How are you dealing with the job market anxiety?

I'll let you in on the secret to finding a job. It's not about your skills really (maybe some), it's about who you know. If you're relying on only your skill to carry you through to finding a job, you're going to have a rough time. It's about who you know. You're looking for a job? Go to meetups, code and coffees, free tech seminars by companies etc. That's your job now. Connect with people on LinkedIn. There are very very few people that are good enough that someone will just hire them on their skills alone. Will you find the "perfect" job that you never want to leave and retire from? In all honesty, probably not, but that doesn't mean it won't lead to the next great opportunity.

1. Read this great "Surviving A Layoff" essay [1] and build a plan for yourself.

2. Take the time to level up on one or two foundational skills whose barriers to entry are combinations of tenacity and intelligence, or tech stacks that are very close to a foundational skill. Something like "Fart App Framework" is not a foundational skill because it becomes obsolete in a very short amount of time. Things like mathematics, statistics, hard sciences, cryptography, security, etc. will carry you through the rest of your career and create a moat.

3. Network, network, network.

4. Remind yourself that nothing lasts forever, that you're not in control of everything, that feelings of safety/security are merely feelings, and that the root of all suffering is attachment. If something's making you feel anxious or vulnerable, ask yourself why until you get to the bottom of it.

5. If you're consistently having negative thoughts, frame this experience in terms of gaining something (resilience, experience, wisdom) rather than losing something.

Good luck, and hang in there.

[1] https://oursoc.io/f/surviving-a-layoff

"How are you dealing?"

Short answer; not well.

Long answer; I'm currently stuck in a job with an employer that I hate, that is slowly destroying my love of the work, and I can't afford the time it would take to leave, upgrade my skills and get into a better situation.

For context, I am a versatile service tech for industrial machines. I have zero certifications in anything only because I never needed them before since I keep pretty good logs of stuff I work on in my spare time and that typically serves nicely as a portfolio. I'm in my mid-40's and realized I have hit the upper limits of what I can do without certifications and an upgraded skillset.

I'd love to move into the world of PLC programming and cybersecurity in an industrial setting. I've expressed this to my current employer, but it's clear they want me to stay where I am at, so I'm more or less on my own if I want to grow.

I have been quietly looking for a company that offers opportunities for this type of learning and makes an effort to invest in their people. Nothing that comes up are positions I qualify for since I lack said certifications.

I realize this is my fault, of course, and could have been avoided with different decisions in my youth...but now I am panicking because I'm having trouble seeing what my next move is and that is something I've never had to deal with. In the past, I've been blessed enough to interview well and prove my skills, generally landing a new job within two weeks of leaving the old. Now I can't even get recruiters to call me back, with their bars being set historically low.

I'm at the point where I'm open to night school (sacrificing pretty much all personal/family time I have left) but I have no idea what viable institutions are out there, and what's a diploma mill to be avoided.

If anyone works in SCADA, cybersecurity for industrial settimgs, PLC programming, etc, I am open to any direction you can provide. Lord knows I am not getting it from the folks I'm surrounded with in the industry.

I was laid off a month ago, been looking since then and the market is pretty brutal.

Very difficult to get even screening interviews, portfolios of public work seem to be ignored, and even if you manage to get a screening interview, which is rarely with the hiring manager, you'll probably just get a templated rejection email from a person you haven't even interacted with the next day.

How am I dealing with it? I'm still applying away, it's not like I have much choice. Being frugal and trying to stretch the money we have in the bank. In the meantime I'm working on open source[1] and making programming videos on YouTube[2].

[1]: https://github.com/LGUG2Z

[2]: https://youtube.com/@LGUG2Z

I don’t think it’s actually too hard to find a job right now unless your only acceptable offer comes from FAANG or adjacent.

Yea, making 250k might not be an option while the market is down, but once things pick back up, you’re free to look around again.

Where I live (Netherlands), we still have an insane shortage of qualified developers. Some of the vendors we work with are overloaded with work because all of their clients need their services in lieu of staff.

Yeah, I don’t make 150k anymore like I did in the US South, but that’s a different conversation.

The jobs are out there if you want to do honest work for a fair wage. The unicorn startups will have money again when the economy picks back up.

If you’re willing to take a pay cut* or a title cut, it’s still not a particularly tough market, even with what’s seemed like worse job postings and… stringent ATS requirements (at least in data-adjacent roles). Aside from that, I’ve worked on my network and reconnecting with folks, in case I need favors. I’m batting 1.000 on referrals-to-interviews, so I’ve been working to maximize that potential/reach.

