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Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

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Re: Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

#71

Post by alanfranz »

htrp wrote: post #64
KptMarchewa wrote: post #22

Short term: zero anxiety, I'm at top 5 (very optimistically) to 20% of software engineers and have good visible achievements, speaking, etc. Mid term: this is where I have the most difficulty predicting. AI might get good enough to put most devs in 5 to 8 years. I give that 20% of chance but it's not 0. In that case only thing I could realistically do is management (lol), work in construction or gastronomy. Long term…

Ai can definitely put most middle management out of work too. Jira tickets, status updates, and meeting summaries are all going to be relatively low hanging fruit for lm apps.

If you think that’s all what a manager does, you had bad managers. People managers, I mean.

Re: Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

#72

Post by osigurdson »

I wonder how much of the hiring pause has to do with AI - the expectation that it will be possible that it will be possible to do far more with less? Stock prices do not seem to indicate a significant down turn.

Edit: I found this which seems to indicate that companies anticipate a challenging macro environment. However this doesn't seem to be reflected in any stock price.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/tech-firms-wall-street-le...

Re: Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

#73

Post by smelly101 »

edw519 wrote: post #61

I have been a professional programmer for 44 years and have NEVER had "job market anxiety". Why? Because I sincerely believe that there is zero correlation between the job market and my ability to find work. I don't pay attention to what anyone says about the economy, the market, or anything else macro, especially on the internet. And I have gone through times that were much much worse than now. I never worried about…

This is all good and optimistic but is a little bit in denial of the currently reality.

I don't think it's super surprising news to anyone and most people have done everything you've mentioned and are still struggling to get a job so it seems a little cruel to place the blame on them when the market is gone.

Re: Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

#74

Post by sarchertech »

jcpst wrote: post #65
danielvaughn wrote: post #12

I thankfully still have a job, but even I'm a bit nervous. I've got a baby on the way and if something were to happen to my job, I'd be in a tight spot financially. I'm doing a few things to help prepare: 1. I'm actively working on this side project of mine, and I'm considering giving a talk about it at an upcoming conference. 2. I'm trying to practice leetcode and system design. I say "trying" because I find it's an…

> I find it's an incredible waste of time, and I hate it. Then maybe it is a waste of time? I’ve been a dev for 10 years, mentored juniors, led massive projects, interviewed hundreds of candidates and don’t even remember ever going to leetcode.com until reading this comment. I think hacker news is the only place I’ve ever seen the word “leetcode”. But maybe I just live under a rock or something. Just making the point…

The majority of companies that ask leetcode style questions aren’t using the word leetcode anywhere.

Leetcode is just a popular repository of the type of interview questions that are designed to prove you understand a subset of the material from an Algorithms or Data Structures class.

Re: Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

#75

Post by bravetraveler »

alanfranz wrote: post #71
htrp wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ai can definitely put most middle management out of work too. Jira tickets, status updates, and meeting summaries are all going to be relatively low hanging fruit for lm apps.

If you think that’s all what a manager does, you had bad managers. People managers, I mean.

I think I'm still waiting on a single good 'people manager'

I've had plenty I got along with, but not one that has ever made my job easier

Best case, we all suffer together. Probable case: they build a promotion off my back

Note: not the one who received the assertion, but it's true. Bad managers abound

In fairness to them, there's only so much they can do in organizations that refuse to change where it 'counts'

Re: Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

#76

Post by jmye »

nerdponx wrote: post #42
jmye wrote: post #9

If you’re willing to take a pay cut* or a title cut, it’s still not a particularly tough market, even with what’s seemed like worse job postings and… stringent ATS requirements (at least in data-adjacent roles). Aside from that, I’ve worked on my network and reconnecting with folks, in case I need favors. I’m batting 1.000 on referrals-to-interviews, so I’ve been working to maximize that potential/reach. * My thinkin…

Companies won't hire senior people for junior roles because they don't want someone who will leave soon.

I consistently found the opposite - I did alter some past titles, but moving from a management role to a lead/senior IC role opened up opportunities (I ended up not taking them). It also potentially eases transitions between industries.

It will definitely raise a question, so if you go that route, it’s useful to figure out what your explanation is. But if you’re staring at depleted savings, it’s a potential path.

Re: Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

#77

Post by 0xEF »

fredgrott wrote: post #36
0xEF wrote: post #31

"How are you dealing?" Short answer; not well. Long answer; I'm currently stuck in a job with an employer that I hate, that is slowly destroying my love of the work, and I can't afford the time it would take to leave, upgrade my skills and get into a better situation. For context, I am a versatile service tech for industrial machines. I have zero certifications in anything only because I never needed them before sinc…

STOP! All that time spent in distractions to salivate the job hate is not doing you any favors....use it instead to pick up PCL! I speak from exp....my brother did exactly that...he is now a manager with good money and better employer.

I do have a PCL (you can find Allen Bradley or Seimens PLCs on eBay for cheap if you are patient, if anyone else is looking). I have learned to program and use it enough to know that I enjoy working with them, which is what set me on this path. Still good advice!

The trick is now rounding out that skill with a proper education on it and being able to show "yes, I did the work."

Re: Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

#78

Post by NotYourLawyer »

kaashif wrote: post #69
yurishimo wrote: post #10

I don’t think it’s actually too hard to find a job right now unless your only acceptable offer comes from FAANG or adjacent. Yea, making 250k might not be an option while the market is down, but once things pick back up, you’re free to look around again. Where I live (Netherlands), we still have an insane shortage of qualified developers. Some of the vendors we work with are overloaded with work because all of their…

> The jobs are out there if you want to do honest work for a fair wage. If a company is making hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue from your work, I think it's totally fair to want a bigger slice of that. I do realise "fair" can also mean "considerable though not outstanding in size or amount" - in that case I agree, but I'm not sure about the word "honest" here.

1. Revenue isn’t profit.

2. “Fair” is whatever you can negotiate. You’re not entitled to any more than you can make them pay you.

Re: Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

#79

Post by ravenstine »

kemiller2002 wrote: post #13

I'll let you in on the secret to finding a job. It's not about your skills really (maybe some), it's about who you know. If you're relying on only your skill to carry you through to finding a job, you're going to have a rough time. It's about who you know. You're looking for a job? Go to meetups, code and coffees, free tech seminars by companies etc. That's your job now. Connect with people on LinkedIn. There are ver…

It's also about how one behaves in interviews.

Good first impressions reduce the number of questions and give the other person a sense that you'd be enjoyable to work with. No one wants to work with a "genius" that has poor communication or social skills.

Re: Ask HN: How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

#80

Post by mpeg »

Not great!

I've been luckier than most in that I had a decent year, but the writing is on the wall for 2024 and I have never seen such a hostile job search environment.

There are barely any leadership roles available in the UK and it feels they're all looking for something very specific. All the layoffs are not helping as people with FAANG-style experience are seen as known quantities.

I'm keeping myself busy but I'm very worried about the future

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