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Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

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Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#291

Post by lsofzz »

hosteur wrote: post #28
lsofzz wrote: post #3

Nice. I don't have anything for you but maybe this will be useful: My two cents: o Learn machine learning, artificial intelligence - fast.ai o Learn Rust, Rust, Rust and some Go o Scala is good. Keep it. All the stuff you learnt whilst using Scala and Python will be useful in _Rust_. o SDE is huge. Try something other can webdev and gamedev. No matter what others may say next frontier will be roughly these: - Artific…

What resources do you recommend for learning QC?

Whilst being Microsoft platform, still the katas are great https://quantum.microsoft.com/en-us/experience/quantum-katas

If you want go deep, you will need to refresh/learn few key mathematical foundations that form the basis of QC. They are definitely not hard IMHO. If so, then read Michael Nielsen and Isaac Chuang excellent book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Computation_and_Quantu...

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#292

Post by lsofzz »

lsofzz wrote: post #291
hosteur wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What resources do you recommend for learning QC?

Whilst being Microsoft platform, still the katas are great https://quantum.microsoft.com/en-us/experience/quantum-katas If you want go deep, you will need to refresh/learn few key mathematical foundations that form the basis of QC. They are definitely not hard IMHO. If so, then read Michael Nielsen and Isaac Chuang excellent book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Computation_and_Quantu...

https://github.com/microsoft/QuantumKatas (this one can be run locally for learning purposes using Jupter notebooks)

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#293

Post by danjac »

sage76 wrote: post #209
bmitc wrote: post #88

You are apparently in the UK, but the job market in the U.S. has similarly been very spooky lately. I was laid off and have received almost no interviews outside of a single previous employer. My resume was flat out rejected, even from places that I had previously worked or was made an offer from as little as a year or two ago. It was really weird. As in, previous contacts would not even reply to emails or LinkedIn m…

> I am finding that more and more people are looking for extremely specific and narrow experience. Like, if you haven't used technology and worked in domain, they don't want to even speak to you. They'd almost rather higher a new grad who happened to work in than someone with experience in many languages and domains. It's really weird. I've been thinking a lot about how to make my own path, because it's exhausting tr…

This is definitely why I am thinking about leaving the industry, if and when current gig ends.

Even with a resume tailored exactly to requirements, crickets.

Some copium going around - "it's just interest rates", "thinks will pick up soon". Nope. This is what the end of the industry looks like, at least for a great many developers.

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#294

Post by [deleted] »

freedomben wrote: post #99

I do hiring in the US not the UK, but I'm only (I'm guessing) a few years older than you so you probably had the "keep it to one page" rule pounded into your head. I get a lot of resumes, and that is definitely not the case anymore. Two to three pages is perfectly fine. I would suggest: 1. Add a list of skills and/or technologies you're particularly good in. You can include stuff you've used but aren't current in, bu…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#295

Post by danjac »

eek2121 wrote: post #125

You aren't. The economy is absolute garbage right now. I'm in the US and the situation is similar here. I've never had an issue finding a job before either, but I've been unemployed since the middle of 2023. Assuming you aren't under financial hardship, my advice is to spend more time on your hobbies and check back in around July/August. That is when the layoffs are projected to drop and hiring is expected to keep up…

I have zero faith that it is going to pick up again. There is no evidence this is going to be the case. Your time would be better spent retraining for another industry, if that is practical for you.

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#296

Post by danjac »

eek2121 wrote: post #127
theandrewbailey wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For the first time in 20 years there are more applicants than jobs again. I'd argue that happened during 2008 and 2009. Source: I graduated and had to get a first job during that time. For every 100 positions I applied for, I got a call for 5, and had on site interviews for 1. Sounds like that may be the case again.

I had absolutely NO problem finding employment during that time period. First jobs are usually the "first" to go FYI. I'm a senior dev, and even back then I had a ton of experience. I agree with OP. This is easily the biggest down cycle since the dot com bubble. Just remember, things will recover. Eventually.

Same here. However I do not believe things will recover, at least in a reasonable time frame for my own career. My thinking is now if this current job ends I need to think about exiting the industry and doing something else.

Oh well, tech is a nice hobby at least.

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#297

Post by [deleted] »

vertis wrote: post #216
Paul-Craft wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's all well and good, but "eventually" doesn't pay the bills right now.

Which is a lesson to not blow your money (I know this doesn't help those that are CURRENTLY in this situation). Tech people tend to think money grows on trees, they're paid far more than the median wage and that means they feel things like inflation and cost of living pressures less, but it does tend to result in an attitude that there will always be more money so why save.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#298

Post by danjac »

lfciv wrote: post #45

A bit of a different take, but given the amount of experience you have, I wouldn't put as much weight on using a CV at all. With an updated LinkedIn you can reach out to past bosses, coworkers, and friends for introductions to other people in industry (whether they're hiring or not) – and follow that chain until you find something you're interested in.

I would agree. Applying to every public job posting out there is a waste of time.

Either the postings are fake (there for legal reasons, or to make the company look like they are healthy and growing) or they will be spammed by so many applicants that even if your resume is a perfect match it will just get lost in the noise.

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#299

Post by danjac »

janstice wrote: post #159
janstice wrote: post #153

I've hired a maybe 10 devs in the last couple of years at a variety of levels, and this CV doesn't help much - it might get to a maybe pile, but there are a bunch of relatively small changes that I think would help: 1. Where are you? You should at least have your town or city on the CV unless you're in transit -- we're open to candidates that are moving, but local candidates usually get bonus points as things are jus…

Plus - I don't know about your area, but every so often I try to staff a Django project, and people with more than superficial knowledge are like hens' teeth, so maybe lean into that.

That's funny, as I apply to Django jobs with plenty of experience and just get ghosted, to the point I'm moving away from Django as it feels more and more like a dead end (though what in tech other than buzzword-du-jour is not a dead end at this point?)

Re: Ask HN: Why am I suddenly unemployable?

#300

Post by jvlake »

Take this with a grain of salt, but I don’t see any cloud experience, I see lots of “used” which tells me very little about how proficient you are. It’s hard to tell if you’re a junior/senior, you don’t demonstrate you have good knowledge of best practices or design patterns or show team leadership skills, DevOps? Agile? Kubernetes? Not to say you don’t posses those skills but your cv doesn’t demonstrate it that well… that’s to say the 1st page didn’t and I have a stack to get through and all this work I’m still expected to complete by close of business because I’m tech lead AND hiring manager, next.
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