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Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

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Re: Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

#411

Post by jelly-filled »

I got laid off from Amazon and it took me around 4 months to finally land a job last summer. I did a shotgun approach to applications and make track. I completed 400 applications but only interviewed for 12 companies before getting an offer.

I'm in a similar situation, I do not have a degree but have around a decade of professional experience.

I did recently talk to our tech recruiter and he said we average about 1k applicants a day in each job post and about 95% of them are AI generated slop resumes and his leadership wants him to review every application.

Re: Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

#412

Post by w4ffl35 »

tempodox wrote: post #61
w4ffl35 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kazakhstan

What's the special significance of being from Kazakhstan? How do they differ from other foreigners?

I'm not sure what your asking. In this case the company was hiring them because they were incredibly cheap.

Re: Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

#413

Post by ipaddr »

robomartin wrote: post #65

While I have been self-employed for a few decades, I do see and hear about what's happening out there. I have many friends who have had challenges and others who are afraid to leave their jobs, even when paid well under what they are worth. One of them finally gave up and took a job in the oil fields in New Mexico. This, after sending hundreds of applications and enduring a few 5 to 7 stage interviews, only to be tol…

People go to a technical college for this. The college you describe should introduce the student to a wide variety ideas and thoughts and history. When that is done going to a technical college to actual learn the craft is the better choice for those not programming in their spare time at a high level. Expecting hands on skills from a degree isn't fair because it is not what a degree means.

Re: Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

#414

Post by md_ayaz »

I got laid in June and was unemployed for 2 months. I'm from Bengaluru, India.

Job market here is really bad. There are companies from USA that are opening offices India but the no openings are less than the job seekers.

I have friends who are unemployed for 6 months or more. Companies don't want to match previous compensation. They want candidates at the lowest price and best skills.

There is a leetcode inflation and getting interviews is the most challenging part.

Re: Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

#415

Post by skillissuz »

ipaddr wrote: post #404
feznyng wrote: post #220

Question for those who lived through it: is this sense that not only is the market over but that it’s permanently over a point of discussion during the dot com crash or 2008? I’ve experienced the former personally but the idea that it’s never going to get better is a little harder to swallow, although that may be pure cope.

2000 or 2008 didn't feel like it was over. 2000 felt like too far too soon undelivered promises dried up the market. 2008 felt like wall street fraud killed the economy for all. Today we are living in a reality created by FAANGs (and those who copied) who over recruited everyone so that other FAANGs could not get them. Employee count became connected to valuations. Which created insane fake demand which increased gra…

So much this. I have been watching the bootcamp mouthbreathers give up in droves and the recovery will be apparent when they've capitulated and latch onto their next host (don't forget, in 2006 they were all learning to flip homes or get a realtor license). I despise these imbecils for visiting their chaos and confusion on our industry.

The entire time (past 10 years minimum) the relative volume of skilled engineers and the demand for them (do not confuse that with open job postings) has been constant. In my opinion of course.

Re: Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

#416

Post by stocknoob »

jcalvinowens wrote: post #283

Yes, this is what everybody I know is experiencing right now. Caveat lector: This is simply a retelling of my personal experience, YMMV. This is not advice. What has consistently worked for me: I stopped applying for jobs, and redirected all that effort into creating and publishing open source projects that demonstrate competence in the areas of work I want. And, just as importantly, I contribute to big established o…

Thank you for sharing. For any young programmers: live within your means, invest the difference, become independent, and work on what you enjoy. It’s the best (work related) gift you can give yourself.

Re: Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

#417

Post by StanislavPetrov »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #44
pmarreck wrote: post #27

Wherever there is difficulty, there is also opportunity. I think the major thing stopping people from just going their own way is healthcare coverage. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) I wonder if I can hack a business model that somehow provides healthcare but also gathers together sourced projects, and freelancers to bid on building them, while also getting healthcare. (And if you opt out of healthcare, you can take the d…

There is some truth to healthcare coverage, but 26 and under are covered by their parents. They’re the hard to fill junior roles anyway. IMO, people want way too much fucking money.

