3 ms·

How much hiring is going on? I've heard some people say that it's mostly a lot of churn right now - layoffs make the headlines, but there's a healthy amount of

How much hiring is going on? I've heard some people say that it's mostly a lot of churn right now - layoffs make the headlines, but there's a healthy amount of hiring going on at the same time. I don't really know the extent, this is a genuine question.

some_furry 3y ago
I know a lot of people who aren't even getting phone screens currently, when in prior years they had their pick of companies to work for.
- rqtwteye 3y ago
  Feels like 2002-2003 after the .COM bubble. During bubbles a lot of people get hired for good money who aren’t really up to the task.
- FrustratedMonky 3y ago
  This. I'm reading that there are actually more jobs being created than the layoffs are producing people looking for jobs, or, basically, like op said, layoffs make news, but the dozens of small companies hiring 1-2 people don't make the news. So, it should still be 'ok' to find a job. But, antidotally, all I hear is how hard it is, sending 100's of applications out and getting 1 or 2 calls. So which is it? Is it just big correction in skills? There are jobs, but not for what people know? What is in demand?
  - stackskipton 3y ago
    IME, Companies are hiring more senior people because they have their pick and it's more stodgy enterprise stuff. My previous coworkers who know .Net/Java are doing fine but people knowing latest Node/Go are having more problems. Also, salaries have slightly retracted as well. As SRE type, I'm dealing with a ton more legacy conversion and shoring up existing systems. Still high demand for Kubernetes and Containerization but huge drop off in other stuff. WASM has almost entirely disappeared for any conversations I've been in.
    - brailsafe 3y ago
      I'm a frontend dev with a fair bit of legacy experience, but am unfortunately still not seeing many listings or getting calls, and have pretty much stopped considering that it'll happen. Hard to stay motivated, nothing turns out. I'd be more than happy to work on an Angular to React/TypeScript migration or anything not frontend related if I could get in the door.
    - FrustratedMonky 3y ago
      That is too bad. I actually was getting kind of turned on by Rust/WASM and was contemplating switching career in that direction.
62951413 3y ago
In the Bay Area I see only a few full time positions. They average literally 500-700 applicants each (1.5K for a Databricks-level company). Accepting a W2 remote contract (sometimes from a CA-headquartered corporation) seems to be the only alternative. They say it's a "contract-to-hire" but I'm rather skeptical. It feels completely unlike the fleeting setback of '08-'09.
- ekidd 3y ago
  > In the Bay Area I see only a few full time positions. I remember the dot com crash. The Valley and the greater Boston area got flooded with out-of-work engineers. The secondary cities still had interesting openings if you knew where to look. During the boom times, lots of interesting companies were starved for talent. When the downturn came, they started filling positions and moving ahead on interesting projects. Look at some of the remote teams closely. Some of them are up to neat stuff, or they are just looking for the right person to open up new opportunities.
mdorazio 3y ago
I haven't found direct hiring data, but the second chart in [1] tells a very interesting story - job postings in tech are now below pre-pandemic norm. I know that resignations in tech have been falling steadily the last several months as well, so it seems like hiring is likely down quite a bit. Anecdotally, my software dev friends who are unemployed right now are having trouble getting hired, compared to a few years ago where they were turning down interviews weekly. [1] https://www.hiringlab.org/2024/02/20/labor-market-update-tech-jobs-below-pre-pandemic-levels/ https://www.hiringlab.org/2024/02/20/labor-market-update-tec...
pram 3y ago
I’ve been getting Apple and Meta recruiter emails recently, in particular. I pretty much didn’t get anything in 2023 in comparison, which was ominous.
datavirtue 3y ago
I used to work as a partner at an S-corp contracting firm. My client axed the project I was on and our sales team didn't have anything I was interested in. The founder was still hiring people despite our business being on downward slope for some time so I left to transition to another industry (defense/military, I was in Fintech for years) as an FTE (I already had another client but I did not trust the stability). My current employer (also an ESOP) snatched me up aggressively as I was over qualified for their budgeted salary. It has been awesome for both of us. I got more stability and, for once, interesting work and they got someone who could drive a new product from scratch. My contributions are really starting to punch high and win us new business, so my pay should bump back up soon. I took a chance and it seems to be paying off. My health definitely improved. I recently received my last dividend check from the S-Corp and it was not pretty--I was already bitching when it was twice as much as this last one. So their business is still on a decline despite being, traditionally, a first call from clients.
cj 3y ago
I think it really depends on 1) salary requirements 2) experience, and 3) skillset. If you have those 3 things in balance relative to one another, you probably won't have too much trouble finding a job. If any one of those variables are out of whack, you'll have a hard time. Companies are definitely still hiring. They just aren't throwing offers at everyone. More selective, and salaries/comp is down due to less companies competing for the same candidate. These issues are worse for juniors (companies less willing to invest in career training/development).
dutchCourage 3y ago
Anecdotal but I was looking for permanent positions both at the beginning of last year and beginning of this year. For a frontend developer role in Europe. I've been having significantly more interviews and recruiters contacting me (and following up) this year.

