7 ms·

What advice would you give to people who've not been in the tech industry during a recession yet?

nemo44x 4y ago
Save money and have enough to live on for awhile. If you don't have savings then immediately cut your cost of living down. If you do lose your job then don't just accept anything (remember, you have savings + unemployment + severance to live on for awhile) and use this time to sharpen skills and learn new things. Make yourself more valuable. I can't see the future but I don't think it's going to be a bloodbath like the .com crash. Engineers in particular are valuable assets for a company and expensive to recruit. Expect companies to cut back on perks and possibly raises for awhile if it gets bad. But I don't think we're going to see massive layoffs across the board. There's still a ton of money in the VC world. They just aren't spending right now.
- csmpltn 4y ago
  > "I can't see the future but I don't think it's going to be a bloodbath like the .com crash." The world has gone ever more dependent on tech since then. Tech is used everywhere now, pervasively. They're not re-introducing cash in cash-free economies. People aren't going back to carrying physical documents around and stashing them in high cabinets. Shopping online has only gotten more popular. Hanging out online, too. Agriculture, warfare, industry, you name it... it's not all "Uber, but for %s" out there. Somebody has to keep the lights on, right?
  - sorry_outta_gas 4y ago
    none of that requires current levels of investment
- matwood 4y ago
  > I can't see the future but I don't think it's going to be a bloodbath like the .com crash. I agree. I've went through .com and the gfc, and key to both times was to make sure the company I was with was making money. While I think tech will see downward pressures on salaries, each company will be in a different situation. For example, if you're in a company that needs a runway, assume it may get cut short at any time. I expect the big techs who are making money to start scooping up some of the people cut from VC companies which is where the downward wage pressure will come from. The other side that is very different from both .com and the gfc, is that engineers are seen as assets even outside of tech companies now. Almost every company views tech as a competitive edge, and that is simply not going away. Salaries may level off and/or pull back some, but there is too much technology deployed to stop hiring completely.
  - Clubber 4y ago
    >Almost every company views tech as a competitive edge, and that is simply not going away. I hope you're right. In my experience, most large companies see tech as a cost center.
    - mlom 4y ago
      the entire point of large scale technological literacy is to replace the tech sector. no web app you write is going to be more useful to an organization than an administrative staff that just knows SQL and can use it on the fly for queries, reports, and analysis. software developers are working against the tide: think about how much simpler dev tools are than user tools. as users become more sophisticated then you expect them to need simpler rather than more complex tools.
      - zeruch 4y ago
        "as users become more sophisticated then you expect them to need simpler rather than more complex tools." That sentence seems inherently contradictory. ...and yet all the stuff being built by and large makes users less sophisticated as consumers and their 'technological literacy' questionable. At no point in the last 3 decades, and no one moving forward currently, has shown any interest in making the masses use SQL for anything at an administrative level, and users have shown ever less interest in how any of the tech works, or what it can do, as long as it fulfills whatever prima facie use case they care about.
        mlom 4y ago
        enterprise software isn't built for users, it's built for the upper level administrators who contract the software, and for the amusement and profit of the engineers who are paid a large multiple of the salaries of any of the people who will be forced to use their systems and consume their ads at work. the result is developers getting paid a lot, not improving anyone's life, and then spending their earnings on our labor time, when we become available as food service workers, sex workers, and so on. the categories of technical competence and social awareness are not supposed to intersect. as a developer you know perfectly well that as you become more sophisticated you can do much more using much simpler tools. i don't think you people have any idea of the kind of environment into which your software is deployed. you're mostly happy to ship any crap that will superficially justify the infinite expansion of bloatware that you get paid to produce.
