Job market is multi sided
The job market is in a weird place in the Silicon Valley Anything to do with AI/NLP is red hot on all sides - SW, services (cloud esp) and even silicon. Full stack is somewhere in the middle. It's quite cold for all other roles - generalist SW, HW system integration etc To top that - employers who are not quite Tier 1 or even Tier 2 are skeptical (justifiably so) of ex- Tier 1 employees even if there's a skills match for they feel that will bail the first chance they get as they cannot meet their previous TC and are using this place only as a stop gap
Thank you for explaining demand and supply
Said like a well trained LLM.
What about DS role?
DS is not supply constrained at the moment Most DS folks I have interacted with do not have a CS degree and have come to that field from other specialities in the last 5-6 years
Yeah DS are mostly non CS people. If you have a solid CS background, you should not be a DS, but go into engineering and research roles.
T1 employees are known to bail while already at T1 companies with T1 pay. Hiring top tech talent with anything less than a top pay is begging to have that same position open in 12 months. Enormous waste of company resources to hire anyone like that. Employees did this to themselves by TC chasing. Not saying corporations are worthy of our trust, but it’s a two-way street, and tech employees have benefited greatly by leaving every 12-18 months. Now that lack of loyalty is baked into T1 employees.
So basically what you're saying is only hire people who allow themselves to be exploited? If someone voluntarily leaves in 12 months, it's 100% the employer's fault. They didn't create the right environment or didn't pay enough. And if money is so tight, just hire outside the US and live with the inconvenience. You want to compete with the big boys and hire in HCoL US cities, but you're balking at the true price of doing so. Companies that do this are like the people who go to Gstaad and complain that a donut costs 15 dollars. Don't go there then, it's not for you.
Companies will continue to hire who they can afford and what the business model can tolerate. Not every company or industry can have NVDA, Meta or AAPL post expense margins. That does not mean you can bar them from.operating in VHCOL regions
Are you looking at junior, mid-range or senior roles? I expect the market to be shaped differently for them.
I see mid level roles relatively easier and more flow Junior (out of college) and senior (IC or senior Mgr to director) is tough. Ironically VPs and above are the easiest because it's a small rarified world for them and contacts are the most important
Thanks! This gives me ideas.
Be willing to relocate. There are plenty of jobs out there. For instance, look at Deepak Bhatia who relocated from West coast (Seattle) Amazon to Hershey, PA for Hershey’s (chocolate) company. He is non-CS and was VP, Supply Chain. Hershey’s gave him a 9M TC, of which 8M is long term stock! Base is below 160k, annual bonus is 850k.
What is required to go into AI/NLP field?
Experience & skills
For most junior hires, an advanced degree likely a PhD
Agreed. Not getting any referral bonuses lately
How does one get into AI/ML? Masters or PhD?
These companies are right to be skeptical. I’ve seen it first hand