Why is it so hard to find a job despite low unemployment?

Re:Why is it so hard to find a job despite low unemployment? by tracker1 on Sunday February 04, 2024 @02:40AM (#39248404)

I'm looking right now with 20+ years of experience and recent with .Net/C# through v6 and React v16.

That said I'm trying to stay less than a 15% pay cut. There are jobs... And I'm about to go ahead and take the 25% pay cut a lot of the jobs are at.

But it still sucks. I'm applying and seeing literally over a hundred others have applied to most things.

I'm also so sick of boilerplate rejection emails. If I haven't spoken to a human, I'd rather not get any email at this point.

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Re:Why is it so hard to find a job despite low unemployment? by musicale on Sunday February 04, 2024 @03:09AM (#39248517)

It's probably easier to lay off people (and hire cheaper replacements if needed) than to cut their pay. The tech industry seems to have decided to do this.

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Re:Why is it so hard to find a job despite low unemployment? by gymbeaux on Monday February 05, 2024 @12:39AM (#39257730)

10 YOE with C# and React being the bulk of it. My company canned most of the IT department/engineers in August after getting hacked a bunch the last couple of years. I haven’t seriously started looking until January, but wow.

I posted on that “who’s looking?” thread here on HN I’d say a month or so ago, had one guy reach out for a job working with WPF. I’m guessing if that weren’t enough to turn me off, the pay would’ve been.

I will say the best-paying SWE jobs are never going to be with C#.

I pulled out with one company before getting a final offer, but they said it’d be around $130-140k and it’s mundane C#/React/MSSQL which I’m actually trying to get away from. I don’t know if it’s still the case today, but 2 years ago there were many companies who’d hire you despite having 0 experience with their language (usually something newer like Go).

I’ll just keep on with house projects and reading and relaxing for a while longer. It’s been 5 months and I still don’t need the money. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up taking a pay cut.

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Re:Why is it so hard to find a job despite low unemployment? by tracker1 on Monday February 05, 2024 @11:25PM (#39270788)

I'd like to take more time, but medical bills, home and car repairs are into things a lot. Think I may have found a job today, starting in a few weeks though. It's been a rough 5 weeks though.

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Re:Why is it so hard to find a job despite low unemployment? by gymbeaux on Tuesday February 06, 2024 @11:41AM (#39276549)

Many people I know, despite commanding six-figure salaries, are not able to really take a hiatus from work. Imagine if you had kids. If we were in just about any other first-world country, there would be a safety net for the unemployed. The system we have now is not a safety net- it's designed to be as difficult to apply for as possible, and in states like Florida, unemployment is $275/week, capped at around $3k. $275/week doesn't even pay my mortgage.

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Re:Why is it so hard to find a job despite low unemployment? by tracker1 on Tuesday February 06, 2024 @12:19PM (#39277213)

Fair enough on that... My youngest is 21 now. I tend to go on full burn a lot of the time. I've only hit a burn out twice in 28 years though, so not too bad.

The last time,.I started taking regular vacations. The COVID period limited that a lot. I like road trips, but given I was advised by my doctor and medical issues to not vaccinate at that matter it pretty difficult.

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