Guy gets laid off and takes 8 months to find a new SWE job

Apple / Eng
Lifesad

Go to company page Apple Eng

 Lifesad
May 4, 2020 36 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27C-TuJceeI

He has a MSCS from a good school (Cal Poly SLO) and an Amazon internship on his resume. Worked at Western Digital for 1.5 years then laid off. After that it took him 8 months to find a new job after countless rejections. He even had to use an interview prep program that costs around $5k just to help his chances.

I know luck plays a big deal but damn it is scary how hard SWE interviews have gotten. This was back in 2018/2019 when the market was still good too. Location is Bay Area

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 TOP 36 Comments
  • Google
    stoned*

    Go to company page Google

    stoned*
    He’s probably just an idiot. There are bound to be some. Got lucky with the internship.
    May 4, 2020 4
  • Amazon
    6ixbuzz

    Go to company page Amazon

    6ixbuzz
    If he worked at WD over amazon he probably didn’t get a return offer from his internship. Not saying his dumb but that shows his no genius.

    I’ve had friends that got laid off and had a job by the end of the month. In fact most people can get one within 4 months
    May 4, 2020 8
    • Apple / Eng
      Lifesad

      Go to company page Apple Eng

       Lifesad
      OP
      Yeah thats a bad situation to be in. If you get an internship offer from these companies, you are expected to return or get a new grad offer from a similar tier company.

      If you dont then companies that interview you may ask why you did not get a return offer and there is no real good answer for that i feel without making it seem like a red flag
      May 4, 2020
    • @Lifesad
      not true in some cases. Company i interned few years ago did not give me fulltime offer. There had been a lots of lay offs when i was there and thereafter their market shrinked significantly. I heard that they closed the site and most of my mentors, seniors and peers left for other companies. They had to rescind return offers to some interns and that is even terrible situation to be in.
      May 4, 2020
  • I read it first ‘guy gets laid and takes 8 months to find a new SWE job’
    May 4, 2020 0
  • Amazon
    now wut 😳

    Go to company page Amazon

    now wut 😳
    Not trying to be an a-hole, but in the vid he’s saying one of the mistake he made interviewing was jumping in coding too quick and not talking about his approach before doing any coding... isn’t that one of the most basic rookie interview mistake?
    May 4, 2020 2
    • Google
      tcboy

      Go to company page Google

      tcboy
      I don’t know if that is intuitively clear. It’s obvious to us who make it a point to treat interviewing like a game to master, which is why I think it’s weird that companies knock you for that. If you aren’t told to discuss your approach before doing it, why would you just assume you need to? Especially with how jittery it can be interviewing somewhere. I dont see how being previously aware of this expectation makes someone a better candidate.
      May 4, 2020
    • Apple / Eng
      Lifesad

      Go to company page Apple Eng

       Lifesad
      OP
      Agree with tcboy. Also some companies expect extreme speed and want an LC medium done in 15-20mins. How much discussing approach can you really do with such little time available? You basically have to jump right into the code within 5 minutes of getting the problem.

      What level of discussing before coding to companies expect?
      May 4, 2020
  • I would not be surprised, these days it’s always been hard to land a SWE job surprisingly. Forget that you need luck, skill and leetcode skills, to have a good enough shot to get hired, sometimes it’s not even that. There are different tiers of companies, where problems get solved at different levels. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, their first job wasn’t FAANG, they started small. Which in turn means they lack the necessary exposure to have the right skills for the next job. I personally have had to struggle at times, because despite doing well in all interviews, I get dinged small things like using aws instead of managing my own cluster, or not having worked with services that have millions of requests every minute. Of course as a hiring manager, you’d want to hire a person with the right skills, but for a lot of people, this becomes a barrier for even acquiring those skills. That being said, 8 months makes it seem that either he was too picky or he was being extra terrible at everything. 4-6 months is the max I’d say it takes even with the worst luck.
    May 4, 2020 4
    • Apple / Eng
      Lifesad

      Go to company page Apple Eng

       Lifesad
      OP
      I see. Do they ask you those intricate details about specific technologies even if you havent worked with them and didnt put them on your resume? Or are you just expected to know them either way

      Feels like the cost of being at bad companies to start is very high and tough to overcome
      May 4, 2020
    • I mean once you’re a few years experienced, there’s a general expectation about certain things. And I won’t lie, starting your career in FAANG or a more technically involved startup does have its benefits.
      May 4, 2020