Software engineers who lived through the dotcom and 2008 crisis: what was it like?
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It seems we are headed towards a similar recession. Especially for tech companies that enjoyed the most out of that free money being pumped into the market.
So I wanted to get a feeling of what it was like for engineers during that time. How many got fired? How many saw their TC tank? Did you have to move in back with your parents? How difficult was getting a job in the main tech hubs at the time?
#engineering #swe #crisis #hiringfreeze #earnings
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2008: just joined a company as an architect for a product that was going to launch around that time. I hated it initially, then 2008 happens and (again) gut stuck. Turned out ok as stuck around for more than 10 years with decent internal mobility.
Today: ok TC (pays the bills), still looking in the market but being picky. I feel I may get stuck again, but not bothered by it right now.
Note: I might not crawl the ranks like others, but always a top performer in what I do. Usually not the first to go, so usually around cleaning up the mess.
Same people who thought Pets.com was a laughable idea in 2000 and slashed its valuation to less than zero breathlessly invested in Chewyβs IPO in 2019.
Things are just fundamentally different now.
2008: nothing special
2008 - normal, many strong tech companies were founded after this time.
2022 - small pullback then rally again in my opinion. Everything will be integrated with Tech. Recession is a temporary thing. The future for Tech is still super bright π€