Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job

Post by tester756 » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 4:17 PM UTC

throwawaysleep wrote: post #50

tester756 wrote: post #23

>You’re going to have to grind Leetcode. Yes, even the dynamic programming problems. Why there isn't this much problem with having to learn yet another JS framework, get familiarity with database of the month, learn some tool like docker/k8s/ansible/vagrant/blabla or yet another proprietary toolchain like AWS/Azure/GCP but foundational cs/programming knowledge is top hated thing, that people even call it "discriminat…

Because companies tend to let you learn those on the job. Nobody complains if I don't quite know Flask in interviews if I know Django. Certainly nobody cares if you know the details inside out or want to refer to docs. Algos is a skill you do not use on the job and companies are extremely picky about you getting the correct answer.

Post by benjaminwootton » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 4:18 PM UTC

dj_mc_merlin wrote: post #53

librish wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Exhibit A of why not to take your day job too seriously. Be professional — but that’s as far as it goes. People spend 8 hours + lunch and commuting every weekday on their job. It's almost 50% of the time you spend conscious during a week. Most people want more out of that than just a chore that needs to be done.

Embrace distributed WFH and you can spend 4 hours in the morning, have a nice picnic, play some basketball, have a couple beers, then retire to your room to do another 4hrs. Or just fuck off some days and counterbalance it by doing hyper focused 12hrs days some other time. Also: unless you're genuinely curing cancer or flying food to starving African villages or something, 95% of software companies are pretty damn us…

Post by gabereiser » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 4:19 PM UTC

librish wrote: post #33

sillysaurusx wrote: post #19

> Don’t discount the physical aspect of loneliness either. If you’re like me, work is the primary shaper of your life. Work gives your life rhythm. It is the gravitational center around which the other activities in your life revolve. Then, one day, poof—it’s gone. Exhibit A of why not to take your day job too seriously. Be professional — but that’s as far as it goes. > Come up with a more, uh, positive reason for wh…

> Exhibit A of why not to take your day job too seriously. Be professional — but that’s as far as it goes. People spend 8 hours + lunch and commuting every weekday on their job. It's almost 50% of the time you spend conscious during a week. Most people want more out of that than just a chore that needs to be done.

Post by ejb999 » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 4:20 PM UTC

jt2190 wrote: post #25

> Come up with a more, uh, positive reason for why you’re interviewing instead of disclosing that you were laid off. I don’t understand this assertion, unless “laid off” now means “fired with cause”. People are laid off all the time, for no reason other than the company wants to reduce their labor costs. Perhaps the author is assuming that the company is also making a judgement about their skills, e.g. that they’re s…

Post by anon50118810 » Wed, Dec 28, 2022, 4:21 PM UTC

cjaro wrote: post #36

coffeebeqn wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bar can get very low! Look into local low prestige consulting companies if you’re really desperate for something. I worked at one after moving to the US and the hiring bar was extremely low and I was working there a few days later

I agree. I was hired over a year ago to a similar place that's since been acquired by a Big IT Consulting Company. One benefit of that situation is that a) I can kinda just blend in and do my job quietly without attracting much notice, and b) the hiring bar was insanely low, the easiest interview-to-offer pipeline I have ever fallen through. I'm not planning to stay forever, but they're paying my bills and giving me…