Ask HN: Just lost my job, where to go from here?
So guys I just lost my job and was wondering where to go from here.
Edit: I was a software developer.
Edit: I was a software developer.
Breathe, and take some time to figure yourself out. If you can afford it, a couple weeks or more of relaxing, adjusting your resume a bit before beginning to apply will be good.
When you're ready to dive back in:
- Prepare your story. What makes you stand out? Understand how to sell yourself and know your worth
- Skill up where impactful: Dedicate time each day to practice coding (leetcode), writing (tinker with technology and write a blog post, even if you don't publish it), and telling your story (practice interview questions and ensure you're confident in answering them)
- Start interviewing. I recommend managing 2-4 interviews a week so that you don't overwhelm yourself and you can give more focus to each company. Some people like to min/max the hell out of this so you may prefer that approach. Your call
- Don't jump the gun on the first offer unless you really need to. Try to see what's available and find a job you'll thrive in.
And remember, you are still a software developer (not was) :)
This is by far the most important piece of advice. You need to maintain a strong mindset and you can't do this if you're tying your identity to a current or former job.
You're just as talented and skilled at software engineering as you were before. Absolutely nothing about you has changed, you're just looking for a new job is all.
But we seldom make good decision in such state. Look at your career, and what you enjoy out of it, what kind of company/project/team you'd like to be part of AND what kind of company/project/team you wouldn't like to be part of.
As a software developer we sometimes can afford the luxury of choice, so don't let it go to waste. And when you are ready, tons of luck and enjoy the ride!
Tip 1: Don't freak. There are tons of dev jobs out there still despite the pandemic.
Tip 2: Take care of yourself. Job hunts are emotionally draining.
Tip 3: Watch this 4-hour workshop (split into 1-hour chunks) from OSCON last year. It's "Care & Feeding of a Healthy Job Hunt". It's a hiring manager (me) providing info on how to update your resume, write a cover letter, apply, interview, negotiate, etc. It's entirely free on Internet Archive:
You're a dev. Developing is sorcery. Sorcerers are badasses.
- understand where you are at financially. If you can make some easy cuts to improve your situation, then cut back where you can. Understand how long you can go without work. This will change what kind of work you should look for. If you are looking for anything that pays, there is plenty out there. If you are looking for something that will keep you busy for 5 years then you will need more time. Also, keep in mind, unemployment is not going to start coming in right away. It could be 10 weeks before you get an unemployment check. Just keep filing and assume some time they will get back to you.
- Right now, there are two types of companies: companies that are doing well and not doing well. Do not spend time looking for companies that are not doing well. If your usual social network is filled with companies that are not hiring you should search other places. The companies in your local area might be struggling. There are definitely companies that are hiring, they are just not great at getting the word out.
Relax. Find a cheap hobby. Stay healthy, presentable, and hungry and opportunity will reveal itself.
ps: I have also collected a list of possible freelance job sites, but you might find some interesting content (and more current, w/ useful comments from others) by searching HN for things like remote, freelance, hiring, etc.
pps: for future/generality: avoiding debt and having 3-6 months of emergency savings, etc., not burning bridges, being honest and treating others the way one would want to be treated, go a very long way for times like this. I'm studying Rust; hoping that will be useful in my future also.
All the best outcomes to you!
So, don't panic. You'll probably be able to find something very soon.
The problem I saw while looking for a job is that every company has a wildly different opinion of what a good dev is to them and it's easy to end up hating yourself after many rejections even though you know and proved you can produce quality work as long as you're paid fairly.
For the most companies in my area(EU), "we can't find good devs" was an abbreviation for "there are good devs on the market but we're not willing to offer them an attractive enough pay bump to make them jump ship to us and we're also not willing to invest in training juniors to become good devs so we'll just keep complaining about this made up shortage and leave the position open until we find a sucker and so, $GOVERNMENT_BODY, please make immigration easier, K THX"
1. Reach out to friends in the industry and former colleagues 2. Meanwhile, apply to jobs in LinkedIn (this is for FAANGs) 3. Stack Overflow has a good job board 4. Look for almost-FAANG tech companies, such as NVIDIA, HP, Dell, etc. 5. Consider moving -- Denver, Boise, Austin, etc. Industry is booming in these cities.
I wish you best of lucking in whatever your next step might be.
https://twitter.com/ernietedeschi/status/1309231458876260355
For skilled workers, perhaps especially software developers, the job market may not be as dire as it looks more generally.
Good luck with your job search.
Then put that behind you. Start looking for a new job with no emotional baggage from what just happened.