Layoffs may not be mounting, but it’s getting harder to find a job in a labor market where hiring is “anemic” as tariff-driven economic uncertainty has put a chill on some employers.
I’m going to become homeless before I get an interview. I have ten years experience. I’m trying to keep my head held high and do self training. Even posting my Udemy certs on LinkedIn (I know they’re worth less than toilet paper).
20 years of experience and a degree and “Udemy” certs here. Took me 6 months and 250ish applications to find a crappy job in my field.
If you’re a developer, this isn’t the right time to be getting a job. I haven’t made this little since 2012. You’re better off finding a different path.
I am. The company I work for was recently bought. I’d been there 8 years so I got a couple of months they’re still keeping me on.
But the guy that had 1 idea 30+ years ago got $30,000,000 for all the risk he assumed in hiring other devs with money he already had to build his idea.
I hear you buddy. How many applications are you putting in per day? It sucks, I know, but you should be doing like 20 a day. Are you using the other sites like dice, indeed? Is there a specific technology that you have been using primarily for the last 10 years?
I was putting in about a dozen per day on LinkedIn and was getting nowhere. Then after a few weeks there weren’t a dozen places left to apply at. So now I do that about twice a week and look up posts created in a week’s time.
My main skills over the last 10 years have been HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and the React framework. I just got done cramming Python so I can learn Flask.
Dice and Indeed have traditionally only gotten me third party recruiters and that never ends well or is profitable.
Yeah, I stay away from recruiters these days. They seem to have one thing for me and if I don’t get it than they never consider me again. That’s not how recruiters are supposed to work lol.
Do you have a portfolio or GitHub with some work on it? I ended up having to put a bunch of random crap on GitHub. I don’t think anybody looks at it they just want to see something there.
Also, how is your resume looking? Have you gotten feedback on it? I recall there being a Reddit community specifically for resume help. And whenever you can, you should send a—cover letter—I just threw up a little. It all feels like such a waste of time…
Most of the places I interviewed with are looking to go full serverless, so that’s less interest in Flask—but I still saw a fair amount of Python gigs.
I got shot down a ton because my background isn’t really in serverless stuff. Sure I can do it, but it’s not what my work experience shows. I ended up just putting AWS, and all those others, on my resume even though I’ve not actually worked with it in production.
Right now I’m with a company who is using SvelteKit on Cloudflare, and it’s lovely. However, the Svelte market is really small and I’m not sure how well that will help me if this company fails.
Pretty sure trade unions don’t require everyone to work at the same shop. I paid union dues when I worked doing screen printing in a shop that was me, another dude, and the owner who did all the design. That was the entire business and we were still part of the local painters trade union.
Amazon developers get treated like shit, and I work for a local place where I am not. Amazons wanna strike—do I have to? Fuck that. Fuck anyone who works for Amazon.
What’s the actual benefit for ME? Higher wages? Doubtful—my place can’t afford Amazon rates.
Come on bud, sell me on how a trade union is gonna help all software developers, and not just those at abusive companies like Amazon, google, etc. I’m not anti-union at all, but I very much doubt it would work for my industry.
I know it sucks to take on something that either seems beneath you or will be contributing to preventing you from getting a job in your field but have you considered things like call center work? It absolutely sucks but it’s work and they accept almost anybody. Bonus is a lot of call center jobs are remote.
Another option I am nervous to suggest but has been helpful to me is gig work through something like DataAnnotation or Babel? They are both companies that work in the domain of training existing AIs to be smarter and give better answers. The pay isn’t top tier but its pretty okay for people with a background in programming (I think the programming work makes between $30 and $40 an hour, not great but not awful). I feel gross contributing to killing the jobs I could otherwise have but I try to remind myself that AI is still overrated for what it can actually do and that AI does have some beneficial aspects which are weighed down by a corporate class who only want to use it as a way to cut human workers out of the picture. I can also attest to these actually being real and having gotten paid for the work I did.
dataannotation.tech
babel.audio
I hope this at least helps you get some meager income to stay off the streets my friend. I know they aren’t the best options but sometimes that is the nature of life. If nothing else it gives you a foothold to get better/more valuable certifications.
Edit: also for anyone looking for work in Washington state try Ecology Litter Corps through the Washington Department of Ecology. Pays decent and you help make the state look nice by picking up trash.
I could be wrong about the pay, of course, I don’t have enough programming knowledge to apply for that. Mercor seems like another good option though for people looking for something like that. Thanks for including the suggestion for others here! I have added it to my original comment.
Web Development and UI/UX Design. In practice a React Developer that used Figma for planning. Basically I would draw the site, then build all the visual elements, implement all the behaviors, and then hook it up to a backend built by someone else. I’m cramming Udemy courses to become a Full Stack Web Developer.
I’m going to become homeless before I get an interview. I have ten years experience. I’m trying to keep my head held high and do self training. Even posting my Udemy certs on LinkedIn (I know they’re worth less than toilet paper).
No one cares.
20 years experience. 58 years old laid off by a thinly veiled pac masquerading as a no. Profit
Can’t even get a damn interview. It’s been two years. I’ve quit looking for work and just started teaching guitar.
I will never make good money again.
Lucky for me I can’t play guitar either. The only passion I got is Aztec history and I’m not qualified to teach anyone.
What technologies did you work with?