* My thinking was to treat the lesser role as a contract role while looking for something at the level I wanted. Provide value, do good work, but continue to apply/talk to recruiters/interview.

The best way to avoid job market anxiety is when you already have a job. Build a finical safety net for yourself. Have a plan on how you'll pay all your bills if you lose your job. The "I'm slowly bleeding out" stress is very different than the "I don't know how I'm going to pay this bill" stress. The more time you buy yourself the more options you will have.

If you don't have a job, and you are actively searching, and feeling anxiety about not being able to find a job then you need low cost stress reduction options. I would advise exercise and meditation as all purpose anxiety relief.

I would advise actively coding and publishing the results as a way to gain confidence in your skills. Github, blog posts, app marketplaces, etc.

I would advise studying the history of the tech economy as another way of alleviating the anxiety. You weren't here for 2008, or 2000, or the previous tech crashes. These things are part of the business cycle around here.

I thankfully still have a job, but even I'm a bit nervous. I've got a baby on the way and if something were to happen to my job, I'd be in a tight spot financially. I'm doing a few things to help prepare:

1. I'm actively working on this side project of mine, and I'm considering giving a talk about it at an upcoming conference.

2. I'm trying to practice leetcode and system design. I say "trying" because I find it's an incredible waste of time, and I hate it. But I don't want to be caught by surprise in a leetcode-style interview.

3. I'm trying to stay in touch with people I know in the industry. I hate networking, but as long as I stay friendly with past colleagues then I'm good.

4. I've been refining my resume over and over again, trying to make it as polished as possible.

These things generally make me feel a bit more likely to land on my feet. I still suck at leetcode though :p

I wonder how much of the hiring pause has to do with AI - the expectation that it will be possible that it will be possible to do far more with less? Stock prices do not seem to indicate a significant down turn.

Edit: I found this which seems to indicate that companies anticipate a challenging macro environment. However this doesn't seem to be reflected in any stock price.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/tech-firms-wall-street-le...

Anxiety and hobbies. Leetcode grind while that happens.

I joined an european robotics startup a couple of years ago in a promising field. Things aren't looking well for the business, we've been through a couple of layoffs at this point, and I'm looking. Interesting jobs opportunities have decreased dramatically since last year and, in my field, most recruiters reach out about positions on other countries in Asia.

It's been tough. I'm not even that old, but I would like to settle down for once.

What is your stack? There are areas with more opportunities than others that may be worth considering a stack shift.

I have been in the market since 2006, and I have seen it go up and down; I've never been unemployed since, but I have close friends who run over one year without a job (In Brazil, we usually have financial crises here more often), at that time their option was to do freelancing for a while until they find another job.

I never felt "safe", having entered the market in 2006 and seeing very senior devs losing their jobs in 2008/2010; I founded a company in 2010 and run it up to this day as a side project (A SSAS for small business), of course, it takes time to build one of those (In my case it took over three years to get the first five customers, today we have more than 1k), and it is a counter sense to spend time building a business that will make you 2k UDS when in your work you can earn 5x that working on a company and having vocations. Still, it does pay off in times like this since I am not too worried if the marketing goes terribly; I can make a living with my side project.

I'm currently dealing with it by simply holding on to my job. In prior markets, I might have began seriously looking for another job after ~1.5 years, but not now. My job pays well and is flexible enough, mostly outweighing the negatives. If I lose that job, I have access to about a year's worth of expenses, and a little more than that if I sell tangible assets like my motorcycle, but I really hope I don't have to do that.

For the long term, I'm trying to figure out whether I need to retool my skills. I'm very tired of web development and the lack of craftsmanship in the field, and I think such jobs are going to be chronically in decline due to things like no-code and AI. Also, once there is enough of a collapse that only the most talented survive being laid off, those experts will clear the detritus and further reduce the need for "engineers" to play janitor with codebases. So if I still want to be a programmer, I think it's got to be in something else. Rust? Clojure? COBOL? Hardware development? Game dev? I don't know.

Short term: zero anxiety, I'm at top 5 (very optimistically) to 20% of software engineers and have good visible achievements, speaking, etc.

Mid term: this is where I have the most difficulty predicting. AI might get good enough to put most devs in 5 to 8 years. I give that 20% of chance but it's not 0. In that case only thing I could realistically do is management (lol), work in construction or gastronomy.

Long term: I don't plan to work more than 15 years. In 10 years I should have good enough finances to retire, and work for few years more to solidify it. I don't care and don't plan for black swan events.

