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Unemployed for 8 months with 10 years experience. How is your job search going?

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31–40 of 41 posts

Re: Unemployed for 8 months with 10 years experience. How is your job search going?

#31
post #11

I just decided to pivot into consulting. Had saved so I have a bit of a runway, but the moment the thought occurred to me that I can forget about letcode shenanigans, and interviews and performance reviews, and terrible codebases and focus on jobs that I want to take, I couldn’t go back

> and terrible codebases

Heh, don't worry you'll see plenty of those.

Re: Unemployed for 8 months with 10 years experience. How is your job search going?

#32

Holding onto a contract but I'm a bit burned out after 10 years in the industry and was considering sabbatical. I hope you find a chair somewhere soon, but tbh it feels like most of us will have to drastically rethink viability of our careers in coming years if not immediately. It comes for us all, its just a question of time...

I think most people that are kind of burnt out start to think negatively thus reproduce the same kind of thoughts, rethinking and viewing their career as not viable anymore... Plus there's so much negativity the last couple of months, just because the market is tight and no more easy job hunting.

its easy to write everything up to negativity, but if you been in the industry for some years and know a few old timers, you may know the job itself is declining in prestige and pay and is currently facing uncertain times....

its not really encouraging when the career you threw your life to may change from ground up into something you may not even enjoy and like (due to AI etc)

lets have at the popular horse analogy; sure people could have always retrained to be "taxi drivers" but what if some of them just enjoyed riding the damn horses and feeding their family at the same time? and did the 20 years of horse riding on the prehistoric CV really translate well when applying for the new fancy taxi driver positions?

Re: Unemployed for 8 months with 10 years experience. How is your job search going?

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people that are kind of burnt out start to think negatively thus reproduce the same kind of thoughts, rethinking and viewing their career as not viable anymore... Plus there's so much negativity the last couple of months, just because the market is tight and no more easy job hunting.

its easy to write everything up to negativity, but if you been in the industry for some years and know a few old timers, you may know the job itself is declining in prestige and pay and is currently facing uncertain times.... its not really encouraging when the career you threw your life to may change from ground up into something you may not even enjoy and like (due to AI etc) lets have at the popular horse analogy;…

Thanks for reply and for sharing your concerns.

I've been a professional since 2016, i know that doesn't make me an old timer but... when were the salaries higher compared to last couple of years?

I agree that prestige tends to decline, is that important though?

About the uncertain times you mention... there are people who think that it's just a phase and it shall pass, and they aren't all newcomers. Also, not everyone views AI as such a game changing force. There is also the case that not much really changes in this industry, I mean we're still writing bash scripts right? Of course you need to keep up to date with latest trends and I understand it could be unpleasant to do so longterm...

Re: Unemployed for 8 months with 10 years experience. How is your job search going?

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

its easy to write everything up to negativity, but if you been in the industry for some years and know a few old timers, you may know the job itself is declining in prestige and pay and is currently facing uncertain times.... its not really encouraging when the career you threw your life to may change from ground up into something you may not even enjoy and like (due to AI etc) lets have at the popular horse analogy;…

Thanks for reply and for sharing your concerns. I've been a professional since 2016, i know that doesn't make me an old timer but... when were the salaries higher compared to last couple of years? I agree that prestige tends to decline, is that important though? About the uncertain times you mention... there are people who think that it's just a phase and it shall pass, and they aren't all newcomers. Also, not everyo…

> I've been a professional since 2016, i know that doesn't make me an old timer but... when were the salaries higher compared to last couple of years?

just for context I'm located in EU and I consider faang type jobs and compensations something that happens in a minuscule of cases in land far far away. if you look at salaries in "ordinary sw jobs" they may not have been higher in the past, but when adjusted for cost of living (and housing) and inflation, they definitely haven't been keeping up with the times

also in the past when engineers were considered "magicians" it was not uncommon to have royalties for authoring, license agreements in place for very simple low hanging fruit type of applications. this is completely opposed to current power dynamics where employers got the hint and redrafted the employment contracts to make sure most engineers are replaceable cogs in a cost centers dishing out lines of text. I'm not complaining, just giving examples about the decrease in the prestige and benefits in the job itself...

Re: Unemployed for 8 months with 10 years experience. How is your job search going?

#35
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might be going a bit overboard here, calm down - life is good, there is no danger. You will be fine.

Life is good, but I need a sense of impending doom to keep constantly progressing, improving and growing. Not doing that would drive me crazy.

I feel the same way from time to time. But - please take care of yourself, and if you’re not already, please stop to smell the roses when you can

Re: Unemployed for 8 months with 10 years experience. How is your job search going?

#38
post #26

A little over 6 months unemployed with around 6 years of experience. Recruiters dried up except for a couple spouts last year and couple last month. Most of the interviews were shockingly hostile. Job applications are a void and frankly I’m seeing less and less jobs relevant to my skill self and less generalist jobs in general. If things don’t shape up this month, I’m preparing for the worst and possibly giving up. I…

>Most of the interviews were shockingly hostile Just in the past month, I've been, at two separate interviews, told by the interviewer: "There's been a lot of layoffs lately teehee" "I'd never apply for jobs. I need to be headhunted" You give people the least bit of power and they quickly show their true colors...

Worst I had was one where one guy hijacked the interview to just complain about all the other candidates. I’d try to take the conversation somewhere more productive, but this guy was really good with tangents.

Re: Unemployed for 8 months with 10 years experience. How is your job search going?

#39
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most of the interviews were shockingly hostile Just in the past month, I've been, at two separate interviews, told by the interviewer: "There's been a lot of layoffs lately teehee" "I'd never apply for jobs. I need to be headhunted" You give people the least bit of power and they quickly show their true colors...

Worst I had was one where one guy hijacked the interview to just complain about all the other candidates. I’d try to take the conversation somewhere more productive, but this guy was really good with tangents.

Why is it that job hunting is becoming so much like online dating of late?

Re: Unemployed for 8 months with 10 years experience. How is your job search going?

#40
May I interject? The McKinsey Digitization Index shows shockingly low engagement in the Healthcare, Government and Related sectors and small business is desperate for you to help then save money and better engage with their customers. The Business Automation (niche?) or whatever you want to call it is booming. Lawyers, Plumbers, Gardeners etc all need data gathering and massaging to increase their profits etc. Getting lists of Plumbers in your area and making them and offer via Valpak (with a 90% open rate) may lead to surprising results. The data is free, the US Gov has tons of info and it applies here in a big way. It's easy to find and package....
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