some_furry 3y ago

I know a lot of people who aren't even getting phone screens currently, when in prior years they had their pick of companies to work for.

rqtwteye 3y ago
Feels like 2002-2003 after the .COM bubble. During bubbles a lot of people get hired for good money who aren’t really up to the task.
FrustratedMonky 3y ago
This. I'm reading that there are actually more jobs being created than the layoffs are producing people looking for jobs, or, basically, like op said, layoffs make news, but the dozens of small companies hiring 1-2 people don't make the news. So, it should still be 'ok' to find a job. But, antidotally, all I hear is how hard it is, sending 100's of applications out and getting 1 or 2 calls. So which is it? Is it just big correction in skills? There are jobs, but not for what people know? What is in demand?
- stackskipton 3y ago
  IME, Companies are hiring more senior people because they have their pick and it's more stodgy enterprise stuff. My previous coworkers who know .Net/Java are doing fine but people knowing latest Node/Go are having more problems. Also, salaries have slightly retracted as well. As SRE type, I'm dealing with a ton more legacy conversion and shoring up existing systems. Still high demand for Kubernetes and Containerization but huge drop off in other stuff. WASM has almost entirely disappeared for any conversations I've been in.
  - brailsafe 3y ago
    I'm a frontend dev with a fair bit of legacy experience, but am unfortunately still not seeing many listings or getting calls, and have pretty much stopped considering that it'll happen. Hard to stay motivated, nothing turns out. I'd be more than happy to work on an Angular to React/TypeScript migration or anything not frontend related if I could get in the door.
  - FrustratedMonky 3y ago
    That is too bad. I actually was getting kind of turned on by Rust/WASM and was contemplating switching career in that direction.

62951413 3y ago

In the Bay Area I see only a few full time positions. They average literally 500-700 applicants each (1.5K for a Databricks-level company). Accepting a W2 remote contract (sometimes from a CA-headquartered corporation) seems to be the only alternative. They say it's a "contract-to-hire" but I'm rather skeptical. It feels completely unlike the fleeting setback of '08-'09.

ekidd 3y ago
> In the Bay Area I see only a few full time positions. I remember the dot com crash. The Valley and the greater Boston area got flooded with out-of-work engineers. The secondary cities still had interesting openings if you knew where to look. During the boom times, lots of interesting companies were starved for talent. When the downturn came, they started filling positions and moving ahead on interesting projects. Look at some of the remote teams closely. Some of them are up to neat stuff, or they are just looking for the right person to open up new opportunities.

mdorazio 3y ago

I haven't found direct hiring data, but the second chart in [1] tells a very interesting story - job postings in tech are now below pre-pandemic norm. I know that resignations in tech have been falling steadily the last several months as well, so it seems like hiring is likely down quite a bit. Anecdotally, my software dev friends who are unemployed right now are having trouble getting hired, compared to a few years ago where they were turning down interviews weekly. [1] https://www.hiringlab.org/2024/02/20/labor-market-update-tech-jobs-below-pre-pandemic-levels/ https://www.hiringlab.org/2024/02/20/labor-market-update-tec...

pram 3y ago

I’ve been getting Apple and Meta recruiter emails recently, in particular. I pretty much didn’t get anything in 2023 in comparison, which was ominous.

datavirtue 3y ago

I used to work as a partner at an S-corp contracting firm. My client axed the project I was on and our sales team didn't have anything I was interested in. The founder was still hiring people despite our business being on downward slope for some time so I left to transition to another industry (defense/military, I was in Fintech for years) as an FTE (I already had another client but I did not trust the stability). My current employer (also an ESOP) snatched me up aggressively as I was over qualified for their budgeted salary. It has been awesome for both of us. I got more stability and, for once, interesting work and they got someone who could drive a new product from scratch. My contributions are really starting to punch high and win us new business, so my pay should bump back up soon. I took a chance and it seems to be paying off. My health definitely improved. I recently received my last dividend check from the S-Corp and it was not pretty--I was already bitching when it was twice as much as this last one. So their business is still on a decline despite being, traditionally, a first call from clients.

cj 3y ago

I think it really depends on 1) salary requirements 2) experience, and 3) skillset. If you have those 3 things in balance relative to one another, you probably won't have too much trouble finding a job. If any one of those variables are out of whack, you'll have a hard time. Companies are definitely still hiring. They just aren't throwing offers at everyone. More selective, and salaries/comp is down due to less companies competing for the same candidate. These issues are worse for juniors (companies less willing to invest in career training/development).

dutchCourage 3y ago

Anecdotal but I was looking for permanent positions both at the beginning of last year and beginning of this year. For a frontend developer role in Europe. I've been having significantly more interviews and recruiters contacting me (and following up) this year.