- UncleOxidant 4y ago
  > I can't see the future but I don't think it's going to be a bloodbath like the .com crash I think you're right, but I also think that we'll see a more general downturn than the .com crash was. Most people outside of tech didn't feel the .com crash. I suspect we're in for a recession that's closer to the '08 crash which means it's going to take a while to come back.
- ramesh31 4y ago
  > If you do lose your job then don't just accept anything (remember, you have savings + unemployment + severance to live on for awhile) and use this time to sharpen skills and learn new things. This is terrible advice. An employment gap will make you radioactive to hiring managers during a recession. Even a terrible job will keep you in better standing for negotiation.
  - nemo44x 4y ago
    It could be but I’m not sure. Your CV displays your pedigree much like the name of your university. You’ll also be very unhappy just jumping into a bad situation you are not enthusiastic about. I’d rather have a 4-6 month gap than taking on a bad job right away. But you do have a valid point that it’s easier to find a job when you have one.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
DebtDeflation 4y ago
1) Save money (get your expenses under control) 2) Keep some of your portfolio liquid 3) Prepare to hunker down at your current job for awhile (lose the job hopping mindset for the time being if you have it) On the other hand, consider that the time immediately after a recession passes can be a great time to do something new, start a business, etc. as you will be getting in early on the next business cycle.
- weatherlite 4y ago
  > 3) Prepare to hunker down at your current job for awhile (lose the job hopping mindset for the time being if you have it) I just got a pretty good offer and I don't know what to do - I am a bit worried I will be the first to be downsized if things go south. The company seems to be doing well and has IPO'ed so there's that. On the other hand no one can guarantee that my current startup won't struggle in the coming year or two.
  - DebtDeflation 4y ago
    I think you hit on the two key points. LIFO is definitely real, and the last to be hired are often the first to be fired. OTOH, you have to look at the financial stability of the new company vs the old, if the newer is on substantially better footing it may outweigh the LIFO effect.
nfriedly 4y ago
1) Make sure your spending is well below your income. Pay down any debt that you have and try to avoid taking on more. 2) Set aside some cash as an emergency fund: 3-6 months worth of spending is a good idea. 3) Set up automatic monthly investments in an index fund (ideally in a tax-advantaged account such as an IRA or 401k if you're in the US)
competenteng 4y ago
qiskit 4y ago
The standard 6 months of emergency fund, updated resume and just go about your life as normal. If you are a software developer, you'll be fine. Maybe it'll take you 3 months to find a new job rather than 1 month. Don't let fearmongering on forums and especially the news affect you or force you to make rash decisions.
nomel 4y ago
To counter these answers a little... I saw the dot com bubble burst, and then made it through a round of layoffs in early 2k, and again near 2008. I saw people lose their homes, go bankrupt, and end up in bad positions. It really scarred me, to the extend where I won't work at a company that doesn't actually make something of value, or doesn't have an existing line of profit. I don't consider stock options when taking a position, since it's very rare they actually end up being worth anything significant, even with a buyout. I live well within my means so I can take a salary that's 1/2 and be ok, if needed. But, as the counter, you could easily, and rightly, claim that this has caused me to not make a significant amount of money by taking these less risky positions. Those risky positions pay more because they are risky, and everyone knows it.

