The quoted tweet mentions medical leave for burnout. I've noticed quite a lot of these stories begin with the laid-off employee taking extended time off for one reason or another.
Experienced engineers are struggling to get hired
311–320 of 355 posts
Re: Experienced engineers are struggling to get hired
#312Multiple causes have led to this. - A glut of people entering the field with no experience. - A more recent glut of people laid off who now expect or need inflated salaries to maintain their lifestyle and status. - Excessive focus by employers on very specific "skills" that don't necessarily translate to productivity or contributing to a team and project. - Employers not willing to train or mentor new hires, and expe…
Wow, insightful. I see myself in several of these descriptions. Got a blog with more writing?
In my profile. Thanks.
Re: Experienced engineers are struggling to get hired
#313Earlier quoted context omitted.
> do people really believe the unemployment rates.... When the government measures what it calls the unemployment rate, you might wish that it were measuring what you call the unemployment rate, vs. what it calls the unemployment rate. But at least the government's definition of the unemployment rate hasn't changed, and each time they measure it they are measuring the same thing. So, even if you doubt the absolute nu…
If purchasing power and minimum wage had kept up to pace then unemployment would not be so low. Though the numbers mean the same they have been artificially influenced by other factors and the ability to measure the economy through unemployment has been nerfed. Not to mention attrition is higher than the past so the jobs that are being created could be largely recycled.
You ok bro? I mean, lets put these two of your statements together:
> If [yada yada] then unemployment would not be so low.
Which seems to indicate that you do believe unemployment is low, but
> the numbers mean the same they have been artificially influenced by other factors
which seems to indicate that you disbelieve the evidence that unemployment is low...
The reason I ask if you are OK is that this is exactly the kind of thing which happens--to me as much as anybody--when you are feeling depressed. Any reasons to be optimistic (e.g. unemployment is low) are immediately discounted (e.g. its low because minimum wage hasn't kept up), or even just flat-out denied (unemployment isn't even low, because the numbers are cooked.)
Which is bad enough, but all the reasons for pessimism get magnified (e.g. purchasing power hasn't kept ups). The result is a self-reinforcing cycle of pessimism, which makes you completely immune to things which would ordinarily cheer you up and help you out of the trap.
> artificially influenced...the ability to measure the economy through unemployment has been nerfed....
Yeah. The danger with this kind of skepticism is where does it stop? I mean, sure, if you want to use the unemployment numbers as a source of information, you should know what is being measured and how its being measured. But to just dismiss this metric out of hand--when every other economist in the world follows it closely and thinks its useful--is just too facile. You can doubt anything. And it can trap you in a bad place. I hope you are all right.
Re: Experienced engineers are struggling to get hired
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
Big banks easily pay 200-300k
Sure, for niche roles, but not for web developers or app developers. If you want to make 200k+ at a big bank, it's because you have specialized programming experience/skills.
No I believe for all standard app engineers in HCOL locations like NYC metro and SF metro. Top banks like GS I think are even a bit more. But WF etc are 200k-280k, confirmed.
Re: Experienced engineers are struggling to get hired
#315Re: Experienced engineers are struggling to get hired
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
Toilet paper ran out because inventories are kept to a bare minimum. Big box stores maintain a one day supply to keep inventory turnover tight. It had nothing to do with manufacturing capacity (Russian example).
I didn't claim that the cause of the problem was with manufacturing capacity. But if the US didn't have implicit price controls ("just try raising prices 3x at this time of national need, you will regret it" from politicians), the deficits would have resolved in a week. My 2c.
Sure, if there were not price controls, the shelves would have been full of toilet paper.....but a large segment of the population wouldn't have been able to afford to buy it.
I don't know if you've ever been so poor that you couldn't buy toilet paper. But I sure have, and let me tell you, sneaking napkins from starbucks, and getting ink all over your hands from using newspapers goes from being inconvenient to being massively depressing real quick.
What kills me are these "sunshine capitalists" who just loooove the free market when they are making money, but who are the fist to cry "shortages!!!" and complain about the market value of engineering talent when it comes to spending money.
Re: Experienced engineers are struggling to get hired
#317Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no such thing in the US as a truly free market. While rising prices for the toilet paper would have quickly solved the shortage situation it would have elicited the wrath of local and national authorities. And those authorities can make life hell for anyone trying to charge whatever the market will bear.
Toilet paper ran out because inventories are kept to a bare minimum. Big box stores maintain a one day supply to keep inventory turnover tight. It had nothing to do with manufacturing capacity (Russian example).
Household toilet paper ran out (commercial did not, but its made for very different dispensers) because the supply chains are hyperspecialized and cannot adapt on any reasonable timetable. It absolutely did have to do with manufacturing capacity (otherwise it would have resolved much more quickly), and a rapid demand realignment of where people were using restrooms. The absence of price gouging laws would not have dealt with the fundamental problem, or even with the hoarding response once the supply problems became visible, it would just have shifted which hoarders cleaned out the stocks to the richest rather than merely the fastest, and would have put a lot more money in the hands of sellers.
Re: Experienced engineers are struggling to get hired
#318Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do not wish ill-fortune on my programmer colleagues, but I went indie to run conferences, making very little in comparison [0]: - I've regained perspective on the value of hard-earned money and the plight of the working man AKA majority of America. - I have no sympathy for complaints that you can't find FAANG salaries anymore. Zero. [0] I live in Seattle in a studio apartment, so I'm all right.
God forbid you wish to start a family in Seattle without your partner making bank
What makes you so special?
This is merely an entitled rant made by a surplus elite that has finally realized they're not very elite if conditions aren't absolutely perfectly in their favor. The real elite look inward and improve themselves. Only the pathetic, mediocre, and unimpressive point their fingers outward.
99% of the US population has it 10x harder and still manages to raise good kids. I can see why most people have nothing but contempt for tech workers.
Re: Experienced engineers are struggling to get hired
#319I am actively looking to hire - either freelance or full-time - an engineer to write open source golang code for my YC startup. However, I literally cannot afford FAANG salaries at my stage. It would literally bring my runway from n to n/5 years. And many candidates are asking for 400k+ salaries. I’d love to hire someone who knows what they’re doing but I’m just not able to find people who are both qualified and inte…
> And many candidates are asking for 400k+ salaries. I don’t understand this. Yes, for some engineers, in some roles, in some locations it makes sense - but that’s a tiny part of the overall market. I’m 40, live in a rural area in a Southern US state, and have right at twenty years’ experience. I’ve worked a big companies, have been the first tech hire at a startup, and have specialized somewhat in healthtech. I feel…
To afford to buy a home (average value of $2.2m) where I grew up in a barely middle class area, it requires a minimum income of 400k USD. That's just a middle class home with nothing fancy.
And you're lecturing us that it's preposterous.
I guess you don't understand what things cost and the needs of real people who aren't billionaires.
Re: Experienced engineers are struggling to get hired
#320Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, for niche roles, but not for web developers or app developers. If you want to make 200k+ at a big bank, it's because you have specialized programming experience/skills.
No I believe for all standard app engineers in HCOL locations like NYC metro and SF metro. Top banks like GS I think are even a bit more. But WF etc are 200k-280k, confirmed.
You are talking about niche positions. They aren't paying their front-end or developers 200k+.
I do know a number of bank developers making 300k+. They work on the boring, unsexy backend stuff that makes the bank run. Each of them provides the equivalent value of about 100 front-end developers.