gotten high at least once in their life?

I've been too socially inept to know how to get some and would probably be too scared to do it even if I got some. I took DARE and I've seen Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
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