Ask HN: Just lost my job, where to go from here?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24617522

by smithmayowa • 6 years ago

27 29 6 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

So guys I just lost my job and was wondering where to go from here.

Edit: I was a software developer.

jessehorne• 6 years ago

What do you do? What's your financial situation like? In the immediate, perhaps pour some tea and turn on some relaxing music. Look out the window and relax. Then in an hour or so, get back out there and find something better.

smithmayowa3• 6 years ago

Was a software developer. Thanks will do that.

toomuchtodo• 6 years ago

Don't forget to apply for unemployment before starting your job search.

shams93• 6 years ago

There don't seem to be anymore jobs in general but what I found was freelance work but no healthcare benefits no sick time etc... but at least its remote. The jobs that are out there are in things like warehouse unloading, non-skilled labor minimum wage. This is likely why you see the rise in riots after the cut off of the $600 a week, on California EDD there's often a 3 month waiting period now before benefits kick in, I was forced to spend every last penny of my savings. They also have not extended the time period you can get unemployment, many people who lost their jobs in March are not losing their benefits and in California that means about $45 a month in "welfare."

me551ah• 6 years ago

It depends on your current financial situation. If you aren't in desperate need for a job then I would suggest taking a month or two off and unwinding. Pandemic has made the job market tough as it is, and I'm sure you would be stressed out from losing your job.

technological• 6 years ago

Hey i know it is very hard time for you , but don't worry if you had job earlier you would definitely get one again , do not think you cannot. Spend sometime with loved ones see what you want to do next then reach out to people you know (Network) and apply again. All the best

klenwell• 6 years ago

Saw this graph last week on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ernietedeschi/status/1309231458876260355

For skilled workers, perhaps especially software developers, the job market may not be as dire as it looks more generally.

Good luck with your job search.

luxurytent• 6 years ago

You're a software developer so in all honesty, I think you'll do well in finding a new job. I recommend the following:

Breathe, and take some time to figure yourself out. If you can afford it, a couple weeks or more of relaxing, adjusting your resume a bit before beginning to apply will be good.

When you're ready to dive back in:

- Prepare your story. What makes you stand out? Understand how to sell yourself and know your worth

- Skill up where impactful: Dedicate time each day to practice coding (leetcode), writing (tinker with technology and write a blog post, even if you don't publish it), and telling your story (practice interview questions and ensure you're confident in answering them)

- Start interviewing. I recommend managing 2-4 interviews a week so that you don't overwhelm yourself and you can give more focus to each company. Some people like to min/max the hell out of this so you may prefer that approach. Your call

- Don't jump the gun on the first offer unless you really need to. Try to see what's available and find a job you'll thrive in.

And remember, you are still a software developer (not was) :)

tharne• 6 years ago

And remember, you are still a software developer (not was) :)

This is by far the most important piece of advice. You need to maintain a strong mindset and you can't do this if you're tying your identity to a current or former job.

You're just as talented and skilled at software engineering as you were before. Absolutely nothing about you has changed, you're just looking for a new job is all.

_benj• 6 years ago

Breathe, and take some time to figure yourself out. This! I lost my job a few months ago and the knee-jerk reaction was to just get a job ASAP (no income next Friday!? PANIC!)

But we seldom make good decision in such state. Look at your career, and what you enjoy out of it, what kind of company/project/team you'd like to be part of AND what kind of company/project/team you wouldn't like to be part of.

As a software developer we sometimes can afford the luxury of choice, so don't let it go to waste. And when you are ready, tons of luck and enjoy the ride!

AnimalMuppet• 6 years ago

Take a day to grieve. If you need, take a week.

Then put that behind you. Start looking for a new job with no emotional baggage from what just happened.

jgwil2• 6 years ago

Good article/discussion on what to do from a week ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24534685

larrik3• 6 years ago

As someone trying to hire software developers, we've been having a harder time than ever finding good devs.

So, don't panic. You'll probably be able to find something very soon.

ChuckNorris892• 6 years ago

good devs

The problem I saw while looking for a job is that every company has a wildly different opinion of what a good dev is to them and it's easy to end up hating yourself after many rejections even though you know and proved you can produce quality work as long as you're paid fairly.

