Ask HN: Are you unable to find employment?

I am seeing many anecdotal experiences shared online on various platforms stating that it is difficult to find employment in tech. I myself have had a difficult time landing an interview over the last year despite having two decades of experience.

I am attempting to gain some insight into the issue. My situation is somewhat unique in that I am self-taught without a CS degree. I'm a very experienced, diligent worker, etc, but an algorithm doesn't care about this and so getting through the filters is difficult.

However I see many discussions being posted (primarily on X) stating that it is nearly impossible for people with CS degrees (especially white males) to get an interview let alone a job. There have been mass layoffs, less money being invested etc. Many people have claimed AI is taking jobs, or that there aren't as many jobs available, yet at the same time, Elon Musk and others claim there is an engineer shortage and we must increase the number of H-1B visas in order to fill this gap. When I apply to a position on linkedin I can see that even the most Jr positions have over 100 applicants.

I know that X can be slanted, and really anything posted online must be taken with a grain of salt - but I'm seeing many people claiming to be in the same situation as myself, and most of them claim to be white males.

Furthermore, in the last two years I experienced two layoffs. In both situations it was white males let go in favor of Indian and KZ foreigners. Again - this is anecdotal and could be a coincidence, but its awfully telling that Vivek and Elon are calling American tech workers uncultured, lazy and stupid in the wake of these experiences and those that I've read about online.

I don't want to start a war here on hackernews, but I'm looking for people's personal experiences. Do they match up? Are you having a hard time finding employment? Have you been fired in favor of foreign workers? Is this racism / ageism / sexism at play or is that being overblown by political actors?

I’m self-employed so I don’t have personal experience, but all around me (in Berlin) people are struggling to find work. I have more unemployed friends than ever and they stay unemployed for longer than ever. Others are afraid to risk their job in any way. Employers got bolder in their demands and English-speaking workers are fighting for scraps. The UX industry is absolutely cutthroat right now.

I work in immigration and my colleagues in the industry noticed the difference in skilled immigration. It even affected the overpriced temporary housing market that mostly targeted skilled immigrant workers. Freelance relocation consultants report having their worst year on record.

I also noticed a dip in traffic but it might be caused by Google’s plundering of the web with its AI summaries. I can’t tell if the actual demand changed. I run a website that helps immigrants settle.

It’s generally accepted in Germany that things are not great right now. I could likely find matching evidence in yearly reports, but the vibe alone is telling.

And if you look at e.g. Bachelor's enrollment in CS it's somehow still rising in Fall of 2024: https://nscresearchcenter.org/stay-informed/

That's gonna be one rude awakening.

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Sounds like its a problem everywhere, not just the states.