Finding a Tech Job Is Still a Nightmare
Finding a Tech Job Is Still a Nightmare
Tech companies have laid off more than 400,000 people in the last two years. Competition for the jobs that remain is getting more and more desperate.
Basile says he’s also spent his free time studying AI tools, and he keeps tweaking his resume, cutting it from 10 pages to two, then beefing it up to 24.
Maybe he should start by dropping that tome of a resume.
1 page (niche industries maybe 2). If you can't get your point across in 1 page then that's a huge red flag....24 pages? When I was in HR I wouldn't have even read that resume, I'm amazed he's gotten a single interview with that let alone 60.
2 pages is fine, most resumes I see is two pages, especially if you have 10+ years of relevant experience to cover
It seems that he has not even taken the time to understand the basics of how to find a job with a 10 page resume.. let alone 24.
Yeah, there's no way anything over a couple pages is going anywhere but the trash. No one is going to want to spend the time figuring out how he's inflating his resume.
My field has quite a bit more educational and licensing requirements than most tech jobs, and I've been practicing for nearly two decades...... I still don't think I could make a 24 page long resume.
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It's the 'war and peace' of resumes
We need to unionize, or the existing Tech/Communications unions need to get better and expand to include us.
We also need to force tech departments to stop offshoring their workers, I love our Indian tech Bros as much as the next guy, but companies need to hire local first rather than ripping off Indian tech Bros on the cheap just because they can.
And lastly, let remote workers who can do their jobs perfectly fine working remote stay remote, there is absolutely no reason why someone who works in cloud or virtualization technologies should have to be onsite, same with developers, same with so many other positions, both tech and standard.
The visa rules make it too easy for employers to take advantage of foreign workers. 30 days to find a new job isn't enough, IMO, so they have to put up with a lot more than they should.
He estimates he’s had about three interviews a day
Bullllllshit. Three introductory calls with recruiters per day, maybe, but not interviews.
'tech job' is a very broad term
Project manager is not a tech job.
If you're a project manager in IT, and you don't have a technical background, you can fuck right off.
It's absolutely a tech job if it's being done right.
"okay and our client specifically said make it pop. James can you do that for us by end of day?"
100%. My company is suffering from this so bad. Also bad are the overly ambitious managers in tech. These guys are simply dangerous and will cut the talent out of a BU just to save 10% and get that promotion.
Say you don’t work in tech without saying you don’t work in tech.
I’m a dev. Love them or hate them, PMs are vital to success of projects.
Of the 30-50 PMs I've worked with in my career, I've had 2 actively contribute to the success of my team's work. I've had a handful scuttle projects because they couldn't manage the clients, the rest just kind of hung out and collected a massive paycheck.
The highest performing teams I've been on had the lead developer play that role.
The role is vital, the PM it's self is not.
I’ve worked in tech for 20 years and can count the number of Project Managers I’ve met on one hand. It varies a lot depending on the company.
Do you mean product manager or project manager? The two are not synonymous.
It's not a technical job, but it is (not exclusively) a job in the technical sector.
The labor force just gained tens of thousands of America's most talented engineers, and as you pointed out, they likely have the funds to choose their next job carefully. I'm optimistic about what they will do!
Big Tech companies, like Meta, Google, and Amazon, have cut tens of thousands of jobs in recent months. Hiring freezes at many firms have followed. Meta recently rehired dozens of the people it laid off beginning last November—a drop in the bucket compared to the 11,000 people it let go last fall—and then completed more layoffs in its metaverse-focused Reality Labs division.
Large companies are a different breed. I can't imagine working for an org that expands and contracts by the tens of thousands. The fuck do you even do with that many people?
In the past month, he estimates he’s had about three interviews a day and gotten close to a role in a few companies, but he hasn’t been picked yet.
Scheduling 3 interviews a day and not getting an offer sure seems like something.
He’s doing something wrong or doesn’t have the right background. He may be padding his resume for all we know. I’m not buying the narrative.
I'm just thinking of going back to school, I graduated with an assosites and I feel like the same place I was with my high school diploma
I graduated with an assosites
I’m just thinking of going back to school
Good idea. 😏
Go if you like but set your expectations. I might suggest something like informatics or information science because that usually has a project management and user experience side to it that is useful in any industry.
Times like this I am glad I went into infrastructure/factory automation. The highs are nowhere as high but the lows are nowhere as low.
Explain more?
Sounds like they design/build/maintain stuff like factory assembly lines. They won't become an overnight millionaire doing it (like some software whiz) but they also won't go hungry when the economy is rough.
About 30% of my customers are governments. Sewage, garbage, traffic lights, recycling centers, incinerators etc. These are big contracts with complex requirements. Governments just go into debt when they have recessions. And the field as a whole moves at a glacial pace.
The other 70% is private sector. Big projects that can easily go on past the year mark just in construction alone. You can't be fickle with this stuff. Had a bad business quarter? Sorry, not my problem, here is the bill and your million dollar metal stamping process.
In the beginning of my career I was in more of a pure software setting. Constant turn over. Don't miss it at all.
In my experience, good candidates (including interns/juniors) are still landing the roles. Hiring in tech/design/product is tough because there's a deluge of applicants who've either coasted during the boom, or been sold a lie by an educational institution.
You can spot the ones who apply for 40 jobs a week, and those who've used chatGPT a mile off, and they're usually the worst candidates, with long, bland, unfocused resumes.
LinkedIn is full of my worst ex-colleagues bemoaning the lack of opportunities, like they're entitled to it.
Please tell me if I'm being unfair. Maybe I should be less cynical.
You are being unfair. I have been searching for 6+ months for a position in IT, had 2 companies that paid $40k+/yr, 1st one didn't pan out, 2nd one is in progress. Countless $15-20k/yr offers though. I am in Europe looking for remote only positions in any form of tech support, python programming but preferrably linux server/desktop support. I don't use AI, all applications are written by me. My CV is 2 pages, modern theme. 10 years experience.
I’ve been saying for years that the market is saturated with too many people with too many expectations. Universities are out of touch with the actual job market and need to stop recruiting so many people into CS or engineering programs.
You're right in my experience, I graduated highschool in 2016 and I remember how hard they pushed comp sci as some sort of magic success bullet. I thought I was terrible at math and kids who I knew weren't much better were choosing it as a major. I genuinely think in 10 years we're going to find out guidance councilers were being paid kick backs by colleges à la the pharma industry.
My old company laid us all off and stole our 401ks. Bitwise Industries.
Cry me a river. You guys work from home, get all your meals expensed, and make $200k+
Tech industry has been due for a correction for a long time.
Edit: your tears of rage sustain and vitalize me
This just plain isn't true for the vast majority of engineers. And exceptions occur in any industry. Focus your anger on billionaires and companies rather than your peers.
Damn I get free meals? Those fuckers owe me a fortune for the last 20 years. Not to mention all the quarters I dropped on shitty office coffee.
Woo boy, if you're angry about that, wait until you hear about their owners.
Oh don't even get me started
The correction ought to be aimed at these ridiculous monopolized firms. The labour force just gained tens of thousands of America's most talented engineers, and as you pointed out, they likely have the funds to choose their next job carefully. I'm optimistic about what they will do!
lol you called it out and all the entitled people had a cry cry