4 ms·

Plenty of jobs out there, but people who get laid off may have to scale back their expectations and demands. One day you get to work on your passion project, ge

Plenty of jobs out there, but people who get laid off may have to scale back their expectations and demands. One day you get to work on your passion project, get free meals and pet care, work from home, code in your favorite language and framework. A month or two later you start looking seriously at the boring jobs and unsexy workplaces. I was in multimedia and online marketing in 2001, then the bubble burst and the company I worked at laid a bunch of people off. Lots of people I had worked with before got laid off from their jobs too. Companies went out of business. I went back to where my career started, in enterprise logistics, Oracle and Java. Good pay but not sexy or fun, no free meals or work from home. I felt bad for some of the younger and less experienced people I got laid off with, they didn't have the domain experience or network of contacts I had -- they had fallen backwards into cool high-paying jobs out of school when money was pouring into anything internet. One junior programmer had to sell his Ducati, get a bus pass, and ended up in retail at Borders. The job market can accommodate a lot of people with tech skills, but many people who just got laid off, or will as the belt-tightening continues, will face a kind of culture shock. They got to work at Disneyland for a while, but now the options will look more like Office Space.

ihatepython 4y ago
> One junior programmer had to sell his Ducati, get a bus pass, and ended up in retail at Borders. And then Borders went out of business.
- devoutsalsa 4y ago
  Interesting side note. I saw a Borders bookstore in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia just two days ago. BORDERS @ Quill City Mall https://maps.app.goo.gl/7U4GRrmACvMXyy9y6?g_st=ic https://maps.app.goo.gl/7U4GRrmACvMXyy9y6?g_st=ic
  - lstamour 4y ago
    Huh. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-there-are-still-borders-bookstores-in-malaysia-or-the-strange-case-of-the-zombie-chain.amp https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-there-are-still-bo... (2015)
twelve40 4y ago
> Plenty of jobs out there Do you know that? That there are plenty of jobs out there for the laid-off people? or just, you know, making shit up.
- culopatin 4y ago
  It only takes a search to see that there are jobs available. They don’t name them “jobs for the ex Twitter” though, so maybe that is what you’re asking.
- gregjor 4y ago
  I know that about as well as I know anything. I have 40+ years in the software industry and I have never seen an actual shortage of jobs available. I have seen the number of fun, cool, sexy, ridiculously high-paying jobs expand and contract. Right now, in this climate, I personally know about multiple small companies who can't recruit or hire programmers, openings infilled for a year or more for lack of candidates. The numbers I could easily find back this up: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/... https://www.computerworld.com/article/3542681/how-many-jobs-are-available-in-technology.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/3542681/how-many-jobs-... The FAANG (or whatever we call it now) companies and startups represent the tip of the iceberg, the most attractive segment of programming and tech jobs. Those companies also have the most candidates to choose from, the most grueling interview process, and seem to have the most churn and turnover when economic conditions change. A job at Twitter or Meta probably pays a lot more and offers more perks and prestige than a job at a regional trucking company or retail chain, sure. Downturns like this always hit the younger and less-experienced cohort of tech workers hardest. People fresh out of school with no experience will struggle. People with narrow skills, short experience at one company, or an exaggerated opinion of their actual value, will struggle. While the FAANG/startup companies that get attention on HN can optimize their hiring around leetcode and whiteboard trials, the rest of the tech world tends to value experience and fitting in with a team. If you can only produce from an Aeron chair writing Clojure and shunning meetings then you will find the job market limited. As companies tighten up and lay off and focus on profits and retention programmers who want to get a paycheck have to adjust their expectations. A truck driver who will only drive a customized red Peterbilt 359 on one interstate route will similarly find their options limited, even in a market with plentiful jobs for truck drivers.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
gaws 4y ago
> Plenty of jobs out there For people with the right skill set. Otherwise, this is a bullshit.
- gregjor 4y ago
  You need a “skill set” for any skilled job. The wrong skills will of course limit your options. Acquiring and maintaining marketable skills comes with the territory, not specific to tech. I wrote plenty of jobs out there. No bullshit, easy to confirm. Not everyone will qualify for those jobs.

ihatepython 4y ago

> One junior programmer had to sell his Ducati, get a bus pass, and ended up in retail at Borders. And then Borders went out of business.

devoutsalsa 4y ago
Interesting side note. I saw a Borders bookstore in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia just two days ago. BORDERS @ Quill City Mall https://maps.app.goo.gl/7U4GRrmACvMXyy9y6?g_st=ic https://maps.app.goo.gl/7U4GRrmACvMXyy9y6?g_st=ic
- lstamour 4y ago
  Huh. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-there-are-still-borders-bookstores-in-malaysia-or-the-strange-case-of-the-zombie-chain.amp https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-there-are-still-bo... (2015)

twelve40 4y ago

> Plenty of jobs out there Do you know that? That there are plenty of jobs out there for the laid-off people? or just, you know, making shit up.

culopatin 4y ago
It only takes a search to see that there are jobs available. They don’t name them “jobs for the ex Twitter” though, so maybe that is what you’re asking.
gregjor 4y ago
I know that about as well as I know anything. I have 40+ years in the software industry and I have never seen an actual shortage of jobs available. I have seen the number of fun, cool, sexy, ridiculously high-paying jobs expand and contract. Right now, in this climate, I personally know about multiple small companies who can't recruit or hire programmers, openings infilled for a year or more for lack of candidates. The numbers I could easily find back this up: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/... https://www.computerworld.com/article/3542681/how-many-jobs-are-available-in-technology.html https://www.computerworld.com/article/3542681/how-many-jobs-... The FAANG (or whatever we call it now) companies and startups represent the tip of the iceberg, the most attractive segment of programming and tech jobs. Those companies also have the most candidates to choose from, the most grueling interview process, and seem to have the most churn and turnover when economic conditions change. A job at Twitter or Meta probably pays a lot more and offers more perks and prestige than a job at a regional trucking company or retail chain, sure. Downturns like this always hit the younger and less-experienced cohort of tech workers hardest. People fresh out of school with no experience will struggle. People with narrow skills, short experience at one company, or an exaggerated opinion of their actual value, will struggle. While the FAANG/startup companies that get attention on HN can optimize their hiring around leetcode and whiteboard trials, the rest of the tech world tends to value experience and fitting in with a team. If you can only produce from an Aeron chair writing Clojure and shunning meetings then you will find the job market limited. As companies tighten up and lay off and focus on profits and retention programmers who want to get a paycheck have to adjust their expectations. A truck driver who will only drive a customized red Peterbilt 359 on one interstate route will similarly find their options limited, even in a market with plentiful jobs for truck drivers.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

gaws 4y ago

> Plenty of jobs out there For people with the right skill set. Otherwise, this is a bullshit.

gregjor 4y ago
You need a “skill set” for any skilled job. The wrong skills will of course limit your options. Acquiring and maintaining marketable skills comes with the territory, not specific to tech. I wrote plenty of jobs out there. No bullshit, easy to confirm. Not everyone will qualify for those jobs.