For the most companies in my area(EU), "we can't find good devs" was an abbreviation for "there are good devs on the market but we're not willing to offer them an attractive enough pay bump to make them jump ship to us and we're also not willing to invest in training juniors to become good devs so we'll just keep complaining about this made up shortage and leave the position open until we find a sucker and so, $GOVERNMENT_BODY, please make immigration easier, K THX"

smithmayowa3• 6 years ago

I’m a python developer by the way, sorry shameful advertisement I know.

ChuckNorris892• 6 years ago

No need to apologize, good luck mate and stay strong, you'll find something nice soon.

larrik3• 6 years ago

Where are you based?

andrei512• 6 years ago

Have you considered freelancing? You can probably use your existing skills to get your first projects.

nikivi• 6 years ago

I made a list for situations like this:

https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/find-work

kodyo• 6 years ago

I've been laid off a couple of times in my career for reasons I couldn't control. Anger, fear, anxiety, then relief and hope. It's always resulted in growth and more wisdom. This is life. Let yourself feel all the things. If you loved your old job, then you know what you're looking for. Otherwise, I'm sorry if it sounds glib, but this is an opportunity.

You're a dev. Developing is sorcery. Sorcerers are badasses.

nknealk• 6 years ago

As someone currently looking for the next step in my career, I can say that the job market right now for skilled labor is much better than it was even 1-2 months ago (at least anecdotally). From June - August I wasn’t getting anyone contacting me, but in September I’ve already had 2 interviews. It looks like the initial uncertainty around the pandemic has passed and companies are opening up their budgets again.

I wish you best of lucking in whatever your next step might be.

leonardoeloy• 6 years ago

If you have dependents, DO NOT listen to "hang tight and figure out your life" kind of advices; your dependents comes first, you no longer own your life.

1. Reach out to friends in the industry and former colleagues 2. Meanwhile, apply to jobs in LinkedIn (this is for FAANGs) 3. Stack Overflow has a good job board 4. Look for almost-FAANG tech companies, such as NVIDIA, HP, Dell, etc. 5. Consider moving -- Denver, Boise, Austin, etc. Industry is booming in these cities.

vmbrasseur• 6 years ago

I'm not a guy, but I'll provide some tips anyway…

Tip 1: Don't freak. There are tons of dev jobs out there still despite the pandemic.

Tip 2: Take care of yourself. Job hunts are emotionally draining.

Tip 3: Watch this 4-hour workshop (split into 1-hour chunks) from OSCON last year. It's "Care & Feeding of a Healthy Job Hunt". It's a hiring manager (me) providing info on how to update your resume, write a cover letter, apply, interview, negotiate, etc. It's entirely free on Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/oscon2019-jobhunt

tarxvf• 6 years ago

The slide deck with notes: excellent! Thank you, very much!

sleepysysadmin• 6 years ago

Look no further! I have what you need. https://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Goat-Farm

lcall• 6 years ago

You might try https://www.latterdaysaintjobs.org/ers/ct/?lang=eng . I believe membership is not required. If you do, I'm interested in how it goes (email available via my contact info in listed web site footer). Edit: they have a bunch of free services; probably everything there is free, including some materials on starting a business, if memory serves.

ps: I have also collected a list of possible freelance job sites, but you might find some interesting content (and more current, w/ useful comments from others) by searching HN for things like remote, freelance, hiring, etc.

pps: for future/generality: avoiding debt and having 3-6 months of emergency savings, etc., not burning bridges, being honest and treating others the way one would want to be treated, go a very long way for times like this. I'm studying Rust; hoping that will be useful in my future also.

All the best outcomes to you!

thecolorblue• 6 years ago

There is a lot of good advice here but I wanted to add my 2 cents:

- understand where you are at financially. If you can make some easy cuts to improve your situation, then cut back where you can. Understand how long you can go without work. This will change what kind of work you should look for. If you are looking for anything that pays, there is plenty out there. If you are looking for something that will keep you busy for 5 years then you will need more time. Also, keep in mind, unemployment is not going to start coming in right away. It could be 10 weeks before you get an unemployment check. Just keep filing and assume some time they will get back to you.

- Right now, there are two types of companies: companies that are doing well and not doing well. Do not spend time looking for companies that are not doing well. If your usual social network is filled with companies that are not hiring you should search other places. The companies in your local area might be struggling. There are definitely companies that are hiring, they are just not great at getting the word out.

Relax. Find a cheap hobby. Stay healthy, presentable, and hungry and opportunity will reveal itself.

Ask HN: Just lost my job, where to go from here?

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