Why does everyone assume young people's parents have healthcare coverage?

Re: Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

#418

Post by bruce511 »

w4ffl35 wrote: post #302
bruce511 wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it suks that your job got lost to a foreign worker. It's certainly no consolation that you are merely the latest casualty of globalization, along with your US manufacturing workers. I say that sincerely- losing your job suks. Of course the root of the problem, for you and steel workers, US that American consumers care more about money than where something is sourced. They buy the cheapest car, cheapest steel,…

> Social Security and Medicare are unpopular to cut, but its easily done, and a necessity to make significant cuts. I think the electorate has given a mandate to the govt to do this, do I expect they'll do it. (Trump campaigned on this, so its pretty much what people clearly want.) Can you please point me to Trump campaigning on this? I heard him say the exact opposite repeatedly in his speeches at his rallies.

Trump lies all the time. So what he says and what he campaigns on are different things. He says he is pro-women (but acts the opposite) pro-US (but sources all his grift from China), says he wants to bring down prices (but plans on tarifs to raise them).

He claims no affiliation to Project 25 (but then hires all those planners into key positions), claims to be pro-worker, but eliminates labor protections and gives tax cuts only to rich people.

The American public are smart. They are not easily duped. They understand that when he says Social Security and Medicare are bring left alone, he intends to cut them.

They understand that campaigning on fiscal responsibility means widening the deficit. They understand that improving health care means taking it away and giving health care companies more profit.

This is the future he campaigned on - this is the future they voted for. This is no a politician changing between campaign and office. His intentions, interests, and affiliations - his transactional nature - are front and center and have been all along.

This is the man the people have decided will best lead them. This is democracy in action.

Re: Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

#419

Post by robocat »

ajmurmann wrote: post #156
Dig1t wrote: post #143

I work at Apple and we have a policy (new in 2024) where we are not allowed to make an offer for a manager position to a candidate unless we have interviewed a PoC or a woman for the roll. The stated goal for this policy is “diverse managers hire diverse teams”. So right off the bat we are discriminating based on race and gender. Look at the published diversity data on the Apple website, the company is now 50% Asian…

IMO the difference between "interviewed" and "hired" here is crucial. I had a similar rule at my previous job. If anything I felt the risk was that this would be abused to the detriment of the URM candidate. If you have a strong candidate coming through but haven't met the URM interview retirement yet, it's tempting to not look for a "real" candidate but just go through the motions with the next candidate who matches…

> URM

underrepresented minority

(Not from USA so I don't know many diversity acronyms)

Re: Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

#420

Post by bruce511 »

sunshine-o wrote: post #360
toomuchtodo wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would’ve outsourced regardless of remote or not. It’s all about cost. Employers are hedging after they felt they lost control during the “Great Resignation” and the labor cost pressures they faced from it. Remote also makes it too easy for workers to find other opportunities, versus being restricted to opportunities within a commute distance. Unless it’s offshore remote of course. This is not without peril due t…

> They would’ve outsourced regardless of remote or not. Absolutely > It’s all about cost. Yes and No... What is happening now in "tech" has happened before in other industries. Since the internet various service industries have outsourced, outshored, nearshored over and over all together and in different order. I would put immigration or even move to the public cloud in that bag of schemes. Unless those are very low…

An interesting take. Seen from the viewpoint of the worker I can see why blaming management has appeal.

Of course your argument leads to two conclusions;

A) given how badly these companies are managed, and how it will be cheaper in the long run to make use of local talent, the market must be ready for a new wave of companies that rise up. Certainly (it would seem) the local workers are available, and ready to work. Certainly there are enough ex-workers who well understand what bad management looks like, and won't make the same mistake.

B) since this outsourcing is expensive, in the long run, I expect incumbents to start failing soon. There's no need to make thus behavior illegal, the market will simply correct naturally to the most efficient path.

The natural approach of the American Entrepreneur is to see where things are going wrong, and step into the gap - forging the next success.

Where you see companies failing, I see opportunity.

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