Ask HN: Is it harder getting a tech job now vs. 5 years ago?
I've been self-employed for the last 5 years. I created several SaaS apps that have collectively made $1.5M pretax during that time. I also have a semi-popular open source project, prior experience moving from a senior role into a management, and have kept my skills current learning things like Sass, Bootstrap, Angular and Flask.
I don't necessarily need a job right now, but I wouldn't mind taking one because my income is 100% passive. However, I haven't been getting any e-mails back.
What I remember about applying in the past was how easy it was to get an e-mail requesting a phone interview. Probably 1 out of every 3 jobs I applied for would yield one. Over the last week, I've applied to 25 jobs and only one yielded a phone screen.
Am I out of the loop already? Is my experience that much of a commodity nowadays? What does it take to differentiate yourself in 2017?
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 37.4 ms ] threadNobody is going to call back somebody with no "work" experience for the past 5 years even if you claim to know the new javascript frameworks.
Of course there are not too many jobs where I am. Where are you located and where are you applying?
I'd be more than happy to check out your resume and give you some feedback if you wanted? You can DM me via Twitter (link in bio) or if you don't have it just let me know and we'll sort out an email.
I'm currently interviewing with a small company and I'll be doing a face-to-face with them next week.
I know it's hard to get feedback when you don't get an interview in the first place, but how does your resume look? You can have a lot of great stuff on there without giving enough specific points to generate interest. Or, you could not be applying to enough jobs.
Job searching is tough and un-fun, good luck out there!
First job out of college took about three months of applying.
Second job, six month.
Third job was a wash, went 8 months freelancing for bits of cash before I went to company at job no. 1 to consult for them. But the pay was terrible.
Fourth job I took after 6 months of applying. Then I got laid off late 2014.
And I couldn't get a full time job since.
I am not so naive to think I'm the only one like this. But for at least a few, the job market has gotten less forgiving. My experience is not helping balance that out.
On my last job i sat right next to the corner where we interviewed candidates, so i could hear everything and would occasionally pop in to participate. There was a scary amount of people like that - boasting a big resume but unable to tell a mutex from a semaphore.
So, i suspect you failed to pass some initial HR-level filters designed to filter out the sludge so that the actual programmers would be able to cope with the amount of candidates left to interview.
Is it bad that I have no idea what either of those are?
"We passed on hiring that guy to do our drywalling. He boasted a big resume of recent drywall hanging work, but he didn't even know the where the CEO of CertainTeed was born!"
I'm surprised to learn that there are people working in Tech currently finding it hard to apply. Where are you located?
Here in Europe, at least in my experience, it's getting easier every day. Tech is incredibly popular, but demand is still even higher.
You might be viewed as overqualified because of your business experience if you apply to startups.
You might just make basic mistakes that the book will teach you not to do.
One way to sell a remote-style work is to make it part of a perk you want in the position or job. There is a ton of talent and skill already willing to move right into the company's parking lot and LIVE ( literally ) there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG0_KiM9Mv8
You're not competitive with them at all if it comes to just comparing apples and oranges. The way the market is, offering remote-work can be sold as a perk by the company, or something you need to negotiate for. But expect to either fly to the office or meet them atleast once a week, maybe less or more depending... most likely more than once a week.
I always tell people (that ask): The hardest part is getting the first interview. Stand out (seriously, just be yourself) but don't be loud in doing so.
Explain to them you've applied, and you've not heard back, but you're interested.
You're a person then, not an email/CV-to-be-dealt-with, and people generally want to help people. They'll often commit there on the phone to setting up an interview with you.
There are companies that value your new skills. But more companies will find those new skills scary.
But, boy, you hit the nail on the head. I don't ever want to go back to employment. I really only want a remote job as a buffer to continue working on my own.
I don't have FU money, so even though I have free time, I spend a lot of it worrying. I think that's why people are so easy to reach for VC. They feel comfortable when others have skin in the game. They don't feel so alone -- like I do.
Just wish it would last forever, but these headwinds are good for me. I need a kick in the ass. I've wasted a lot of time.
For the first two years I mostly spent time worrying about an older brother who unfortunately won't speak with me anymore. He was really pissed that my app took off and the side work he was doing didn't pan out.
I got over him, and spent most of my time reading books, which feels healthy at first, but then starts feeling counterproductive. Why read all this crap if you're not doing anything with what you're learning?
So, about a year or so ago, I finally got around to realizing that all the stuff I was reading could be distilled into a 2 things: Focus and hard work. The people who are successful do the work. Working hard is what originally put me in this position, and along the way, I lost myself and started thinking I got here because I'm smart. The biggest mistake I've made is wasting time, and it doesn't matter how smart you are when you do that.
Started reading books like "Flow" which gives me a lot of motivation and I've been on a solid hard-work streak for some time. Hoping I can build something else before it all comes crashing down around me.
Fun stuff...
I am starting in this path (of creating a bootstrapping business) and being alone is both a bless (no sharing of the revenue, I make all decisions and most outcome depends solely on my work) and a curse (isolate me from other people, limit the size of the problems I can solve, is lonely).
If I reach your position in a couple of years, I will surely reach out other people to build a business together. I would do it now even, but it is hard to convince people to join me without a track record.
Even though you hear about cofounders starting businesses together and succeeding, you hear less about the problems they immediately or eventually have.
It pays to be super selective, and I haven't found anyone who thinks along the same lines I do. Part of it might be locale. I don't live in SV, and I just haven't run into that many tech entrepreneurs.
oh, god, a few years ago, when I'd been freelancing for 2 years, I thought I'd start looking for a job in an office very soon. now I've been freelancing for 5 years already and I think I don't want to have a boss or manager supervising me and follow their rules. I better tell them what to do :)))
working as a office employee -- that job will kill your individuality.