I went through it at the beginning of the year. In the end, a cold inbound from a recruiter for a leadership position that I wasn’t right for led to her referring me to another recruiter with something that was perfect. The point? Work every angle and treat looking for a job as your full time job.

You only have to find one gig, so don’t get sucked into self-pity endlessly focusing on everyone who’s having trouble, when it happens, have something constructive to divert you.

If you’re going for remote work, expect that the whole process will take longer and the same rules won’t apply. The candidate pool is vast and you need to stand out. You need to apply early, when the position is posted.

Realize your resume is likely being parsed by software before it’s even screened by HR. If you can get your resume directly to a hiring manager, do that. Otherwise consider feeding your resume through various parsers to see how it looks to algorithms. Cover letters that are written to the exact specs of the job as posted can’t hurt.

Concerned, in a job right now but finding something new feels tough. I've been a bit professionally isolated so don't meet up with many other programmers or really talk to any in a professional capacity at the moment.

Also trying my hand at a masters which consumes more time.

Edit: I am occasionally applying for new things. My work skills are a bit out of date (still a perl dev) which has been a problem while looking for something new before which isn't great.

I suspect people with a good network are saying "yeah it's fine, getting offers, things have never been better", while those without a good network, who rely on going through the grind of the job application process, are saying things are terrible.

So have to bear that in mind when people tell you how well things are going.

1. Have a financial buffer if you can, the bigger the better, being able to wait it out is the ultimate protection, but increasing your runway by any amount increases your options and helps with the nerves.

2. Work on your network, talk to recruiters, peers in the industry, you can even do some interviews to practice. Not only might it help you if you need a new job, it gives you a taste of the actual situation, it might be better than expected or you know better what to prepare for and what you can work on.

3. Be open to freelance work and shorter projects.

4. Work on your skills, tune them to where the jobs are, build projects. Widen your skills with new topics/languages/frameworks/areas and get deeper expertise in your main area. Get your confidence back.

5. Start a company, but that is a lot more risky, and comes with a bunch of anxiety on it's own. It is also a lot of fun, I am enjoying it.

I think you need to do a good objective evaluation of your situation. Anxiety often comes from uncertainty, you might find it's not as bad as you fear it is, or you learn what you need to do. It sounds like you have a job, have experience, so you might be fine while just continuing to do what you do.

I work in the DC tech scene. People kind of overlook it, but it pays well and the job security is very high, thanks to the DOD and DHS budgets. I'm gratefully working on something that I'm not ethically concerned with (as I might be at DOD). I also got lucky and landed with a company that felt more like a startup for a long time, though recently is feeling a bit more corporate. There's no equity, so I'm not making $300+ TC, but I'm at the high end of most salary bands, and have good benefits and work-life balance. The worst part is that the work can be mind numbingly boring, and not challenging in any way, and you may not have much opportunity to learn from really smart people or work on really cutting edge tech. There is a lot of demand and need for talent though, so I don't find it difficult to exceed expectations either. Also personally love living in this area, but I realize that's highly subjective.

I grew up with a terrible anxiety about money. To combat it, I’ve spent my career living a lifestyle as if I made half the income that I do. As a result the job pool that would allow me to maintain my family’s current standard of living is considerably larger. It also means I feel less dependent on keeping my job and have years of runway savings.

The consequence is that unlike most of my peers, we only have one car, it’s not fancy, vacations are in-province, and we don’t spend on things teenaged me craved like a gaming PC or a Lego hobby. The kids want for nothing, though. I’m very thankful to have a partner who is deeply aligned on this philosophy.

I think there’s no “right” answer. I can hear people saying to should enjoy things while young. But I’d pay almost anything not to feel that anxiety ever again.

Personally I've seen quite a few of up and downs in my market (UK contracting), this might be a bit longer than usual, but not a permanent situation.

An encouraging sign I'm seeing is that there's more permanent positions advertising higher salaries than in the past (maybe just the +20% of inflation from march 2020, but still!).

The market will change again... software is still eating the world, there will be shortage of SKILLED developers for the foreseeable future. And even if I need to make 25% less of what I used to at the peak of pandemic hiring, it's not that bad really!

Not great!

I've been luckier than most in that I had a decent year, but the writing is on the wall for 2024 and I have never seen such a hostile job search environment.

There are barely any leadership roles available in the UK and it feels they're all looking for something very specific. All the layoffs are not helping as people with FAANG-style experience are seen as known quantities.

