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Have you considered that you might not be a fit for companies where you are applying? For example, I would bomb at any enterprisey company, and I do really well

by Swizec 10y ago

Have you considered that you might not be a fit for companies where you are applying? For example, I would bomb at any enterprisey company, and I do really well in small early stage startups. I could apply to hundreds of corporate jobs and I'm pretty sure I'd get none of them. Whereas for small startups I have historically rejected more offers than I've taken. In fact, I have never gotten an offer from any company bigger than 30 or so employees. And yet my inbox gets at least 1 recruiter spam per week. But that's besides the point. If there are very many engineers out there who aren't getting jobs within, say, 1 year of actively starting to look. And if there are very many companies out there that can't hire engineers within, say, 1 year of actively starting to look. Then there's something wrong with market fluidity in one way or another. That said, I don't think I've ever heard of a competent engineer who can't land a job within a year of actively seeking. Then again, I've heard that if you aren't doing anything useful for over a year, your prospects start to dwindle because people wonder what's your deal and see it as a red flag.

rnovak 10y ago
> Software engineers have a NEGATIVE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE. > land a job within a year of actively seeking A year lead time is what a negative rate looks like?
- Swizec 10y ago
  If you keep applying for jobs you're not a fit for? Yes. I'd say 1 year is a high upper bound though. Specifics really depend. But here's some general stats: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-biggest-predictor-of-how-long-youll-be-unemployed-is-when-you-lose-your-job/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-biggest-predictor-o... That link says that with a bachelor's degree or more, 17% are unemployed for 6 months or less, and 19% for a year or more. That gives a really big percent for people between 6 months and a year. The reason I brought up the 1 year number was more to point out that there's a big difference between "I can't get a job [at all]" and "I can't get a job I really love as quickly as I want". I mean, it doesn't matter what the unemployment rate for software engineers is, if you want a job as an AI expert at Google and all you've ever done is building simple Wordpress sites for your buddies.

by Swizec 10y ago

rnovak 10y ago

> Software engineers have a NEGATIVE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE. > land a job within a year of actively seeking A year lead time is what a negative rate looks like?

Swizec 10y ago
If you keep applying for jobs you're not a fit for? Yes. I'd say 1 year is a high upper bound though. Specifics really depend. But here's some general stats: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-biggest-predictor-of-how-long-youll-be-unemployed-is-when-you-lose-your-job/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-biggest-predictor-o... That link says that with a bachelor's degree or more, 17% are unemployed for 6 months or less, and 19% for a year or more. That gives a really big percent for people between 6 months and a year. The reason I brought up the 1 year number was more to point out that there's a big difference between "I can't get a job [at all]" and "I can't get a job I really love as quickly as I want". I mean, it doesn't matter what the unemployment rate for software engineers is, if you want a job as an AI expert at Google and all you've ever done is building simple Wordpress sites for your buddies.