31–40 of 93 posts
What a great reply this graph can make the next time we see VCs on X complaining how, "Everyone I talk to has so, so many engineering positions they just can't fill". By these measurements, the job market looks worse now than it did at the troughs of lockdown.
It's been really quiet. I was laid off twice in 2024. First in April after 10 years at the same place. There wasn't a lot. Got a new great opportunity, but restructurings happened, I was the last to join and... again laid off. But now it feels even more quiet than April-May-June. I've been debating cutting down my cover letter into a couple of lines just telling the company why I find the role interesting, and removi…
For one data point I always did better with a short, generic cover letter than a customized one. Maybe employers like you more if you don’t look too interested?
I do have a few separate resumes with different focuses, and tweak a one sentence summary at the top.
2021 was such a bizarre year in so many ways. It feels like a post COVID fever dream in retrospect, and seeing that massive jump in job listings that year is a reminder of how weird it was.
As someone who’s been in the industry for 15 years and got laid off just today for the 2nd time in the past year. This is depressing.
Anecdotally, I've been getting a lot more recruiter spam lately.
* The Section 174 changes went into effect, requiring all software to be expensed as R&D, which means it can't be deducted from profits directly and instead has to be amortized over 5 years [0].
* Interest rates went back up starting in Feb 2022 and continuing through Aug 2023. This chart [1] is a near-perfect mirror of the job trends.
I know this doesn't help anyone who's struggling right now, but it does serve to emphasize that this didn't just happen, and it wasn't the result of technological advances making us obsolete. Federal policy was set up to encourage an enormous amount of investment into software development, and it's now... not. Turns out politics matters.
Trends? Start your own business because nobody is hiring. That's the trend i'm seeing... sigh.
A lot of talented people are struggling right now, but could take the time and energy they're spending on fruitless job applications and devote it to some modest-scale side project with commercial potential.
Worst-case scenario, you get an interesting portfolio project and something to talk about at a future interview. Possibly, you get something that pays the bills and avoids having to deal with everything that's gone wrong with tech hiring.
If you've been laid off from a technical role, you probably came away with enough knowledge to build a competing micro-service.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For one data point I always did better with a short, generic cover letter than a customized one. Maybe employers like you more if you don’t look too interested?
I've stopped doing cover letters entirely and have had more luck. I've heard the same from others too. I do have a few separate resumes with different focuses, and tweak a one sentence summary at the top.