I'm keeping myself busy but I'm very worried about the future

A good friend of mine is searching as well. I'm anxious about the next year for sure. My friend recommended joining a support group, and I've now noticed many people who are out of work suggesting that. Even if you don't find something through that, it's a good place to get emotional support and realize you aren't alone, which to me is the hardest part.

I'm in a different industry sector (banking) vs probably most here. Spent ~20 years in investment banking doing acquisition financing. Left in late 2022 to do private loans to owners of pre-IPO companies (read: founders of tech companies). Was laid off as part of a corporate downsizing in May of this year.

I'll tell you it's extraordinarily challenging out there. I've probably sent upwards of 400 resumes for what looked like promising jobs on LinkedIn. I've gone through my entire network probably two times over, looking for leads to new jobs. I've gone to networking events as often as I can. I've even offered, during interviews, to take a step back career-wise just to get a job. And I'm still empty handed.

So, that adage of "6 months to get a new job?"... I'd suggest that if you're at risk for a layoff or in an industry with a lot of upheaval, I'd consider a buffer of 9-12 months.

It's largely about the specifics of your life circumstances. I'm in my mid-40s, so I've been through a lot at this point and there is no plausible near-term scenario short of all-out nuclear war where my life gets worse than it has been in the past. I've experienced levels of economic hardship well beyond anything I'm ever going to experience again and I ended up getting through it fine and here I am. Second, my wife is employed and also an engineer. Our finances are such that the family would be fine with only one of us working. We'd make less progress toward retirement goals, but we wouldn't lose the house or anything else. So that's an inherent safety margin that makes one person potentially losing a job not all that scary. There's also some level of perhaps just luck with timing, perhaps something bound to eventually happen as you get older, but we're not exactly living at the edge of our means here. I bought my house a long time ago and it's way cheaper than I could afford. Student loans are paid off by now. I don't even drive, so I'm not blowing a bunch on a car, and if I had to sell the car I have and go totally without, it wouldn't make much of a difference. I'd be fine making a lot less money than I currently make.

All in all, the net effect is nothing about my quality of life requires the economy or job market to be great. But for what it's worth, I'm not really all that worried about that, either. I'm specialized enough at this point that my company has great difficulty filling positions similar to mine. It's limiting in a way. I don't always love the specifics of this field but can't realistically hope to do anything different without starting at a much lower tier and sacrificing a lot of the autonomy and seniority I currently enjoy. But the upside is I'm probably fairly near last to go. My company doesn't need me specifically to have something to sell, but they need someone like me and there aren't a lot of them out there.

Won't help with a job specifically, but look into breathwork for anxiety. It might sound silly, but try it. Many exercises only take a few minutes.

e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tybOi4hjZFQ

It hasn't really changed that much in my view/area of interest.

SRE/Linux: recruiters are still reaching out weekly here

I've marked myself as "looking for work" on LinkedIn to get a taste. I'm trying to not jump in too early this time

Progression at my current company has stagnated. Management is a lot more stingy with promotions lately. It stinks because I’m the kind of person that gets excited about work even if it might seem boring to others, and without a path forward it’s pretty deflating. I’m not complaining though, at least I’m still employed.

So I’ve been spending my free time working on a project that’s turned into a startup idea. I found a cofounder and we intend to apply to YC. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll use it as resume material and start interviewing next year. I really wish I could quit my job now but I need the money.

Poorly. Got laid off in the end of May, haven't been interviewing very well because I'm not good at it. I struggled to get a few initially and the ones I got later I didn't get through because I didn't do well on them. 1-2 times I realy choked and got flustered. Some jobs were leetcode focused. Some jobs were Java focused. The latter I was able to navigate but not perfectly and I couldn't handle some of the questions. I'm honestly questioning my abilities at this point and doubting the career choice I made.

I ended up finding new work after a while but may not be able to hold it down for long.

At this point if the market is still garbage in preparing to resign and find something else to do with my life.

I agree with another commenter about reaching out to people directly. This is why I built TJ Alerts[0]. You can create an alert for a specific technology and will get notified every time a new job pops up.

Better yet, there is a search panel that would allow you to filter out all the jobs that have contact info, so that you can reach out directly.

Give it a try, would love to know what you think.

[0]: https://gettjalerts.com/

I wrote an easy apply bot that speeds up my applications ten fold by removing a bunch of the tedium.

I applied to like 500 jobs yesterday.

Haven't heard back from a single one but I'm going to spend the next 20 days and apply for 10,000 jobs to give the job market a fair shake before trying something else.

