I’ve been looking for a job (senior software engineer) for almost 3 months now. Today I got technical feedback on an assessment (making a gRPC server in Rust) where the interviewer said I should have changed the Protobuf types in the specification they gave me for the assessment because “int64 isn’t the best way to represent this data”.
So how’s the job search going for you?
My back is against the wall. I've applied to more companies than I can keep track of. I've exhausted my savings. Friends and family have already helped as much as they can. I'm days away from having some life changing situational events happen.
I've recently seen a small uptick in interviews, but over the last year almost nothing has moved past the initial call/zoom meeting.
I managed to pick up a single contract in September but that ended after a month (founder ran out of cash).
I've never seen the job market this bad in the last 15 years, and that's even including the 2007/8 financial crisis.
If anyone has any kind of role, no matter how junior, please contact me asap.
Have you tried, say, some cosmetics brand that needs a Shopify site updated?
Gov jobs? I had a friend who was a star at a startup, but couldn't do the crazy hours after an injury, but she still makes decent money and gets a pension at a large organization with low expectations.
Sales engineer jobs? Normally sales jobs are still high demand during a recession and some roles require technical experience.
Also you could try jobs outside your country. Some may not pay as well in cash and may not get the same level of savings, but an experienced engineer could get a job that pays top 5-10% and get a luxurious life compared to the local living expenses. I think Mexico pays quite well, but you can also look to places like India as well.
Still, best of luck in your job search. Honestly, I have reason to believe it may dip worse, so you might want to consider looking into a lower league.
Maybe state/local (though depending on where you are you'll be in for one hell of a paycut), but from what I've seen, federal jobs are the chooisest beggars out there.
I know it does not help but the founder I work for is absolutely not in that train. When world was hiring like crazy he was executing his plan which was driven by sustainability and revenue. So when crisis knocked to our door, not a single dev was laid off, and we actually hired two (unfortunately we are not hiring now..). This guy is a role model for me when it comes to doing business.
Elsewhere, I cannot speak. In the valley they exist, but aren’t a majority.
Most founders value their people extremely well, because they want to retain them.
Overhiring during the pandemic was obviously a mistake, but once someone did the options quickly became “die” or “cut,” so they cut.
I didn’t have to lay anyone off, but the company that acquired us had plenty of layoffs. Founders aren’t actually as much the issue as huge companies.
I'm my experience live technical assessments are mostly just luck, especially when interviewers are being overly opinionated about how things should be done. When you're a certain level of seniority anything in your code which isn't a mistake is typically a debatable decision. Formatting, naming, where and when to optimise, what patterns to use and avoid, etc... And there will always be things you miss, that's what code reviews are for at the end of the day.
Just keep looking and try to not let rejections get to you. It's a difficult market for software engineers and employers have all the power right now.
My guess is that in the new year things will pick up a little. We're seeing some positive news on the economic front right now and my guess is that there will be more a bit appetite for investors to start putting capital to work in tech again next year. It's probably not going back to what it was a few years ago, but I think there's a good chance the market will be noticeably less difficult.
I think things will pick up in the new year too, I’ve had a few replies telling me to contact them again in January or February so that’s sort of hopeful.
two of my friends in VC say that their respective firms have tons of capital ready to deploy but that their bosses are being extremely choosy. I think right now it’s almost like they’re waiting to see how the new year goes and how AI stuff shakes out.
- core graphics programmer knowledge - Unreal engine specific knowledge - c++ general knowledge - fundamental Comp Sci knowledge (data structure concept, heaps, performance) - Software engineering knowledge (GoF software patterns, coding structure, etc.)
Or you know, I could still end up being metaphorically asked (or literally) to invert a binary tree. These aren't theoretical either, I've been quizzed on all these topics the past 3 months.
Like, none of these are hard for me, but if you want a confident, knowledgeable interview where I talk off the cuff about these I'd probably want some prep time. But alas, I was screened out almost every time, for reasons that may or may not even have to do with any of the above. I try not to blame myself and just accept that everyone's having a bad time, but not knowing how else to improve for test, or even WHAT they want to test me on feels discouraging. Why bother continuing to tinker on my renderer if they are just going to leetcode me? Why bother grinding leetcode (which I hate, mind you) if instead I end up in a role that never asks any?
I agree things will pick up in January. In the meantime I'll probably just relax and let interviews come to me.
The last few rejections have really shaken me because I (to my detriment) get invested. As best I can tell I'm perfect, get a first round interview, excitement builds, then get rejected...
For me a big learning is that your CV and fit ONLY serves to get you into the first round. They do NOT get to the end and then 'add up' everything they know about you, such that being outstanding in terms of relevant experience can offset whatever petty box ticking result they get from the interview. You have to be perfect in the interview. Provide perfect examples of your experiences. Precisely detailed and structured answers. Highlight impressive outcomes.
It simply doesn't matter what you have done, in that interview if you don't bring it you are kicked from the process. It hurts.
I can't help feeling like I am wired wrong if I can't give them what they want.
