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Ask HN: Shift in the job market here to stay?

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Ask HN: Shift in the job market here to stay?

#1

Post by movingmove »

As everyone here probably, from 2010 to 2020, it took me not more than 2-3 weeks to land a new job, and could probably have 3-4 offers in that time span. I am an experienced Engineer, 15 years, published books.

When I am applying now, 50% of applications through direct job posting yield no response. I go with recruiters and have a 99% chance of getting to the second step of the interview.

After that, no matter how well the coding challenge went, I get a rejection with the reason: "Someone has more exact skill overlap", "Not experienced enough" etc.

I am applying at around 15 jobs, and have yet to get one offer. And if people think that's not a lot. I am talking about 15 jobs where I am going through at least 3-4 steps, all at the same time.

I see more hiring and higher salaries in the Blockchain space (And AI slowly) than any other field. Bigger names like Cloudflare, Red Hat etc. don't even answer my application.

What do you folks do to handle this situation? I am skilling up every day at work and started more side projects to learn from, but get rejections nevertheless.

Any strategy you employ to get through this? Any end in sight?

Re: Ask HN: Shift in the job market here to stay?

#2

Post by wg0 »

I think it might slowly going to be the new normal even post ZIRP. I say this because lots of the companies that employed software engineers were internet related businesses or their dependent and descendent businesses (think various SaaS tools) and now that market has its winners and takers almost established, there's also the market saturation.

Nobody is building new Facebook, Google and such and even if someone is, they're less likely to gain those scales.

Revocation of ZIRP has trimmed the industry of any excess and inefficiencies, mostly.

Re: Ask HN: Shift in the job market here to stay?

#4

Post by distortionfield »

Between Section 174 and the post-ZIRP environment, I think the shift is here to stay. I'm a senior software engineer, 8+ years of experience, applying to jobs I'm perfectly qualified for only to hear the exact same things you're mentioning - The position has already been filled, we're changing our staffing plans for the new year, taking a new direction, etc... I've also been getting into the 2nd and 3rd stages of interviews, making it past technical interviews, only to still get the cold shoulder at some point afterwards.

FWIW, I do think that companies right now are overreacting in the negative direction and will pay for it down the line. Layoffs always have a sort of viral feel to them, IMO, and I think the pendulum will swing back in the other direction, but it won't be soon.

Re: Ask HN: Shift in the job market here to stay?

#6

Post by throwaway097992 »

distortionfield wrote: post #4

Between Section 174 and the post-ZIRP environment, I think the shift is here to stay. I'm a senior software engineer, 8+ years of experience, applying to jobs I'm perfectly qualified for only to hear the exact same things you're mentioning - The position has already been filled, we're changing our staffing plans for the new year, taking a new direction, etc... I've also been getting into the 2nd and 3rd stages of int…

Section 174 is not being discussed by many startups and their experiences are not being shared. I am curious about the cost of becoming a no-brainer in economics again for engineers in both the US and abroad.
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