I agree with the article. As I written before, the job hunting market in SF has been maddening: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4216622 http://news.ycombi

I agree with the article. As I written before, the job hunting market in SF has been maddening: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4216622 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4216622 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4155172 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4155172 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4253909 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4253909 Never before in my life has it taken more than 3 weeks to find a job, certain bloggers keep claiming the job market is "on fire" and yet I've been at it for two months, already having reached out to about 30 companies and done at least half that many informal meetings. The really strange thing about it is that my skills are undeniably stronger than when I got hired at my first tech job in Beijing 18 months ago, and that search was much easier. Similarly, I've met a few interns over the past month with clearly less productive ability than I have who have been hired with great packages. The other thing I've noticed is that the hiring demand is very bimodal. On one hand, hiring managers I've talked with at various small-medium sized companies have had extremely high expectations and been quick to reject me for not having specific skill X or for not having N number of years' experience with Y. Worst is that in many cases, this doesn't happen until they or their recruiters have actively pursued me over half a dozen phone calls and a trip to their office. On the other hand, there are clients with lots of money to spend on making sites or customizing iPhone apps. In this market, I've suddenly found myself to be at the highly-skilled end of spectrum. Not only is there the potential for great earnings, but it's still not bad in terms of learning opportunities. It's leading me to seriously consider abandoning the job search entirely. I can just freelance, keep going to meetups to hang out and learn with the inside crowd and start saving money to bootstrap my own thing. It wasn't my original plan, but the long-term result will be the same.