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Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

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Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#41

Post by gumballindie »

moosedev wrote: post #6

Not just you. I would guess, optimistically, I’m averaging a 5% conversion rate of applications to recruiter chats/“stage 0 interviews”. That is, ~95% of applications yield silence or a generic email rejection without any human contact. ~15 YOE, FAANG experience, usually only applying to roles I feel I’m at least a halfway good fit for (i.e. not a complete scattergun approach). I’m (financially) fine for now, which i…

> FAANG experience

Probably the reason. Most companies need people with experience in more than just one layer of a stack. Hard times for those who cant own a full stack, unfortunately.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#42

Post by ok_dad »

I've been doing okay, lots of targeted recruiter interest, but I have a pretty specialized set of domain knowledge that is useful for a specific industry (energy efficiency, basically) and gets me in the front door for most companies doing the stuff I know about, since they aren't as affected by the current tech downturn (everyone always needs energy). I not as worried about AI powered software engineering or other SWEs taking my job since I write algorithms that AI just can't do, yet, but someday when there's a glut of software engineers some will probably learn what I do and apply it better than I am able to. I'm hoping my current small startup survives and does well, so I don't have to try finding another job, though.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#43

Post by 1attice »

gautamdivgi wrote: post #30
wunderland wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn this is the most depressing comment in this whole comments section

Why - if I may ask? What’s wrong with pointing out potential employers?

Well, I can't speak for parent, but those of us that aren't U.S. citizens are already having a hellish time.

To those of us with work visas, this is like saying, "if you're homeless, just go to your vacation home," and then being surprised that people without vacation homes express feelings of despair.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#44

Post by sli »

gautamdivgi wrote: post #30
wunderland wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Damn this is the most depressing comment in this whole comments section

Why - if I may ask? What’s wrong with pointing out potential employers?

It's depressing for the same reason why the military getting pushed onto people as a way to afford college, and the way that frequently works out in reality, is depressing.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#46

Post by moosedev »

gautamdivgi wrote: post #11
moosedev wrote: post #6

Not just you. I would guess, optimistically, I’m averaging a 5% conversion rate of applications to recruiter chats/“stage 0 interviews”. That is, ~95% of applications yield silence or a generic email rejection without any human contact. ~15 YOE, FAANG experience, usually only applying to roles I feel I’m at least a halfway good fit for (i.e. not a complete scattergun approach). I’m (financially) fine for now, which i…

If you are a US citizen try defense companies. Edit: I should have explained my reasoning. They have a much smaller eligible applicant pool - US citizens who are eligible for security clearance. Because of this they’re continuously looking for good talent.

I’m not a citizen, but I’m holding out for a pure “tech” company for now anyway for various reasons.

Thanks for the hint anyway - perhaps someone else will benefit.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#47

Post by q7xvh97o2pDhNrh »

1differential wrote: post #18

It's extremely brutal. I'm a staff engineer and a tech lead of ~12 engineers, I've either been getting low ball offers, or ending the last round of interviews to get no offer. I've employed but have been looking for a job for ~6 months with terrible results. I graduated from a T5 school, have worked at a "unicorn" startup, and have an average of 3 years at every role. My conversion rate is a little better - 3 intervi…

Oof. Are you going out for L6? Is the goal a big company, or a startup?

Reading all the comments in this thread, I wonder if there's some correlation to specific areas of the tech industry. e.g., Are people working in the AI space (or even something like ML infra) just inundated with job offers right now?

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#48

Post by throwaway5959 »

1differential wrote: post #18

It's extremely brutal. I'm a staff engineer and a tech lead of ~12 engineers, I've either been getting low ball offers, or ending the last round of interviews to get no offer. I've employed but have been looking for a job for ~6 months with terrible results. I graduated from a T5 school, have worked at a "unicorn" startup, and have an average of 3 years at every role. My conversion rate is a little better - 3 intervi…

> had been at his last 3 jobs for roughly over a year each

And yet the manager would be your boss. Not sure why you think how long someone has been in a role is somehow a worthwhile signal.

Re: Ask HN: Is the job market brutal? or is it just me?

#49

Post by mkl95 »

I'm getting a lot of recruiter spam lately, but a lot of it is low effort and AI driven.

A local unicorn reached out recently on LinkedIn with what looked like an organic message, so I gave them a chance. The interviewer was stand-offish and bitter. I then checked out their LinkedIn page and they had laid off 10% of their workforce in the previous 6 months.

I am not a big fan of interviewing, but I have noticed a corporatization trend among small companies, where they tell you things like "it's up to the hiring manager" which means they are not actually hiring anybody, or you are making enough money that you are out of their league, etc.

One of the things I miss the most about the 2020-2022 period is how honest those companies used to be, and how smoothly money was flowing even for the average Joe.

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