Laid off for the first time in my career, and twice in one year
Laid-off engineers describe a sharply deteriorated tech job market, where even mid- and senior-level developers face long, demoralizing searches despite years of experience. Commenters debate how to navigate this landscape: whether grinding LeetCode for Big Tech compensation is worth it, how much to rely on recruiters and networking, and how to optimize résumés for applicant tracking systems. Many conclude that building financial resilience, keeping career documents and skills continuously updated, and, for some, cultivating side businesses or niche expertise are becoming essential to cope with increasingly precarious employment.
Job market, layoffs, and macro context
- Many posters describe the current tech market as one of the worst in decades, worse than dot-com in some geographies, with far fewer recruiter contacts and slower hiring.
- Several argue massive capital misallocation and “bullshit jobs” in tech (management layers, overstaffed teams) are now being unwound.
- Others note workloads for remaining staff have increased, giving management cover to claim “efficiency gains.”
- News narratives about “massive engineering/AI shortages” are widely viewed as misleading, driven by lobbying for cheaper labor (H‑1B, offshoring) and hype.
Interviews, Leetcode, and hiring practices
- Strong dislike of Leetcode-style interviews; many senior devs avoid such companies, especially outside top-compensation roles.
- Some see Leetcode as testing conformity, determination, and willingness to grind more than real job skills.
- Others say DS&A knowledge remains useful and advise younger devs to practice Leetcode to access top-paying roles.
- IQ/cognitive tests are discussed: some big firms use them; legality and value are contested.
Recruiters, networking, and job search
- Experiences with recruiters are polarized: some got most jobs through them; others get spam, ghosting, or zero value.
- Networking and referrals are repeatedly emphasized as crucial, especially for bypassing Leetcode-heavy funnels and ATS noise.
- Several recommend always keeping options open, updating materials regularly, and viewing employer relationships as transactional, not loyal.
Resumes and ATS systems
- Many report ATS parsing issues with modern, multi-column or heavily formatted resumes, PDFs with ligatures, or designer tools.
- Simple, single‑column, text-heavy resumes (often LaTeX/Markdown → PDF) parse more reliably and yield more callbacks.
- Some think ATS “myths” are overblown; most failures are edge cases or user formatting errors, but others show concrete parsing mistakes.
Compensation, FAANG vs. niche companies
- One camp: only BigTech/FAANG‑adjacent reliably pay top of market; grinding Leetcode is rational if you want $200k–$400k+ trajectories.
- Counter‑camp: real “top money” can come from becoming uniquely valuable at smaller, stable, niche companies over many years, without Leetcode churn.
- Broad agreement that everyone is ultimately expendable, but some argue you can become “hard to replace” and negotiate accordingly.
Side businesses and career resilience
- Strong advocacy from some for learning sales/marketing and building side businesses or small consultancies as income insurance.
- Others push back that most apps/side ventures fail, margins get competed away, and time may be better spent on interview prep and traditional career moves.
- Work–life–family tradeoffs and sleep deprivation concerns surface around “hustle” advice.
Interview feedback and candidate treatment
- Many want honest rejection feedback; hiring managers counter that detailed feedback often triggers defensiveness, harassment, or legal risk.
- As a result, most companies stick to generic rejection messages despite candidates’ desire to improve.