Feel free to use/submit P.R.s/help out.

https://github.com/0foo/easy_apply_bot

I just stopped working for other people/company, I only work for myself. Any kind of anxiety disappeared just after I learned how to survive by myself.

Paradoxically, Curiosity and Passion for Learning can work against you: - The time and effort put into continuously building tech skills has an opportunity cost on networking for jobs - many positions seek for narrow and deep expertise of specialists, so if you are driven to broad life-long learning, being a generalist can dilute and blur the specifics.

> my safety net has always been my skills and the ability to get another job whenever I want

You need to have an actual safety net. Like 1-2 years worth of living expenses. Especially if you're a man and/or if you can't easily live a few months with friends/parents, etc.

The best way to deal with job market anxiety is to:

1. Live well below your means 2. Own your property

How long have you been looking for this time?

Personally, it feels harder this time, and most of the recruiters I talk to say the market is weak right now. But I’ve been seriously looking for less than a month, so it’s normal for me to not have found anything yet. I just tell myself that I’ve got through this before.

I've tinkered up automation of hh. ru (out job market central platform) for job seeking. all I need to do to find a job is just launch a script and wait for interview invitations to manually schedule. finding new job takes 2 weeks max now.

I’ve dealt with it by never being just a developer.

IT infrastructure, cloud, cyber security, privacy and risk, customer success, QA, SRE.

Add a dash of doing stuff that not everyone else wants to do and that gets me or has kept me with a high paying job in IT.

What is your geography? US non-tech hubs still have plenty of openings (for lower pay)

Have found people are more tribal for the last six months, taking less referrals and sticking to community tips and accepting known quantities from friendship networks.

My wife was laid off and has been looking for a QA job for a few months now. The market is surprisingly tight. She found new jobs quite easily then.

Lexapro

trying to get into contracting and build my own book of business

no luck so far would appreciate any suggestions, with 4 yoe it appears only seniors are desired

sending 3 linkedin connection invites a day for lead gen purposes

I have been a professional programmer for 44 years and have NEVER had "job market anxiety". Why? Because I sincerely believe that there is zero correlation between the job market and my ability to find work.

I don't pay attention to what anyone says about the economy, the market, or anything else macro, especially on the internet. And I have gone through times that were much much worse than now.

I never worried about losing any job because I was certain I could find another. The longest I've ever been out of work was for a few weeks.

A few tips:

  - Have x months expenses in the bank. Take the pressure off.
  - Have multiple resumes ready to go, programmer, analyst, sys admin, manager, even data entry.
  - Stay in touch with your network. Not to get a job. Just to stay in touch.
  - Keep your skills fresh. Always have a side project.
  - Remember we're not in energy, education, or manufacturing. Their cycles are killers. Our in tech are not. Everyone else depends on us.
  - Fuck anxiety. We build stuff out of nothing. We're stronger than bad news.

heavy drinking, and the occasional IT cert

Pay for a therapist. They will help you to untie those thoughts.

Nothing said in HN will help you. It's mostly about processing emotions.

In the real world, it's not like you will not have what to eat. There are many jobs, even if the worst-case scenario exists, of you never finding a new job in tech, which is unlikely. You can adapt.

The thing is, if you only live in front of a display and use HN to help you process your emotions, even while making millions in FAANG, you'll still feel you are missing out on something.

Go outside, touch grass etc. And of course, get help from a professional, a therapist.

Copius amount of video games and youtube.

Also I still have a job.

You can always do call centre helpdesk OP. Everyone is replaceable.

I have very little anxiety because i'm not overpaid

I stopped chasing JavaScript jobs. I would rather be unemployed than go back to framework nonsense working with a bunch of emotional liars. I say emotional liars because most of these framework trend chasers put up a super confident front like sales people but most of them are extremely insecure and have no idea what they are doing. A true case study of Dunning-Kruger.

Now I only look at clearance required positions because that job market is still hot and many of the people doing that work have no delusions about who they are or what they are doing.

Idk, lots of folks have been talking about “downturns” but I’ve been in the industry for 8 years now and I’ve never had to look for more than 2-3 weeks to get a job—and that’s while I was already working so I’d imagine I could find one even faster if I dedicated all my time to it.

I’m not trying to be contrarian or suggest that other folks don’t struggle finding a job. I’m just offering an alternate viewpoint. Maybe it’s my skill set that’s in-demand? (Full-stack JavaScript; React, Node, plus a ton of other stuff like Elasticsearch, DevOps-ish skills)

I’ve got a semi-decent resume and my managers typically give me feedback that I’m quite charismatic and easy to work with. Perhaps that comes across in interviews as well?