5 ms·

I've been looking for most of the past year. My back is against the wall. I've applied to more companies than I can keep track of. I've exhausted my savings. F

by geuis 3y ago

I've been looking for most of the past year. My back is against the wall. I've applied to more companies than I can keep track of. I've exhausted my savings. Friends and family have already helped as much as they can. I'm days away from having some life changing situational events happen. I've recently seen a small uptick in interviews, but over the last year almost nothing has moved past the initial call/zoom meeting. I managed to pick up a single contract in September but that ended after a month (founder ran out of cash). I've never seen the job market this bad in the last 15 years, and that's even including the 2007/8 financial crisis. If anyone has any kind of role, no matter how junior, please contact me asap.

muzani 3y ago
Curious which markets you applied to. I assume it's not so bad that you're applying to flip burgers. But is it all Silicon Valley stuff? Have you tried, say, some cosmetics brand that needs a Shopify site updated? Gov jobs? I had a friend who was a star at a startup, but couldn't do the crazy hours after an injury, but she still makes decent money and gets a pension at a large organization with low expectations. Sales engineer jobs? Normally sales jobs are still high demand during a recession and some roles require technical experience. Also you could try jobs outside your country. Some may not pay as well in cash and may not get the same level of savings, but an experienced engineer could get a job that pays top 5-10% and get a luxurious life compared to the local living expenses. I think Mexico pays quite well, but you can also look to places like India as well. Still, best of luck in your job search. Honestly, I have reason to believe it may dip worse, so you might want to consider looking into a lower league.
- the_only_law 3y ago
  > Gov jobs? Maybe state/local (though depending on where you are you'll be in for one hell of a paycut), but from what I've seen, federal jobs are the chooisest beggars out there.
pyuser583 3y ago
How many years experience and education? What is your skill set?
- geuis 3y ago
  10ish years of full stack, mainly js, node, react, etc. Did pure frontend before that and I still keep up. Been running and scaling an api service for a decade.
alexfromapex 3y ago
Was in the exact same boat but luckily an old coworker gave me a referral and fingers crossed it looks like it may pan out but this economy is the worst I’ve seen in over 10 years.
jason2323 3y ago
Stories like yours absolutely kill me and I feel so much anger toward the management class that thought it would be a good idea to overhire to such an extent and cut us off like it doesn't matter. I know this is unpopular on HN, but I have never felt more cynical about founders than I have as of late. Almost every founder i've spoken too seems to be drinking from the same jar of koolaid and thinks of workers as dispensable resources that can be let go off in a moments notice. I hate that this is what we've come to.
- gwnywg 3y ago
  > Almost every founder i've spoken too I know it does not help but the founder I work for is absolutely not in that train. When world was hiring like crazy he was executing his plan which was driven by sustainability and revenue. So when crisis knocked to our door, not a single dev was laid off, and we actually hired two (unfortunately we are not hiring now..). This guy is a role model for me when it comes to doing business.
- meiraleal 3y ago
  The solution from this imbalance is simple: laid off people should become founders. Then they can maximize the profits not hiring people or keep the previous arrangement of hiring as many as possible to grow
- borski 3y ago
  For what it’s worth, the vast majority of founders, at least in the valley, are not like this. Elsewhere, I cannot speak. In the valley they exist, but aren’t a majority. Most founders value their people extremely well, because they want to retain them. Overhiring during the pandemic was obviously a mistake, but once someone did the options quickly became “die” or “cut,” so they cut. I didn’t have to lay anyone off, but the company that acquired us had plenty of layoffs. Founders aren’t actually as much the issue as huge companies.
altdataseller 3y ago
What city are you looking for roles in?
- geuis 3y ago
  I'm in SF but have been looking at anything US based.
Irongirl1 3y ago
Placer.ai https://www.placer.ai/company/we-are-hiring https://www.placer.ai/company/we-are-hiring
- Irongirl1 3y ago
  https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/small-business-jobs-hiring-c0b17cf0?st=u7kj3pqsx69qd75&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/small-business-jobs-hiring-...

by geuis 3y ago

muzani 3y ago

Curious which markets you applied to. I assume it's not so bad that you're applying to flip burgers. But is it all Silicon Valley stuff? Have you tried, say, some cosmetics brand that needs a Shopify site updated? Gov jobs? I had a friend who was a star at a startup, but couldn't do the crazy hours after an injury, but she still makes decent money and gets a pension at a large organization with low expectations. Sales engineer jobs? Normally sales jobs are still high demand during a recession and some roles require technical experience. Also you could try jobs outside your country. Some may not pay as well in cash and may not get the same level of savings, but an experienced engineer could get a job that pays top 5-10% and get a luxurious life compared to the local living expenses. I think Mexico pays quite well, but you can also look to places like India as well. Still, best of luck in your job search. Honestly, I have reason to believe it may dip worse, so you might want to consider looking into a lower league.

the_only_law 3y ago
> Gov jobs? Maybe state/local (though depending on where you are you'll be in for one hell of a paycut), but from what I've seen, federal jobs are the chooisest beggars out there.

pyuser583 3y ago

How many years experience and education? What is your skill set?

geuis 3y ago
10ish years of full stack, mainly js, node, react, etc. Did pure frontend before that and I still keep up. Been running and scaling an api service for a decade.

alexfromapex 3y ago

Was in the exact same boat but luckily an old coworker gave me a referral and fingers crossed it looks like it may pan out but this economy is the worst I’ve seen in over 10 years.

jason2323 3y ago

Stories like yours absolutely kill me and I feel so much anger toward the management class that thought it would be a good idea to overhire to such an extent and cut us off like it doesn't matter. I know this is unpopular on HN, but I have never felt more cynical about founders than I have as of late. Almost every founder i've spoken too seems to be drinking from the same jar of koolaid and thinks of workers as dispensable resources that can be let go off in a moments notice. I hate that this is what we've come to.

gwnywg 3y ago
> Almost every founder i've spoken too I know it does not help but the founder I work for is absolutely not in that train. When world was hiring like crazy he was executing his plan which was driven by sustainability and revenue. So when crisis knocked to our door, not a single dev was laid off, and we actually hired two (unfortunately we are not hiring now..). This guy is a role model for me when it comes to doing business.
meiraleal 3y ago
The solution from this imbalance is simple: laid off people should become founders. Then they can maximize the profits not hiring people or keep the previous arrangement of hiring as many as possible to grow
borski 3y ago
For what it’s worth, the vast majority of founders, at least in the valley, are not like this. Elsewhere, I cannot speak. In the valley they exist, but aren’t a majority. Most founders value their people extremely well, because they want to retain them. Overhiring during the pandemic was obviously a mistake, but once someone did the options quickly became “die” or “cut,” so they cut. I didn’t have to lay anyone off, but the company that acquired us had plenty of layoffs. Founders aren’t actually as much the issue as huge companies.

altdataseller 3y ago

What city are you looking for roles in?

geuis 3y ago
I'm in SF but have been looking at anything US based.

Irongirl1 3y ago

Placer.ai https://www.placer.ai/company/we-are-hiring https://www.placer.ai/company/we-are-hiring

Irongirl1 3y ago
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/small-business-jobs-hiring-c0b17cf0?st=u7kj3pqsx69qd75&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/small-business-jobs-hiring-...