I'm not sure what the job market is like in Europe, but in the US it's the worst job market I've seen since the dotcom bust. The job market isn't worse than the Dotcom bust but it's worse than the Financial crisis for sure. I wouldn't freak out just yet, however, I would also dedicate a lot more effort to learn whatever stack and language that is more popular in your area. Sticking with C and waiting for the right job to appear isn't a good idea. Also, there's no shame in lying on your resume to show some experience in whatever language you are looking to transition to, like golang. As long as you can walk the walk, ultimately that's all that matters.
Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?
21–30 of 83 posts
Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?
#22You could spend some working hours brushing up your knowledge about whatever tech stack companies nowadays ask for. You don’t need to become an expert in X, Y and Z, a bit of exposure and understanding of the fundamentals is enough to put it on your CV. I have done this many times. For example, I didn’t know k8s, and I wanted to switch jobs: I spent around 1-2 months learning k8s at work and at home, I learnt the fun…
As a Founder , I believe it is not fair for someone to look for job applications on company time and sharpening your skills for next job - in time and resources that your company had paid for. Since you have problems with upper management - tough it up , talk about it face to face in a polite manner and highlight their toxic behavior . Tell them you don't like the way you are being treated and you can't continue this way. Since you had been there for so long already it will work in your favor. If things don't go in your way and if you get fired , they need to pay you 3 months - and during that time , you are good enough to learn new things.
Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?
#23The market is going through a massive liquidity crunch and startup funding, therefore tech hiring is at an all time low since 2010s.
This is not you but the market. Consolidate and don't take this as a judgement on your skills sir.
C will never go out of fashion.
Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?
#24Is your career over? Probably not. But if you want to write Go, write go on your own time and use your day job to support your creative practice. The more experience you have the more advantage there is to getting jobs through people you know, and the more disadvantage there is to looking to strangers for employment. Because looking for employment from strangers raises the legitimate question, "why doesn't this perso…
"why doesn't this person have work through their professional network?" Where I am from this is called nepotism and is frowned upon. Also a sign of a flawed job market.
Thats a psyop people use to put the blame for a crappy job market on the employee.
"start your own business"
"your network is your net worth"
if these are your two options then the job market for that skill is really bad
Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?
#25Lie about your age and fabricate new skills on your resume/CV. Put “I code in C/Java/Go/Python/Javascript/whateverYouNeed”. Also you’re in the EU so could feasibly move to where needs your exact skill set. But web/frontend/backend is needed everywhere so it’s likely worth adding that to your C skills.
Moving residence in the EU is not a trivial thing--housing, family, taxes, even language can play against you.
Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?
#26I would think listing C would be better?
The notion of applying for senior engineer for a lang you’ve not worked in doesn’t make sense to me. Obviously you’d learn but that might be part of the reason for rejection
Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?
#27You could spend some working hours brushing up your knowledge about whatever tech stack companies nowadays ask for. You don’t need to become an expert in X, Y and Z, a bit of exposure and understanding of the fundamentals is enough to put it on your CV. I have done this many times. For example, I didn’t know k8s, and I wanted to switch jobs: I spent around 1-2 months learning k8s at work and at home, I learnt the fun…
As a Founder , I believe it is not fair for someone to look for job applications on company time and sharpening your skills for next job - in time and resources that your company had paid for. Since you have problems with upper management - tough it up , talk about it face to face in a polite manner and highlight their toxic behavior . Tell them you don't like the way you are being treated and you can't continue this…
The unfair thing in the scenario you describe is the employee choosing to upskill while they continue to do their jobs? And not the company firing them for speaking their mind - giving them 3 months of runway to switch careers in a situation OP already said felt like a shit job market?
Micromanaging employee time is one of the worst signs of a toxic company culture. And definitely not a sign of an efficient one
Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?
#28Lie about your age and fabricate new skills on your resume/CV. Put “I code in C/Java/Go/Python/Javascript/whateverYouNeed”. Also you’re in the EU so could feasibly move to where needs your exact skill set. But web/frontend/backend is needed everywhere so it’s likely worth adding that to your C skills.
This is a horrible advice. If a simple and harmless lie is detected, you destroy your credibility completely. Nothing you say will have any meaning, even if you prove it. You lied once, you can lie again. The risk of hiring you is very high, even if you fit the position nicely.
Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?
#29Re: Ask HN: Am I dead meat already?
#30You could spend some working hours brushing up your knowledge about whatever tech stack companies nowadays ask for. You don’t need to become an expert in X, Y and Z, a bit of exposure and understanding of the fundamentals is enough to put it on your CV. I have done this many times. For example, I didn’t know k8s, and I wanted to switch jobs: I spent around 1-2 months learning k8s at work and at home, I learnt the fun…
As a Founder , I believe it is not fair for someone to look for job applications on company time and sharpening your skills for next job - in time and resources that your company had paid for. Since you have problems with upper management - tough it up , talk about it face to face in a polite manner and highlight their toxic behavior . Tell them you don't like the way you are being treated and you can't continue this…
Pretty much all sharpening skills happens on someone’s company’s time.