(EM) Job searching right now, it feels... hopeful?

Posted by joe_sausage@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 51 comments

My current org is circling the drain and leadership is melting like popsicles in the sun, so I'm one foot in, one foot out.

\~10 years of experience at the EM level, applying for EM and Senior EM roles. Done everything from product development to security. Lately been more on the platform CI/CD and internal tooling side.

I've sent out about 20 applications so far, and I've netted 4 recruiter screens. Had two already and they went well (but haven't heard back, so who knows). 2 more on the way.

Two of the companies I interviewed with mentioned they closed $150m series C rounds last year and are hiring like crazy, but not "grow at all costs for the exit" kind of stuff.

I dunno. It feels better than layoffs in 2022 did. It took me six months to find a new gig after I got laid off in December of 2022, before the bad times really accelerated.

Is anyone else (especially EM or Senior EM or even Director level) searching right now? How's it feel? What's your take on the engineering job market?

I've been pleasantly surprised thus far (but hey it's only been a few weeks).

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secretBuffetHero@reddit

would anyone else like to mock / review resumes / exchange experiences? I started mocking this week on exponent and found it super helpful.

I'll create a server so we can connect
https://discord.gg/sTKrRTjw

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makakouye@reddit

For experienced devs or just engineering managers?

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Violinist_Particular@reddit

I was looking a couple of months ago and getting ignored completely. I have several years of experience as a senior EM, and about 20 years in total in tech.

In the end I gave up and took an IC role via my network.

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secretBuffetHero@reddit

I've decided to go running instead. I created a discord for interview practice. I found mocks to be very helpful.

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gwilster@reddit

Spoke to three recruiters just this week. I didn’t approach any of them. It ain’t 2021-22 but feels more hopeful than recently.

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2021-22 was out of control. I feel sorry for the juniors who graduated into that or were job-hopping around that time and think that’s how it always is. A lot of people from that era came to think that getting a new job was easy and you could get a raise by quitting.

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Weekly-Fortune2611@reddit

Well you could . I increased by salary from 100k to 250k by changing 2 jobs in 2 years back then

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gwilster@reddit

It was stupid

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WishIWasOnACatamaran@reddit

As somebody who decided to leave his relatively stable job this week, this gives me hope!

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Electrical-Ask847@reddit

same. market does seem to be picking up some what compared to last year.

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preppy_goth@reddit

Recent layoff, this is my experience so far as well. One of my recruiters described the market this way: there are lot's of jobs out there, especially for those with experience, but the jobs are picky. I'm hoping they're picky because there are a lot of lousy devs out there but we'll see lol

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These-Passion-836@reddit

Definitely not at your level of experience (5yoe) but I had a similar experience looking for "senior" IC roles in EU (no visa needed).

Just finished the process on my end, talked to maybe 12-15 shops, heard back from \~8 of these, Decided to do 5 interviews and ended up with 3 offers, and one process I didn't finish. This was mostly just applying directly on the website, no connections or external recruiters involved.

Seems like companies are hiring everywhere. I ended up with a FAANG offer local to me (3/5 days RTO), one local big corp mostly remote and a US startup full-remote. Packages were all better than last time I was on the market too.

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Mr-Canadian-Man@reddit

Can you share the salary offer range ?

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These-Passion-836@reddit

185K€, 130K€ and 105K€

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canadian_webdev@reddit

Crazy response rate to applications. Must have a stellar resume. Congrats!

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These-Passion-836@reddit

I think it's mostly that I'm super selective when it comes to applying, this was over the span of 2 months. I know this is a bit of a luxury and I can only do this because I'm already employed but it works best imo

I focus on platforms where I know there's little to no ghost jobs. For me the best by far has been the monthly "Who is Hiring?" thread on Hacker News and Otta. (Though I found the quality of postings on Otta to have dropped quite a bit since their acquisition) I usually never apply to LinkedIn jobs.

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_hypnoCode@reddit

Dare I say it... but it's almost unbelievable.

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sd2528@reddit

Let me know when you go on interviews. I'm at a similar level and experience as you, and I wonder what interviews look like now? How many rounds? Are companies doing testing at this level?

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jatmous@reddit

Finding a good EM is a shitshow and has been for years now, so if you are decent then you should be able to get something for sure.

Then again I know a ton of people who stumbled into the EM role during the boom times and just didn't make it and really had to adjust their expectations and/or go back to being an IC.

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b1e@reddit

Yes, things are picking up somewhat. But you should note that you’re in the EU not the US.

I worry that junior hiring is still very limited in the US. We’ve opted to stop hiring juniors in most cases years ago but our peers aren’t either. This is setting us up for a major problem 10 years from now when the most senior folks begin to retire and it’s only going to get worse from there. And AI will make the problem worse not better.

