Engineers suck at finding the right jobs • Hacker News Board

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#21

Post by acuozzo » Thu, Nov 15, 2012, 6:54 PM UTC

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #18

acuozzo wrote: post #8

> Now is an awesome time to be a software engineer (probably best time ever). I don't agree with this statement at all, as it's getting harder and harder to find low-level work (e.g., C and *asm) and that's the __only__ kind of programming that I enjoy doing. I'll start looking for another career when I have to consider putting words like ``full-stack'' or ``cloud'' on my resume in order to find work.

Then start looking at companies that primarily produce hardware. Trust me, it's getting harder and harder to find people who even know what a pointer is. To the point where we simply assume the people we hire won't and we'll just have to abstract it away for them.

> Then start looking at companies that primarily produce hardware.

I have in the past. The problem is that I have a BS in Computer Science and most hardware companies hire only Computer Engineers for low-level programming work (among other things).

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#22

Post by tgrass » Thu, Nov 15, 2012, 6:54 PM UTC

ricardobeat wrote: post #4

The issue of seniority always bugs me. If a 26 year old guy who writes "good enough" code can be a Senior, which I see very often, what's left? Personally I wouldn't feel right with a title including "senior" until I've got at least 10y experience, generated millions in revenue and lead a team of >10. And I'd still prefer not having a title. Unless the only way to increase a salary is by taking the title, which seems…

tmarthal, you appear to be hellbanned.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#23

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Nov 15, 2012, 6:59 PM UTC

mattetti wrote: post #3

Apreche wrote: post #2

This whole thing seems like it is written by a recruiter having a hard time to get people to leave their current jobs for new ones.

Hehe, I'm not a recruiter (I'm the OP) but probably like yourself, I get a lot of them contacting me on a regular basis. Knowing what to do next and or if our current job is worth it is a hard challenge. I just shared my own experience.

[deleted]

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#24

Post by fokov » Thu, Nov 15, 2012, 7:03 PM UTC

ricardobeat wrote: post #4

The issue of seniority always bugs me. If a 26 year old guy who writes "good enough" code can be a Senior, which I see very often, what's left? Personally I wouldn't feel right with a title including "senior" until I've got at least 10y experience, generated millions in revenue and lead a team of >10. And I'd still prefer not having a title. Unless the only way to increase a salary is by taking the title, which seems…

In many large corporations including the one where I work, the wages, salaries, and benefits brackets are all determined by your title. The only way to get out of those brackets is to get promoted to a 'better' title. I'm don't care for titles.

When I was first starting out, I was the first hire under the "Director of Software Engineering". He was the only one in his department for over 3 years. The company had only a handful of people. Shortly thereafter I found just how bad the situation was. After 3 years for what was essentially an enterprise data entry application there was not one production line of code written, but he had a great title! I had a painful experience working there, but I'm better because of it.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#25

Post by bitops » Thu, Nov 15, 2012, 7:04 PM UTC

acuozzo wrote: post #21

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then start looking at companies that primarily produce hardware. Trust me, it's getting harder and harder to find people who even know what a pointer is. To the point where we simply assume the people we hire won't and we'll just have to abstract it away for them.

> Then start looking at companies that primarily produce hardware. I have in the past. The problem is that I have a BS in Computer Science and most hardware companies hire only Computer Engineers for low-level programming work (among other things).

Do you have the possibility of going back to school? I don't know how old you are, but maybe a masters degree in CE could help you.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#26

Post by johnnymonster » Thu, Nov 15, 2012, 7:05 PM UTC

vampirechicken wrote: post #14

ricardobeat wrote: post #4

The issue of seniority always bugs me. If a 26 year old guy who writes "good enough" code can be a Senior, which I see very often, what's left? Personally I wouldn't feel right with a title including "senior" until I've got at least 10y experience, generated millions in revenue and lead a team of >10. And I'd still prefer not having a title. Unless the only way to increase a salary is by taking the title, which seems…

Titles were more about pay bands then skill. I know several hundred Vice Presidents at JP Morgan Chase. And really, if your business card tells me that you're a Programmer/Analyst 3, then you're either doing something wrong, or you're a robot, and you probably work between Programmer/Analysts 2 and 4.

Cracks me up when people cling to titles. Even funnier when I see software developer 3 on a business card!

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#27

Post by johnnymonster » Thu, Nov 15, 2012, 7:08 PM UTC

acuozzo wrote: post #8

> Now is an awesome time to be a software engineer (probably best time ever). I don't agree with this statement at all, as it's getting harder and harder to find low-level work (e.g., C and *asm) and that's the __only__ kind of programming that I enjoy doing. I'll start looking for another career when I have to consider putting words like ``full-stack'' or ``cloud'' on my resume in order to find work.

You don't have to go to hardware companies to find these positions. Look at companies that support the internet, not the ones that use it. Such as DNS or OS level positions. The majority of resolvers still just run on plain old C and do it very well.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#28

Post by acuozzo » Thu, Nov 15, 2012, 7:10 PM UTC

bitops wrote: post #25

acuozzo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then start looking at companies that primarily produce hardware. I have in the past. The problem is that I have a BS in Computer Science and most hardware companies hire only Computer Engineers for low-level programming work (among other things).

Do you have the possibility of going back to school? I don't know how old you are, but maybe a masters degree in CE could help you.

> I don't know how old you are

25

> Do you have the possibility of going back to school?

Yes, I do, but I don't think I'd be able to handle it, especially with a wife and a full-time job. Read more here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4702350

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#29

Post by johnnymonster » Thu, Nov 15, 2012, 7:11 PM UTC

w1ntermute wrote: post #12

I thought the author sounded familiar. He's the person who gave this blatantly sexist and offensive presentation, CouchDB: Perform Like A Pr0n Star , at the Golden Gate Ruby Conference in 2009: http://ompldr.org/vZ2I1cA/gogaruco-couchdb-090418194027-phpa...

I would also suggest that he have his english teacher review his posts with a red pen before posting. The grammer made it for a very hard read. I hate writing, and am not great at it, but I also hate reading writing that is as bad as mine.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#30

Post by uxp » Thu, Nov 15, 2012, 7:13 PM UTC

tgrass wrote: post #22

ricardobeat wrote: post #4

The issue of seniority always bugs me. If a 26 year old guy who writes "good enough" code can be a Senior, which I see very often, what's left? Personally I wouldn't feel right with a title including "senior" until I've got at least 10y experience, generated millions in revenue and lead a team of >10. And I'd still prefer not having a title. Unless the only way to increase a salary is by taking the title, which seems…

tmarthal, you appear to be hellbanned.

Which is unfortunate because tmarthal's link is quite good:

> Here is a great article on what it means to be a Senior engineer: http://www.kitchensoap.com/2012/10/25/on-being-a-senior-engi...

> The long answer is maturity. Then the author goes to explain what maturity brings to the discipline of software engineering.