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I recently got laid off in the UK and it was really hard to find something decent. There's jobs out there, but most aren't all that great and the interviews wer
by kypro 4y ago
I recently got laid off in the UK and it was really hard to find something decent. There's jobs out there, but most aren't all that great and the interviews were much harder to come by. I was ghosted by recruiters countless times after being told I would be put forward for certain roles which has never happened to me before...
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoI had the same thing happen. It was quite jarring, for me, as I had been quite sought-after, before (Which was why I had the job I had, at a marquee corporation). Turns out out, it was because of my age. Lot of these laid off folks, are probably gonna encounter the same thing.
- danesparza 4y agoit was because of my age. What do you mean? Are you young and they were interested? Or a senior level developer who was older and they were interested?
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoNo. I'm old (I'm now 60. I was 55, when I was looking). The ageism in tech is pervasive. People seldom even bother hiding it; even though it's just as illegal as sexism or racism.
- Lio 4y agoI've heard of plenty of companies publishing gender and ethnicity breakdowns of employees. I've never heard of anyone doing that for age of employees sadly.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoYou just have to look at one of those "company pictures," taken at offsites, or whatever. Lots of smiling young faces. Maybe one or two gray heads, and you often find out they are Principals, in one way or another. One of the dirty little secrets of tech ageism, is the ones doing it, are often older folks, themselves. IBM has been caught doing it, and the impetus came from their (quite gray) C-Suite.
- pcthrowaway 4y agoThat could be accounted for by the older folks not being able to attend the meetups as easily, due to family obligations and whatnot. Especially people in their late 30s to 40s with kids who haven't left yet. I suppose there's really no too old to have kids who are not yet independent, given that a non-negligible percentage of millenials and zoomers will still be living with parents and whatnot
- PretzelPirate 4y agoI'm in the US and would love to hear about the UK expefiencd. What's it like when being laid off in the UK? Do you get guaranteed severance and some breathing room from the stress of rent or mortgage payments? Do you worry about access to high quality Healthcare? Overall, do you think being in the UK makes you less worried that a layoff will leave you broke and homeless?
- nivenkos 4y agoIt depends on your company, but the statutory minimums are awful. You get a minimum of 2 week's extra pay if you have over 2 years service, and Job Seekers' Allowance is about 77 quid a week - so imagine living on less than $500 a month. Healthcare access (via the NHS) is unaffected, you might be able to get free prescriptions too. But in general it's terrible. As always in Europe you either want to be an ultra-rich landowning aristocrat (little to no property tax, inheritance tax, etc.) or very poor/unemployed (e.g. a refugee) so you qualify for state housing, etc. - work does not pay. You pay high taxes and then don't qualify for assistance when it matters. The USA is better by far where you can just manage your own savings with your 3-4x higher salary, healthcare is still an issue though.
- doetoe 4y ago> in Europe you want to be [...] e.g. a refugee Have you ever spoken to a (non-white) refugee in Europe?
- Jommi 4y agothis isn't the case in northern Europe at all. First of all you get around 1kish a month no questions asked, more if you have bills etc. you can prove you need to pay and if you opted into "unemployment insurance" while employed, you'd be getting 60-80% of your salary for the next 12 months this insurance costs around 100e a year to opt into
- kioleanu 4y agoChiming in for Germany where unemployment insurance is mandatory and deducted from the salary each month. I personally pay 82 euros per month for 80% over a 1 year period (I think, I haven't checked in a while)
- yieldcrv 4y agoI find UK recruiters to be the flakiest. At first I figured it was my timezone, but they seem to really just drop prospects that don't get them a sure-fire commission immediately.