I've been looking, applying, and interviewing (though not as often as I would like nor expect from my volume of applications) for 8 months. After some recent disappointing news, I am looking to be moving away from software development and systems-at-scale roles, and spending more time and effort at IT support / system administration roles in the future as I can't help but feel the industry just isn't interested in any desire to grow and develop professionally, they just want the perfect applicant that has already used the technologies they need for 2-5 years and won't waste time on anyone else.
It doesn't help my own confidence that I have "FAANG" experience (I'll leave it to the reader to decide which FAANG belongs in quotes), and it hasn't helped my response rate or evaluations.
In any case, it's disapointing, and I feel your struggles. I wish you the best, and hopefully your newfound perspective separating the CV and the interview will help you spend less time and anguish over the less important parts
It's undeniable that practice makes for better interviewing - I tend to index way to much on researching the company and industry, and not enough on the tricky art of impressing them by emitting words in the right way!
I don't know if it helps or not, but getting rejected does not always mean that you cannot give them what they want. It means that they found someone else who can and chose them. You never know if your rejection was a case of them not liking you at all vs. them being really crushed by having to choose between you and another person, both of whom they really liked.
I actually received 2 offers today, the first two in like a month. One is not for me, and I don't think I'm ready for the other one. I'm having a big imposter syndrome lately. I guess I need some time to learn more stuff and collect my thoughts.
I don't know anything about the specifics of your situation, so definitely discount this advice if it's not applicable - but remember that every high level / successful person had to be, at some point, wholly out of their depth in order to rise to the occasion!
I hope you guys make it, because if you can't, that means I definitely can't.
There's still junior roles and with AI coming up, there's plenty of new stuff that many seniors won't touch. I got my ticket into tech back when everyone wanted to do iOS and Windows Phone, and Android was some runt that even BlackBerry users laughed at. Did desktop to mobile redesigns, which led to responsive web work, and just building apps. There's very likely plenty of new jobs which seniors won't take. Heck, there's still a gap in the market for Flutter jobs here - seniors tend to go for native Android/iOS or React Native because they want to take advantage of the 10 years of experience.
You would be a fool to “await your cue” just because of scary stories. As a junior you can start anywhere.
As the role one is applying for more gets more senior, the larger the circles on both sides become, and it sometimes ends up being too hard to get to that intersection in the short duration of an interview.
That being said, I would recommend to to start applying for jobs, since the interview experience itself would be helpful to understand where you might need to improve.
I was laid off two months ago. I haven’t been able to find an internal transfer team. I had two interviews but they both went for other candidates
I have one interview left. No more hits from applications, no more recruiter contacts and no more people I can ask for referrals. I’m burnt out from studying
Now I am being fairly picky at this stage, trying to aim for roles at big tech that can match my previous compensation.
If this last interview falls through I’m going to take a few weeks to focus on my mental and physical health. I’ve gained 10 pounds the past two months and stopped working out. So I’ll start with that. Then when I’m in a better place emotionally I’ll resume and expand my search.
Luckily I’ve been following r/financialindependence since I started working so I have a wealth of savings I can pull from to pay for my life while I find a job
Left my previous job last month, and got a new job just a few days after. Got really bad vibes, and left literally during the first week of having started.
Either I just wasted all my luck on that one opportunity, or that wasn't luck in the first place. Time will tell.
So my search just began again. Since we're at the end of the year I'm not too optimistic on even getting any interviews at all. Being realistic, I'm probably going to get ghosted for a few months and I'm mentally preparing for that.
I have 2yrs of experience (and lot of experience with Open Source from long before that). I mostly work on Rust,Go,Python and Javascript (also Java). I have worked on Backend(microservices,DB,grpc),Frontend(react and svelte) and bit of devops(had written kubernetes code once).
have to work on the dead positions, you are totally right.
From my experience, employers are being very very picky. I have been through full rounds at a couple of places with positive feedback, but they have all gone with other candidates. It seems like if you misstep once during a single interview round, your chances fall dramatically.
Full transparency: I have not put in a lot of time preparing for these interviews, probably explains a lot xD
[1]: https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/software-engineering-sala...
None have been as complex or bad as some make them out to be, but all have the potential to trip you up depending on the day.
I am lucky enough to still have a decent position. I have real sympathy for all those who have been laid off in the past year, it's gotta be tough.
That said, My domain (games) does do leetcode style BS but fortunately haven't had to come across system design questions. Think that veers too far from games architecture to really matter unless you're looking for a backend role.
I would love to meet the candidates that beat me to these roles. I tell myself they are simply me, but more polished and more FAANG. So I never stood a chance.
With my few years in med-edu-tech start-up experience as a PM, I recently came across an unexpected opportunity to go back into film production. Low-pay but high-prestige apprenticeship back-to-square-one sort of situation, but I’m just young enough to still pass off as a viable junior.
Hard to tell if the bubble has bursted right now, gotta wait until the economy recovers. But something tells me the FAANG companies aren't gonna go bust all of a sudden over this.
Did you interview at Helsing? Pretty sure that their test was something like this.