Ask HN: Can't get hired – what's next?

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Salary Expectations and “Real Career” Definition

  • Central tension around OP’s target of $150k+ as minimum for a “real career.”
  • Some say $150k is high and rare outside major US tech hubs and top roles, and far above median household incomes.
  • Others argue $150k–$200k is mid-level for serious devs in places like Bay Area and certain US tech hubs.
  • Several commenters note OP’s framing (“barely survivable,” “boomer cope”) comes across as entitled and disconnected from broader economic reality.

Attitude and Soft Skills

  • Many point out OP’s tone (calling advice “boomer cope,” dismissing Midwest incomes, etc.) reads as arrogant, insufferable, and victim-minded.
  • Multiple people suggest this attitude may be a bigger obstacle than raw skills, especially for senior roles.
  • Advice: cultivate humility, detach self-worth from salary, accept market reality, and take “whatever decent job you can” as a reset.

Tech Screens, Leetcode, and AI Overuse

  • Consensus that failing tech screens is the immediate bottleneck.
  • Repeated recommendation: grind Leetcode / coding exercises daily, practice under pressure, and treat interviewing as its own skill.
  • Some warn that heavy reliance on LLMs may have atrophied OP’s hands-on coding ability and recommend going “cold turkey” for a while.

Market Conditions and Founder “Tax”

  • Several note the job market is genuinely bad, with long searches (6–12+ months) increasingly common.
  • Prior startup/founder experience can be a liability: seen as either overqualified or lacking “real” large-team/project experience.
  • Networking and referrals are repeatedly cited as the primary way around broken hiring funnels and HR filters.

Alternatives: Roles, Locations, and Fields

  • Suggestions: accept lower-level or lower-paid SWE roles, move out of high-COL hubs, look at non-“big tech” industries (healthcare, gov, data analytics, security), or contract/freelance work.
  • Some mention trades, retail, military, law, or bootstrapped businesses; others warn law and many non-tech paths won’t meet OP’s salary bar and can be even more brutal.

Mental Health and Perspective

  • Several detect burnout, anxiety, and identity tied to comp; recommend low-stress work or volunteering short-term to stabilize, then re-approach career decisions more calmly.