HACKER Q&A
📣 anonSrEng202309

What's a Senior Software Craftsperson to Do?


I've been in the industry almost 30yrs. I'm a polyglot and pick up new stuff pretty fast because it's about understanding more than diving deep and memorizing.

In May, I was let go without warning and without reason (not a downsizing, they had just hired half a dozen people and still had open reqs.) I've been on the job market since and still haven't had an offer.

While I continue the search, I've built and deployed some pet projects (nothing I can turn into a business) and gained a bit of experience in some new things like game dev (Godot, Unity ... even Play Date.) I'm double apping with Door Dash and Uber Eats to keep some cash flowing, but it's not tenable long term.

Maybe I just don't know what the market wants. I'm fluid and flexible, I can build systems that are long-term stable and maintainable, I can get to know that bespoke stack in short order. What should I be doing to land some work?

  👤 PaulHoule Accepted Answer ✓
In my time as a dev I'd have times where I spent literally three days unemployed, other times I got poached by a recruiter when I was working for someone else, and other times where a job hunt has taken between 3 months and a year.

I can't say there is just one strategy that's worked for me: sometimes a side project just gets me hired, sometimes it was about interviewing better, sometimes I have worked remote, other times I have looked for something in my town.

I took this guy's course years ago

https://job-interview-answers.com/

and found it changed the way I think about interviewing completely which for me as a schizotype used to be a huge barrier.

👤 norwayjose
That sucks. Almost 4 years ago I got hit by a layoff for the first time. When it happened I'd been in the industry 42 years. I spent 4 months on unemployment searching job sites and having mostly frustrating interactions with headhunters.

The thing I did which helped most was reaching out to my network as soon as it happened. I ended up with an offer and another company interested thanks to friends I'd worked with at previous jobs. If you've already notified friends, don't be shy about reminding them you're still out of work.