HACKER Q&A
📣 Jcowell

As a New Grad, should I be worried?


There’s been much talk about the upcoming recession, layoffs, and resigning offers. On Friday, I got a recruiter called about a New Grad in Software Engineering at a well-known company. They said they’re sending me an offer letter next week (I interviewed a couple of months ago but got rejected due to space capacity). I got all the comp details and start date. I’ll be making more than my entire current salary in a year. I’m terrified of the company deciding not to extend it due to current economic conditions or getting the offer and rescinding it like Coinbase. Am I sweating for nothing? If not, should I stay at my current job, float out of the recession, and try job hunting? I’m a bit of a nervous mess, honestly.

  👤 mikebonnell Accepted Answer ✓
No, some companies are doing layoffs due to mismanagement resulting in over-extended workforces. Many companies are still hiring and will keep hiring. If it's a well-known company, it likely has multiple sources of revenue versus companies with one - Coinbase and Bolt.

Downturns happen, I graduated into the 2008 Great Recession and still got a job as a newly minted CS major. Don't resign from your current job until you have the offer letter in hand.

👤 vanniv
You shouldn't be overly worried. Some companies are slowing or freezing hiring, some are doing layoffs, and a few are rescinding issued offers.

It is possible that you'll end up caught up in some of that. Not super likely, but possible for sure.

The availability of investment money has greatly decreased -- people are no longer willing to pledge huge sums of money to back companies with minimal revenues, no profits, and no plan on how they're going to eventually be profitable.

If the company that you're going to go work for is profitable, you'll probably be completely fine. If it's not profitable, the company might start to feel like all the free cash has disappeared, and things may get less awesome. If your company isn't profitable, doesn't have a lot of money left, and isn't going to be profitable soon, then you're probably going to end up looking for another job before this is all over.

But even if you end up without work for a time, engineers are still in demand. The problems that we can solve aren't going away, and companies will still figure out profitable ways to employ engineers.

Be aware -- pay attention to how your company is doing. But I wouldn't panic.

👤 bjourne
People have been worrying about the "upcoming recession" for years. No one can predict when a recession hits or when the housing market explodes so planning your life around such worries is not useful.
👤 lmarcos
Unless you are planning to work for a long period of time (> 10 years) at your current job, it's always a good idea to try job hunting.