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ForeverYonge@reddit

There is a non trivial number of companies that stopped nearly all hiring in the US. In particular some of the large ones. All new headcount will be abroad.

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rwilcox@reddit

I’ve gotten 3 cold recruiters emails this week (and I’m not Open To Work)

More than when I was job hunting in the fall.

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D_D@reddit

I actually landed a job 2 months ago. 1 application / 1 offer. Very little BS.

This time in 2021 I would have had 3-4 offers but it’s hard to complain in this market.

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tralfamadorian808@reddit

I’ve had almost 10 recruiters reach out just in the last week. Very odd

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SellGameRent@reddit

I've had multiple recruiters reaching out per week which led to me getting a 43% pay bump and moving to full remote. Ironically I got little to no traction on applications I submitted myself

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homiefive@reddit

im starting a new job in a week. i wasn’t even super serious about lookin at the time.

i sent out one application and that resulted in an offer. so my experience has been nothing like the fear mongering i’ve seen on reddit.

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camelCaseCoffeeTable@reddit

I’m getting more recruiters reaching out for sure. Not a ton, but they haven’t reached out at all for the past few years, so even a few is noticeable.

A buddy lost his job recently and has been interviewing at least a decent amount, nothing panned out yet, but he has been getting the interviews, which also seems better.

I think AI is still mucking things up a bit, but things are starting to improve.

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troutrucker@reddit

leadership is melting like popsicles in the sun

This is the part that worries me right now and I'm not sure why it's happening. I know my tier 2 company is experiencing the same thing and I based on what I'm reading, from the outside looking in, it looks like several tier 1 companies are having the same problems.

Maybe it's the tariffs, but it feels like it started sometime last year.

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joe_sausage@reddit (OP)

In my case, it’s a bunch of first time leaders. First time CEO, first time VP, first (or second) time directors who are just not equipped for the moment and are responding with panic and knee-jerk reactions instead of calm and focus.

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troutrucker@reddit

I wish I could say the same. My leaders are being poached from tier 1 companies.

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DadAndDominant@reddit

I am from EU, but recently had a talk with my manager about hiring, and he told me that it feels like market is again in the favor of devs (slightly). I also know it from the other side, as I am switching jobs in near future. It's not great for juniors and bootcampers tho (nobody wants them still).

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CrispsInTabascoSauce@reddit

It’s only going to get worse. AI efficiency gains and 10x productivity means only one thing - more layoffs. Also, as corporations need less people to do these jobs, compensation packages are going to get less and less appealing, to the point, it’s no different to a flipping burgers or waiting tables.

Enjoy the AI revolution, lads, this is going to be sad and pathetic for everyone.

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RandyHoward@reddit

compensation packages are going to get less and less appealing, to the point, it’s no different to flipping burgers or waiting tables

You're just being dramatic. There is no chance in hell that dev salaries would sink that low, even if and especially if AI causes 90% of the field to be laid off (which it won't). If AI were to cause that kind of job loss, the ones left are going to be paid very well, because those are the ones who need to know their shit in order to fix the problems that AI produces. But I don't believe for one second that AI is going to have that kind of impact.

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guardian87@reddit

Lol, 10x productivity gains from AI is the same bullshit as 10x engineers. That is a thing for medium blog entries, not the real world.

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joe_sausage@reddit (OP)

The sad thing is, those Medium blog entries get read by CTOs and VPs of Engineering, and then they translate into... well... what I'm looking to get out of right now, frankly.

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guardian87@reddit

As a VP of engineering, that just makes me sad.

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joe_sausage@reddit (OP)

Well, do you need an EM? lol

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guardian87@reddit

I’m located in Germany, so i doubt our salary is attractive for you if you are based in the US.

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joe_sausage@reddit (OP)

Yeah, that's the trick. I'm also in the EU but American and still working remotely for an American company, so my salary is so much higher. Great while it lasts...

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guardian87@reddit

Good luck!

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Clavelio@reddit

“The end is near” vibes

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throwingaway4949@reddit

He just said it feels hopeful..?

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20231027@reddit

What geography are you in?

Are you open to remote or hybrid roles?

Are the pay ranges similar or higher?

⸻

Just curious overall, but from what I’ve seen, these three factors significantly impact job availability.

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joe_sausage@reddit (OP)

In EU, open to working either US hours or over in the EU. Fully remote for the US roles (for obvious reasons), wouldn't mind hybrid for my locale. Pay ranges for the roles I'm looking at are all completely within my ballpark (or I don't apply).

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