Anybody around who lost a job in the dotcom or obama era that can provide perspective on techniques or mentalities that get them back in the door somewhere else?
Just chiming in to say that this has also been my experience as of late, too. One of the interesting trends I've noticed is that some random company will send out a message expressing interest due to your profile/skills/background, you tell them you're interested in speaking further, then they pass on you saying you don't have the profile/experience/background they're looking for. Seriously, yes, this has happened to me probably about ~5 times in the last month. Absolutely ridiculous.
Wish I had something to offer on solutions for you, but other than "bust ass and hope for the best", I really don't know of any silver bullet kind of advice. Other than the usual stuff - networking, improving interview skills, blah blah blah, you've heard all that before, I'm sure.
Good luck!
I needed a few years to build up a freelance client base, and I had lots of contacts already in the software business and in related businesses like web design and security who could give me referrals. You have to not only do the work, but you will have to spend time finding customers, getting projects defined, negotiating terms -- all of that non-billable time adds up.
I work through an agency and they get good projects for me. I believe they have a long backlog of people who want to get taken on as freelancers. Anecdotally (from other freelancers I know) I believe that's the case at all of the agencies and contract shops. Right now they have their pick of people looking for work, but a lot of their customers have budget freezes and cutbacks throttling spending.
If you're interested in learning more about handling hardships mentally, take a look at Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
The big benefit of being laid off and looking for a job is that you have all the time in the world to interview, you don't have to be secretive about the fact that you're looking, and you have a built in explanation for why you're looking that nobody will think twice about.
If you cast a wide net, you'll probably get a fair bit of interest. The one piece of advice I'd give around interviewing is to try to schedule some of your first interviews with companies that you're not necessarily that interested in to help you warm up, since you're going to be rusty. Don't try to go through the full interview cycle with those companies before interviewing with ones you have a lot of interest in (that may leave you in a position where a company you're not that interested in makes a good offer before you have a chance to interview with the ones you really want), but rather try to do the each round of interviews at a couple of less-interesting places a few days before you do the same round at your target places.
- Update your resume with your latest position
- Apply and take interviews with companies that you may not be interested in. This will help you rehearse and practice your pitch.
- If you are an IC, start doing leetcode and system design exercises
If you want more specific tips/advice, drop me a DM.
Do you mind sharing more about what didn't work out? Did you pass/fail the Triplebyte test? Did you meet with a few interested companies afterward, but nothing came of it?
Remember it’s a two-way street: someone who gives you a referral today could be employee n at your startup tomorrow.
Stick around an industry long enough and most, if not all, your jobs and clients will come pre-filtered from your professional contacts. Make the investments in them now.
Engineers, like most professional jobs, are either hired through the team's professional network or otherwise recruiters because no hiring manager is going to spend the time sourcing unknown candidates themselves.
Therefore identify the types of recruiters who work with the types of companies you are most likely to work at, and contact them. They need to bring candidates to their clients and so you are mutually benefiting each other. They may also be able to calibrate you for the types of roles you are qualified for and how your resume stacks up against what they are seeing in the market.
If you don't know any recruiters, ask friends who are hiring managers at startups and mid-market companies who they use (esp if it's outside recruiters). Identify via LinkedIn inside recruiters at big firms if you want to work for a big firm (note that most are not hiring, however).
If you need to get new work reasonably quickly be realistic with the types of companies you are most likely to get a job with - ie similar space, type of eng work, etc and identify those companies and ask who they use for recruiters.
Pretend you are an engineering hiring manager at a startup - how would you identify those recruiters for your role? Search for good recruiters, create a hit list, reach out to them, etc.
One of the startups I work with has about 4 open roles right now, two are eng, and we are working with 4 different recruiting firms to fill those - so there is activity but it's now an employer's market given the shifts in the market.
Good luck!
I started at one of the most well known e-commerce dot coms a year before the Great Recession. A few months into that employment I was involuntarily reassigned from a designer to a developer and told to figure it out. That year I ended up with a negative performance review. That’s the kind of thing that pushes people to the front of the line for layoffs.
A month later the layoffs started and a bunch of people started leaving. All kinds of talent was axed including directors from all segments of the business. This company couldn’t hire competent front end developers at all. As a result my job was super safe irrespective of my poor annual performance. You can’t run a website business without website people. They would eventually attempt to make everything jQuery related but that resulted in horrid quality products by replaceable people who were easy to fire.
My learning from all this is:
* Don’t chase trends
* Become competent in your craft (as opposed to becoming a framework/tool monkey)
* Add business value
* Be persistent
* Have a backup plan, like a secondary career that you can easily jump into
* Have a hobby that reinforces your career. Software is an immature industry and in many cases is filled with crybabies that shouldn’t be there in the first place. Know that and make tough decisions on where you spend your time both on the job and outside the office.
* Make friends. A personnel connection at a prospective employer is huge.
The very best way to land a new job is by networking. Follow up with former coworkers, friends, and family for leads on possible positions. They can help you get your resume in front of the right people. Last year when things weren’t looking good at my company I started reaching out to my network. With my experience and salary, I was a little worried about finding something comparable. I hooked up with a former coworker who convinced his company to open a position for me. Two weeks later I had a new job with a sizable increase in salary.
By all means look on linked in or indeed or whatever and send your resume out too, but make sure you engage your network. It really is about who you know.