Save money and have enough to live on for awhile. If you don't have savings then immediately cut your cost of living down. If you do lose your job then don't just accept anything (remember, you have savings + unemployment + severance to live on for awhile) and use this time to sharpen skills and learn new things. Make yourself more valuable. I can't see the future but I don't think it's going to be a bloodbath like the .com crash. Engineers in particular are valuable assets for a company and expensive to recruit. Expect companies to cut back on perks and possibly raises for awhile if it gets bad. But I don't think we're going to see massive layoffs across the board. There's still a ton of money in the VC world. They just aren't spending right now.

csmpltn 4y ago
> "I can't see the future but I don't think it's going to be a bloodbath like the .com crash." The world has gone ever more dependent on tech since then. Tech is used everywhere now, pervasively. They're not re-introducing cash in cash-free economies. People aren't going back to carrying physical documents around and stashing them in high cabinets. Shopping online has only gotten more popular. Hanging out online, too. Agriculture, warfare, industry, you name it... it's not all "Uber, but for %s" out there. Somebody has to keep the lights on, right?
- sorry_outta_gas 4y ago
  none of that requires current levels of investment
matwood 4y ago
> I can't see the future but I don't think it's going to be a bloodbath like the .com crash. I agree. I've went through .com and the gfc, and key to both times was to make sure the company I was with was making money. While I think tech will see downward pressures on salaries, each company will be in a different situation. For example, if you're in a company that needs a runway, assume it may get cut short at any time. I expect the big techs who are making money to start scooping up some of the people cut from VC companies which is where the downward wage pressure will come from. The other side that is very different from both .com and the gfc, is that engineers are seen as assets even outside of tech companies now. Almost every company views tech as a competitive edge, and that is simply not going away. Salaries may level off and/or pull back some, but there is too much technology deployed to stop hiring completely.
- Clubber 4y ago
  >Almost every company views tech as a competitive edge, and that is simply not going away. I hope you're right. In my experience, most large companies see tech as a cost center.
  - mlom 4y ago
    the entire point of large scale technological literacy is to replace the tech sector. no web app you write is going to be more useful to an organization than an administrative staff that just knows SQL and can use it on the fly for queries, reports, and analysis. software developers are working against the tide: think about how much simpler dev tools are than user tools. as users become more sophisticated then you expect them to need simpler rather than more complex tools.
    - zeruch 4y ago
      "as users become more sophisticated then you expect them to need simpler rather than more complex tools." That sentence seems inherently contradictory. ...and yet all the stuff being built by and large makes users less sophisticated as consumers and their 'technological literacy' questionable. At no point in the last 3 decades, and no one moving forward currently, has shown any interest in making the masses use SQL for anything at an administrative level, and users have shown ever less interest in how any of the tech works, or what it can do, as long as it fulfills whatever prima facie use case they care about.
      - mlom 4y ago
        enterprise software isn't built for users, it's built for the upper level administrators who contract the software, and for the amusement and profit of the engineers who are paid a large multiple of the salaries of any of the people who will be forced to use their systems and consume their ads at work. the result is developers getting paid a lot, not improving anyone's life, and then spending their earnings on our labor time, when we become available as food service workers, sex workers, and so on. the categories of technical competence and social awareness are not supposed to intersect. as a developer you know perfectly well that as you become more sophisticated you can do much more using much simpler tools. i don't think you people have any idea of the kind of environment into which your software is deployed. you're mostly happy to ship any crap that will superficially justify the infinite expansion of bloatware that you get paid to produce.
UncleOxidant 4y ago
> I can't see the future but I don't think it's going to be a bloodbath like the .com crash I think you're right, but I also think that we'll see a more general downturn than the .com crash was. Most people outside of tech didn't feel the .com crash. I suspect we're in for a recession that's closer to the '08 crash which means it's going to take a while to come back.
ramesh31 4y ago
> If you do lose your job then don't just accept anything (remember, you have savings + unemployment + severance to live on for awhile) and use this time to sharpen skills and learn new things. This is terrible advice. An employment gap will make you radioactive to hiring managers during a recession. Even a terrible job will keep you in better standing for negotiation.
- nemo44x 4y ago
  It could be but I’m not sure. Your CV displays your pedigree much like the name of your university. You’ll also be very unhappy just jumping into a bad situation you are not enthusiastic about. I’d rather have a 4-6 month gap than taking on a bad job right away. But you do have a valid point that it’s easier to find a job when you have one.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

DebtDeflation 4y ago

1) Save money (get your expenses under control) 2) Keep some of your portfolio liquid 3) Prepare to hunker down at your current job for awhile (lose the job hopping mindset for the time being if you have it) On the other hand, consider that the time immediately after a recession passes can be a great time to do something new, start a business, etc. as you will be getting in early on the next business cycle.

weatherlite 4y ago
> 3) Prepare to hunker down at your current job for awhile (lose the job hopping mindset for the time being if you have it) I just got a pretty good offer and I don't know what to do - I am a bit worried I will be the first to be downsized if things go south. The company seems to be doing well and has IPO'ed so there's that. On the other hand no one can guarantee that my current startup won't struggle in the coming year or two.
- DebtDeflation 4y ago
  I think you hit on the two key points. LIFO is definitely real, and the last to be hired are often the first to be fired. OTOH, you have to look at the financial stability of the new company vs the old, if the newer is on substantially better footing it may outweigh the LIFO effect.

nfriedly 4y ago

1) Make sure your spending is well below your income. Pay down any debt that you have and try to avoid taking on more. 2) Set aside some cash as an emergency fund: 3-6 months worth of spending is a good idea. 3) Set up automatic monthly investments in an index fund (ideally in a tax-advantaged account such as an IRA or 401k if you're in the US)

competenteng 4y ago

qiskit 4y ago

The standard 6 months of emergency fund, updated resume and just go about your life as normal. If you are a software developer, you'll be fine. Maybe it'll take you 3 months to find a new job rather than 1 month. Don't let fearmongering on forums and especially the news affect you or force you to make rash decisions.

nomel 4y ago

To counter these answers a little... I saw the dot com bubble burst, and then made it through a round of layoffs in early 2k, and again near 2008. I saw people lose their homes, go bankrupt, and end up in bad positions. It really scarred me, to the extend where I won't work at a company that doesn't actually make something of value, or doesn't have an existing line of profit. I don't consider stock options when taking a position, since it's very rare they actually end up being worth anything significant, even with a buyout. I live well within my means so I can take a salary that's 1/2 and be ok, if needed. But, as the counter, you could easily, and rightly, claim that this has caused me to not make a significant amount of money by taking these less risky positions. Those risky positions pay more because they are risky, and everyone knows it.