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A network engineer in search of greener pastures

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Re: A network engineer in search of greener pastures

#11

Post by jacobgkau »

TL;DR:

- The author noticed that he's been auto-rejected when applying for jobs requiring college degrees without having one, and when applying for jobs requiring security clearance without having one.

- The author tried putting an invisible AI string into his resume, noticed a potential (but undefined) difference in the rate of auto-rejections, and because of that, believes companies in general are using AI to make the majority of their hiring decision-making.

- The job market is weak right now.

Unlike a few other commenters, I personally didn't have an issue with the font. It made me do a double-take at first, but once I started reading, my eyes didn't stop (and I was able to understand it just fine).

Re: A network engineer in search of greener pastures

#12

Post by mlinhares »

pflenker wrote: post #7

Not to step on the authors toes, but it’s not the job searching that is broken - it’s the market that has shifted to favor companies and to put applicants at a disadvantage, something that hasn’t happened in the IT field for a long time. People reject candidates without a college degree because they can afford to - they still have plenty of applicants to pick from after filtering out the rest. There is no need for th…

There's that but there's also this:

> However, after heading over to Y Combinator to check out startup jobs, I was again frustrated by the findings. YC Jobs has a category for Engineering, but it's all software. There's a category for Operations, but it's all CEO, CTO, management positions. After searching and searching I was unable to find any listings for any network or cybersecurity jobs along the sysadmin/engineer lines. How on earth are all these startups operating without a network person? You don't have someone running your server or your VPN?

These "operational" jobs where people manage servers without engineering knowledge are much rarer today. Most people run their services on cloud, you need ops people that can code and do engineering as well, the people that used to cable and connect servers are not as important anymore, as the market moves more and more towards cloud or managed providers.

If i was the OP i would start thinking seriously about pivoting careers to a devops kinda job instead, where they will find many more options. The "tinkerer" network jobs just aren't that available anymore, it has been heavily abstracted away and the little work that there is the engineers will do as well.

Re: A network engineer in search of greener pastures

#13

Post by spacecadet »

pflenker wrote: post #7

Not to step on the authors toes, but it’s not the job searching that is broken - it’s the market that has shifted to favor companies and to put applicants at a disadvantage, something that hasn’t happened in the IT field for a long time. People reject candidates without a college degree because they can afford to - they still have plenty of applicants to pick from after filtering out the rest. There is no need for th…

This. There was a power shift and now that companies are sitting on their capital making interest, they are acting on a more selective pattern then years prior. There was also way too much hiring during COVID, so new people thought that was the market... but it was inflated and so now it is also more competitive for the all applicants.

Best advice as others have said- get out there and network, join side projects, contribute to open source.

Re: A network engineer in search of greener pastures

#14

Post by unsupp0rted »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #9

It's an incredible security risk to have asked my address, work history, contact info, sometimes my SSN and demographics, and have me trust that you won't have that leaked. I have immediately closed applications asking for a SSN. You know you are going to reject all but one of the candidates. Why are you hoarding this PII? Is it just an implicit way to reject immigrants? Also the ones that ask for sexual preference (…

> Also the ones that ask for sexual preference (or however it is worded to get you to say straight/gay/other).

The goal is to hire someone other than a pedestrian straight white male, of course. They can't outright say it.

Re: A network engineer in search of greener pastures

#15

Post by rexpop »

pflenker wrote: post #7

Not to step on the authors toes, but it’s not the job searching that is broken - it’s the market that has shifted to favor companies and to put applicants at a disadvantage, something that hasn’t happened in the IT field for a long time. People reject candidates without a college degree because they can afford to - they still have plenty of applicants to pick from after filtering out the rest. There is no need for th…

Time to start a labor cartel.

Re: A network engineer in search of greener pastures

#16

Post by zooq_ai »

rexpop wrote: post #15
pflenker wrote: post #7

Not to step on the authors toes, but it’s not the job searching that is broken - it’s the market that has shifted to favor companies and to put applicants at a disadvantage, something that hasn’t happened in the IT field for a long time. People reject candidates without a college degree because they can afford to - they still have plenty of applicants to pick from after filtering out the rest. There is no need for th…

Time to start a labor cartel.

only works if you have bargaining power, which is determined by supply/demand

Re: A network engineer in search of greener pastures

#19

Post by esafak »

pflenker wrote: post #7

Not to step on the authors toes, but it’s not the job searching that is broken - it’s the market that has shifted to favor companies and to put applicants at a disadvantage, something that hasn’t happened in the IT field for a long time. People reject candidates without a college degree because they can afford to - they still have plenty of applicants to pick from after filtering out the rest. There is no need for th…

Companies still have to contend with wasting time interviewing candidates who look good on paper.
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