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Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

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Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#151

Post by mech422 »

iaseiadit wrote: post #95
sage76 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career Everyone I know who is older and already in the industry, is having a bad time trying to change jobs.

I work for a FAANG, and I don’t know of a single IC here that was hired in their 40s or older. Almost everyone we’ve hired is in their 20s, with a handful in their early 30s. As a 40+ IC, I’m praying I don’t get laid off because it looks rough for older workers.

If it helps any, I'm in my mid-fifties and got hired as a full-time consultant at a F500 like 2(3?) years ago. consistently have clients select me for open projects. Current client is looking at extending another 3 years...

Hang in there! I'm a firm believer there's more of a 'cost bias' then an 'age bias' and if your on the side of the shop that brings in revenue, age isn't an issue...

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#152

Post by mech422 »

barrysteve wrote: post #144
iaseiadit wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work for a FAANG, and I don’t know of a single IC here that was hired in their 40s or older. Almost everyone we’ve hired is in their 20s, with a handful in their early 30s. As a 40+ IC, I’m praying I don’t get laid off because it looks rough for older workers.

15years ago I was reading the same ancedotes in slashdot comments. Tech is familiar with ageism, and the occasionally crusty greybeards refusing to go into management.

LOL - I resemble that comment - Black T-shirt and all :-D

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#153

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

AdamN wrote: post #39
JKCalhoun wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know folks without a college degree that started as tech support reps I know a few as well ... but that was decade(s) ago. I'm not sure the industry is still as hurdle-able as it once was.

Yeah I think the drawbridge is getting pulled up on that one. This won't be as common in the future and from the other side we're at the point where most new hires went to college to get a degree specifically to get a tech job. This creates another problem where the new crop isn't curious about tech for it's own sake - it's just a respectable career option :-/

> This creates another problem where the new crop isn't curious about tech for it's own sake

This is not a problem and has never been a problem. Some of the best developers that I've worked with have absolutely no interest in turning on a computer when they leave work.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#154

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

sage76 wrote: post #42
JCM9 wrote: post #17

Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career, start at an entry level position, work your way very high up the ladder and get paid very well along the way. I know folks without a college degree that started as tech support reps who worked their way up to senior roles in big tech that make multiples more than most physicians I know or others that had to go down a rigid path to get to…

> Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career Everyone I know who is older and already in the industry, is having a bad time trying to change jobs.

Yeah, I couldn't square that statement with all the comments about age discrimination that I see on this board.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#155

Post by vlod »

giantg2 wrote: post #141
surgical_fire wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Easily" my ass. I personally know multiple people that transitioned into IT well into their 30s, from a variety of professional backgrounds. They might not be employed at a FAANG making 500k a year, but they make enough money to live comfortably. Certainly above average for the rest of the population. Easy? I don't like to undervalue other people's achievements, so I wouldn't call it easy. They certainly put their…

Now this seems like a fair assessment I can agree with. I do want to add that in my 30s I'm seeing my mental abilities diminish pretty rapidly, so I don't know how long I can keep doing this. I've also seen people switch to other careers as they get old because they can't handle it anymore. So it seems to go both ways.

> I'm seeing my mental abilities diminish pretty rapidly

Maybe you're current job is making you annoyed which is making you less productive?

I've come to realize when this is happening to me and just move. Might be worth interviewing to see if anything takes your fancy.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#156

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #13
jasoneckert wrote: post #2

Big news headlines seem to be positioned in a way to scare people away from tech jobs right now, but the hard reality is that every organization relies tech people, not just those few big tech companies in Silicon Valley that over-hired during the pandemic.

If you were an average engineer destined to work in cookie-cutter roles in tech consultancies, would you still pursue a tech career, knowing that your job will sooner or later be taken over by AI? Remember that careers last 30 years, and if you're the average engineer, you're more likely to fall into the 80% of the pareto half than the 20%. Can you be confident that AI won't displace you in 10, 15, or even 20 years?…

Well, 20 years ago it would have been "can you be confident that Outsourcing won't displace you..."

If you're the type of person to worry, you'll always find something to worry about.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#157

Post by mixmastamyk »

JCM9 wrote: post #17

Tech is a rare industry where you can easily pivot into it later in your career, start at an entry level position, work your way very high up the ladder and get paid very well along the way. I know folks without a college degree that started as tech support reps who worked their way up to senior roles in big tech that make multiples more than most physicians I know or others that had to go down a rigid path to get to…

You can work your way up in most businesses or start your own once you hit the glass ceiling of credentialism. A tech job may speed that up by paying more, and having lots of docs to choose from, but it is a similar mechanism.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#158

Post by giantg2 »

hellisothers wrote: post #142
giantg2 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that's not what's being discussed here. What we are discusing is the distorted view in the original comment. The original comment was comparing the top earners of one field to the median earners for another. It would be better to compare the medians. For example median dev salary is about $110k. Median physician salary is about $205k. So no, these are not comparably paying jobs. And one does not "easily" earn mor…

Keep in mind almost all “salary” data I’ve seen for tech is just that, “salary”, it doesn’t include RSUs which begin to make up 50% or more of your TC which brings it to parity (or more) in your examples.

Someone else posted a link to actual income which still showed the median was about half. "Wages", according to the BLS, include bonuses and other comp. Stuff that vests or is deferred might not be counted. Even if it isn't, that's a small percentage of devs even earning them and wouldn't change the median much.

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#159

Post by giantg2 »

908B64B197 wrote: post #146
giantg2 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how that can be true. I would expect the if there were demand for the higher quality devs then we would see them skewing the distribution locally (like on Glassdoor). There are certainly some higher paid devs in the distribution, but the overall distribution is lower than SV. If the demand is low, then I would also assume the pay would be lower.

> I would expect the if there were demand for the higher quality devs then we would see them skewing the distribution locally (like on Glassdoor). Glassdoor or salary surveys aren't the most reliable source of information for outliers. There's a proportion of devs that are flying completely under the radar and who are completely invisible to most local companies, even if they are in the same "local market" [0]. Becau…

Like I said, they're too small of group to really effect the numbers. They would still be included in the BLS data though.

Re: Tech jobs remain a good bet despite mass layoffs in Silicon Valley

#160

Post by giantg2 »

vlod wrote: post #155
giantg2 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now this seems like a fair assessment I can agree with. I do want to add that in my 30s I'm seeing my mental abilities diminish pretty rapidly, so I don't know how long I can keep doing this. I've also seen people switch to other careers as they get old because they can't handle it anymore. So it seems to go both ways.

> I'm seeing my mental abilities diminish pretty rapidly Maybe you're current job is making you annoyed which is making you less productive? I've come to realize when this is happening to me and just move. Might be worth interviewing to see if anything takes your fancy.

Nowhere to move to. I've lost too much skill to pass a code screen.
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