20 years of experience and a degree and “Udemy” certs here. Took me 6 months and 250ish applications to find a crappy job in my field.
If you’re a developer, this isn’t the right time to be getting a job. I haven’t made this little since 2012. You’re better off finding a different path.
I am. The company I work for was recently bought. I’d been there 8 years so I got a couple of months they’re still keeping me on.
But the guy that had 1 idea 30+ years ago got $30,000,000 for all the risk he assumed in hiring other devs with money he already had to build his idea.
I don’t have any other options that don’t involve unskilled labor. I’m also not a young man anymore.
I hear you buddy. How many applications are you putting in per day? It sucks, I know, but you should be doing like 20 a day. Are you using the other sites like dice, indeed? Is there a specific technology that you have been using primarily for the last 10 years?
I was putting in about a dozen per day on LinkedIn and was getting nowhere. Then after a few weeks there weren’t a dozen places left to apply at. So now I do that about twice a week and look up posts created in a week’s time.
My main skills over the last 10 years have been HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and the React framework. I just got done cramming Python so I can learn Flask.
Dice and Indeed have traditionally only gotten me third party recruiters and that never ends well or is profitable.
Yeah, I stay away from recruiters these days. They seem to have one thing for me and if I don’t get it than they never consider me again. That’s not how recruiters are supposed to work lol.
Do you have a portfolio or GitHub with some work on it? I ended up having to put a bunch of random crap on GitHub. I don’t think anybody looks at it they just want to see something there.
Also, how is your resume looking? Have you gotten feedback on it? I recall there being a Reddit community specifically for resume help. And whenever you can, you should send a—cover letter—I just threw up a little. It all feels like such a waste of time…
Most of the places I interviewed with are looking to go full serverless, so that’s less interest in Flask—but I still saw a fair amount of Python gigs.
I got shot down a ton because my background isn’t really in serverless stuff. Sure I can do it, but it’s not what my work experience shows. I ended up just putting AWS, and all those others, on my resume even though I’ve not actually worked with it in production.
Right now I’m with a company who is using SvelteKit on Cloudflare, and it’s lovely. However, the Svelte market is really small and I’m not sure how well that will help me if this company fails.
I’m actually aiming for AWS certs so hopefully my stack will be applicable.
If you’re a developer and finally have a job you need to work on pushing what the industry has always needed. Start pushing to start a union.
Impossible with how developer jobs work outside of major corporations. I’m not saying I wouldn’t want it, but it’s wildly unrealistic.
Pretty sure trade unions don’t require everyone to work at the same shop. I paid union dues when I worked doing screen printing in a shop that was me, another dude, and the owner who did all the design. That was the entire business and we were still part of the local painters trade union.
That’s not what I mean.
So how would this work? Like SAG?
Amazon developers get treated like shit, and I work for a local place where I am not. Amazons wanna strike—do I have to? Fuck that. Fuck anyone who works for Amazon.
What’s the actual benefit for ME? Higher wages? Doubtful—my place can’t afford Amazon rates.
The anti-union propaganda is so deeply ingrained in you that you didn’t even pause when you typed they out.
Come on bud, sell me on how a trade union is gonna help all software developers, and not just those at abusive companies like Amazon, google, etc. I’m not anti-union at all, but I very much doubt it would work for my industry.
Found the ML, all insults and no solutions.
I know it sucks to take on something that either seems beneath you or will be contributing to preventing you from getting a job in your field but have you considered things like call center work? It absolutely sucks but it’s work and they accept almost anybody. Bonus is a lot of call center jobs are remote.
Another option I am nervous to suggest but has been helpful to me is gig work through something like DataAnnotation or Babel? They are both companies that work in the domain of training existing AIs to be smarter and give better answers. The pay isn’t top tier but its pretty okay for people with a background in programming (I think the programming work makes between $30 and $40 an hour, not great but not awful). I feel gross contributing to killing the jobs I could otherwise have but I try to remind myself that AI is still overrated for what it can actually do and that AI does have some beneficial aspects which are weighed down by a corporate class who only want to use it as a way to cut human workers out of the picture. I can also attest to these actually being real and having gotten paid for the work I did.
dataannotation.tech
babel.audio
I hope this at least helps you get some meager income to stay off the streets my friend. I know they aren’t the best options but sometimes that is the nature of life. If nothing else it gives you a foothold to get better/more valuable certifications.
Edit: also for anyone looking for work in Washington state try Ecology Litter Corps through the Washington Department of Ecology. Pays decent and you help make the state look nice by picking up trash.
https://ecology.wa.gov/waste-toxics/solid-waste-litter/litter/ecology-youth-corps
EDIT II: @fayaz@lemmy.world suggests Mercor and says they have better rates than DataAnnotation: https://mercor.com/
I’ve been working for Mercor for the past 3 months. I think their rates are far better than what you mentioned.
I could be wrong about the pay, of course, I don’t have enough programming knowledge to apply for that. Mercor seems like another good option though for people looking for something like that. Thanks for including the suggestion for others here! I have added it to my original comment.
https://mercor.com/
If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your field?
Web Development and UI/UX Design. In practice a React Developer that used Figma for planning. Basically I would draw the site, then build all the visual elements, implement all the behaviors, and then hook it up to a backend built by someone else. I’m cramming Udemy courses to become a Full Stack Web Developer.