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Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

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Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

#161

Post by kkylin »

Rooster61 wrote: post #70
kkylin wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree with everything here, with one minor addition: talk not just to professors who might have industry ties, but everyone in your orbit with whom you have reason to think might help -- even those professors (or research scientists or postdocs or grad students or what have you) who entered MIT as a freshman and never left will have had many contacts (e.g., former students or classmates) who are in industry, and in m…

This. My comment was definitely not meant to limit, just giving examples. Introduce yourself to a brick wall if you think it will give you a boost

Absolutely agree! I only added the comment lest yours be read too literally.

Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

#162

Post by swagmoney69 »

giantg2 wrote: post #141
hysan wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdata to try and level expectations. As someone who *eventually* came out of that era fine, it wasn’t without hardship. Expect to graduate without a job. Expect to continue the grind for many many months. Expect to get rejected not for not meeting the bar, but for not exceeding everyone else who also passed that bar. Expect to very likely settle for a job that doesn’t meet the expectations that college (and the pr…

"Expect that you will meet many people younger than you who will be at your financial level because they graduated post-recovery." Yep, the people who graduated about 3-4 years ago are all making more than I do after more than a decade. It seems like that's just how it works.

Huh. This is making me realize that perhaps my situation is more bizarre and unstable than I realize...

How uncommon is it for someone with no highschool diploma (GED), or college diploma to get a job as a software engineer at a Fortune 500 company? Am I completely fucked if I ever lose this job? It's my second SE job...

Like OP may have been hinting at, I had a really fucked up family situation and this path was the only one that I could take- should I plan on going back to school just for future job market security?

Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

#163

Post by andrewlgood »

Sorry to hear the distress. As an MIT alum, I can say the most important thing I learned was not the material for major, but how to think - how to approach problems, break them down, and develop creative solutions. These skills will serve you well for the rest of your life. When I changed jobs in my mid-40s (at the C-level) the number one thing board members brought up in my interviews was that I had graduated from MIT. I know this sounds elitist, but I am simply describing my experience.

Most of the comments highlight that you will likely be several years behind the curve of cohorts before you just because of when you were born and went to school. I agree with that. However, it can be overcome, you will simply have to work harder at it. You will likely have to change jobs more often, ideally within the same company. This means you will have less comfort and calm in your early days, but it can help catch you up to where you expected to be.

Good luck. You have to stay positive to succeeed at this.

Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

#164

Post by laidoffamazon »

fatnoah wrote: post #157
laidoffamazon wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MIT students expect (not unfairly) to work at Jane Street/HRT/Jump/Citadel Securities/OpenAI/Anthropic and then "settle" for Google or Facebook. They're not going to work for Fidelity or Raytheon.

As an MIT reject (technically waitlisted), my very first post-graduation job was at Raytheon and much later in life, I ended up at Facebook, where I managed a team that had several engineers that joined directly from MIT. While I can't speak to the entire MIT grad cohort, fFacebook was the first-choice for everyone in this particular group.

Facebook is still much higher status than Amazon or IBM or any other company the people from my undergrad join after college

Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

#165

Post by laidoffamazon »

bruce511 wrote: post #119
laidoffamazon wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What help? There is no help that will stop me from being an untermensch and failure? It's not going to get me a 1600 or get me into a top school or make me earn $800k a year.

Like Peter, I do recommend talking to someone about this. You don't sound content, and life is too short to miss out on the journey. I say this as someone who earns much less than you (never mind 800k), and who didn't go to a top school. I'm no psychiatrist but your posts suggests that you see yourself as a failure, or possibly you've gotten that feedback from others directly. Perhaps at Amazon or elsewhere. Projecti…

I’ve had therapy, it doesn’t help. It doesn’t change the material facts that everyone thinks I’m a failure because that’s the objective truth.

Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

#166

Post by devwastaken »

nradov wrote: post #151
devwastaken wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

its different this time. the work isnt coming back because the market is now saturated by an oligopoly. IP law and anti competitive practices have effectively stopped upstarts. thats why old tech corps like IBM, Oracle gave trump money and align with their politics.

There are as many startups now as ever before. It's probably pointless to compete directly against an established company in a mature market like relational databases but there is unlimited opportunity for new stuff.

devs dont understand IP law or business. it doesnt matter if youre “innovative”. the concept of your techn was already R&D by someone else. you are beholden to them and they may license it but you will never own it. innovation is over.

Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

#167

Post by b3ing »

hysan wrote: post #96
Aurornis wrote: post #2

Truly sorry you feel this way. For what it’s worth, this was common for people graduating into the 2008 financial crisis, too. It’s actually unusual that we went for so long without another period of contraction. From last time around: The people who kept pushing and took any job, anywhere turned out okay. This translated to a lot of people taking jobs below what they expected to get or having to move when they didn’…

Anecdata to try and level expectations. As someone who *eventually* came out of that era fine, it wasn’t without hardship. Expect to graduate without a job. Expect to continue the grind for many many months. Expect to get rejected not for not meeting the bar, but for not exceeding everyone else who also passed that bar. Expect to very likely settle for a job that doesn’t meet the expectations that college (and the pr…

Yeah it sucks, but for many even in a good economy, you will struggle like that coming from a small college that isn’t well known or just not looking the right way. Life isn’t fair, just do what you have to, to get by

Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

#168

Post by fedsocpuppet »

laidoffamazon wrote: post #165
bruce511 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like Peter, I do recommend talking to someone about this. You don't sound content, and life is too short to miss out on the journey. I say this as someone who earns much less than you (never mind 800k), and who didn't go to a top school. I'm no psychiatrist but your posts suggests that you see yourself as a failure, or possibly you've gotten that feedback from others directly. Perhaps at Amazon or elsewhere. Projecti…

I’ve had therapy, it doesn’t help. It doesn’t change the material facts that everyone thinks I’m a failure because that’s the objective truth.

Did they actually tell you that? I highly doubt it. You've created a preconception that I guarantee is not accurate at all. You have multiple people here saying it's bullshit, and we're not lying or trolling or anything like that. I replied somewhere else but I want to reiterate - why would you even want approval from people who dehumanize others on the basis of TC? It's like being upset Martin Shkreli doesn't want to be your friend. I really hope you'll believe me

Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

#169

Post by nradov »

devwastaken wrote: post #166
nradov wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are as many startups now as ever before. It's probably pointless to compete directly against an established company in a mature market like relational databases but there is unlimited opportunity for new stuff.

devs dont understand IP law or business. it doesnt matter if youre “innovative”. the concept of your techn was already R&D by someone else. you are beholden to them and they may license it but you will never own it. innovation is over.

Bullshit. That's not how IP law or business works at all. You're just making things up. I see more technology innovation all around then ever before.

Re: Ask HN: I'm an MIT senior and still unemployed – and so are most of my friends

#170

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

billy99k wrote: post #155
disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was probably the worst economic crisis of the last fifty years. It went on forever, particularly in Europe and the UK (mostly because of a bunch of bone-headed moves by politicians). Even the US basically didn't get back to where it was pre-2008 till 2019. Tech was fine because mobile was happening, but it was incredibly grim everywhere else.

"Even the US basically didn't get back to where it was pre-2008 till 2019." Hard disagree. Things went back to almost normal around 2013. Lots of money going around, new startups, and plenty of jobs.

Yeah fair enough. The numbers suggest otherwise but I only visited back then.
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