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Comment by vvpan | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, this is all anecdotal, but I'll add my 2c - been in the business for something like 15 years and was looking for work in May. It has never felt deader, remote or onsite. Usually recruiters are beating down your door. This time not even friends could get me any interviews.

The way I got a job was by writing some technical articles and establishing a relationship with a very energetic VC person. I asked him if he could introduce me to his portfolio companies and day later I had a few conversations lined up. I think I found what is probably the most interesting job I have ever had. I am usually nobody to hustle or advocate for it, but it sure paid back.

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Got a decent position after ~4 months of looking. ~120 applications, ~10 interviews.

It was nuts, my resume and skillset have never been stronger but this was my hardest search by a huge margin. Referrals were not working, bulk applications were getting no response. What finally worked was just persistence and trying to add a lot of character to my cover letter. I had way more replies when I: A. complimented what they were doing B. Included a few little quips/jokes.

The huge number of fake applicants and AI generated cover letters/resumes is making recruiters jobs a nightmare, I think a few jokes and compliments can make it clear you are an actual person. One recruiter told me he had ~3000 applications for a pretty low paying remote position.

I've been in the business for almost 20 years. I've been hired for positions where I don't even code in the required language, and the employer depends on me to learn it on the go. Until recently I've never had trouble securing a job. But I've been on the market now for about 2 years. I often can't even score an interview, even for jobs that exactly match my qualifications.

I'm over 40, so I must assume ageism is a factor, but even in light of that, this tech job market feels like a desert.

I was about to consider an interview coach or just somebody to look at who I am, my resume, online presence and all that and give me very honest feedback. I thought that what I am lacking is a good idea of who I am and I how I present myself. Have you tried anything like that?

I have not yet employed an interview coach, but I suspect it would be helpful to have a frank evaluation. I have a pretty large online presence, perhaps it is negatively affecting my opportunities in ways that I do not see. Hmm.

I was worried about the same actually. I have an old crappy website that I have not updated in years and I was wondering if it's acting as my business card, which wouldn't be good. My doxed online presence is minimal otherwise.

Participate in local user groups. In every single group I attend, people are looking to hire.

However, these people are local. They almost certainly want you in-person at least some amount of the time.

And, while I can't say that ageism isn't a factor, I can tell you that the users groups tend to be weighted toward the greybeards.

I do think that the "remote work" thing is a bit of disadvantage for we greybeards. The value of having someone around who is experienced is having a colleague that you can interact with in casual context.

anecdote: I've found the last few weeks that recruiters are really picking up steam with the cold messaging again

Same. Although, I have also noticed there is nothing 100% remote. Many of the messages even highlight "100% on-site." Best I've seen recently is a 3 day hybrid.

How do I get myself out there to make these connections? I can make connections with coworkers, but I don’t know how to expand beyond my circle (like meeting VC folk)

I cannot give much advice on this, because my experience is minimal. I would say pick a domain and learn to stand out in it. I stood out just a little by doing technical research and writing about it, then posting it in chats/social media. Actually, having twitter was essential. We pretty much met over twitter. On twitter every person is equally accessible to you, be they a celebrity or your cousin Bob.

I agree with the first 3 sentences, 4th sentence gives me pause. I wish you all well and with as little trumult experienced as is possible <3.

High growth companies had a hiccup certainly, but there are still more open positions than there are candidates.

I've heard of ghost jobs so I'm starting to actually really doubt some of this, I've literally seen the same job on the market for over a year now with a new chain of recruits contacting me about it every 3 months. I understand there aren't a lot of perhaps qualified people for that role but come on a year with it open? The repeat open positions are disappointing to say the least. At least change the description! I think a lot of employers are just stacking up resumes and waiting to use them in the future.

There are some regulation issues I think that promote this behavior ... :(

Did you have a warm intro with the VC?

No, we just started chatting on Twitter about some research I've done.

This is what crash of 2000 was like for me. Multiple calls a day from recruiters. Sometime around June or so, the calls Stopped. Just stopped. Six months later I was working at RadioShack.

Along with a number of engineers with 10-20 years experience.

Took me 3 years to get back into a tech job.

This is starting to feel the same.

I was an idiot and held out for too long. I’ve been out of work for a very long time, much longer than six months. I never experienced a market like this, even when I was trying to enter the market as a teenager with no real experience it took me three months. Now I have six years of experience apparently worth nothing. I should have taken a on site role a long time ago, but I was trying to avoid moving. I figured my luck would turn around for the better at some point. Idiotic optimism.

Now my lease is up and I’m fucked. My savings have been beaten from month and months of attrition and emergency expenses, including somehow owing money on my taxes this year. The rental market is so bad where I am, with people asking more money for fucking rooms than some of the apartments out here, I assume because most of the apartments have 6+ month waiting lists.

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