Ask HN: How can I get hired when I am now tired of being competitive?

18 points by reactreflux1 3 years ago | 18 comments

I no longer feel motivated to compete. Maybe I just need to get back the motivation but I don't know how. The mass layoffs weren't even the tipping point for me. Even when the market for tech jobs was healthier, the whole process of interviewing felt unforgiving and sweaty. And this doesn't include the FAANG-type companies, just the more mundane ones.

I've been applying to jobs non-stop since 2021 and interviewed at many places, and getting no offers. I faced the burnout sometime early last year. I don't have a job, yet the stakes still feel low for me right now. Even for the more "chill" jobs you are expected to pass multiple rounds, and be the best among the candidates.

Just being a finalist isn't good enough to pass, it seems. I would prefer to avoid this criteria of placing first and still find a means of getting hired. For an average developer job, I just want to have an average mindset, not very competitive, where being average among the interview candidates is already considered "good enough".

jklein11 3 years ago |

I think you might need to reframe how you are considering this job search. It sounds like you are thinking of a job interview as an exam, and whoever scores the highest gets the job. You should think about the interviews as the opportunity to show that you are the right person to get done whatever it is they need. Part of that is showing that you can do the work, part of that is showing that your values align with theirs, and part of that is confirming that you will not be a pain in the neck to work with. There is more to the interview than just showing you have the technical chops and a lot of the answers to these questions are binary, not linear. You don't need to score the highest just make sure you check all of the boxes.

tacostakohashi 3 years ago |

Nobody wants to hire someone who isn't "competitive" and aspires to level up, advance, etc., unless it's for some short term contract.

They want people who can do today's job today, and have potential for more / leadership tomorrow. Even if you just want to coast on by and collect your paycheck... you need to (at least pretend to) be be interested in advancement.

screwturner68 3 years ago | |

They may not want to hire someone who isn't competitive but the reality is companies don't want high fliers. There's only so much room for advancement and there's only so many interesting projects. Companies need workhorses, people that will come in and do the jobs that need to be done without the need to coddle or entertain them so they stay. It's laughable the hoops companies are asking people to jump through in what is still a competitive market, companies need to reset their sites from trying to recruit the best of the best and be happy with someone who can do the job.

austin-cheney 3 years ago | |

I interviewed at a few dozen places last year and that is certainly not what I encountered. Almost all places were looking for a trend follower addicted to the framework and tools of the moment. Being competitive as in solving tough problems, delivering faster, writing higher quality faster code is not what anybody wanted.

My learning is if you want to be more employable don’t be awesome. Position yourself to the center of a bell curve.

giantg2 3 years ago | |

Fuck those expectations.

sp332 3 years ago |

If you want to skip the intervewing, you have to network and make sure people know you. The goal there is for someone to reach out to you that they want you.

toomuchtodo 3 years ago | |

This. Network is everything. Half your job is being liked by your colleagues, because when y’all move on to other orgs, you want to be the first person they think of for a referral for open roles.

jarsin 3 years ago |

Either find a niche framework/language and target those companies, or just bite the bullet and sign up for one of the more popular interview courses and get better at them.

reactreflux1 3 years ago | |

I would try the former option once more, since, I already spent a few thousand on a tech interview course 2 years ago and it hasn't helped.

dsattt 3 years ago | |

Any recommendations? What is a niche language that guarantees a job these days?

jarsin 3 years ago | | |

Ruby on Rails. Tons of stuff built on it, and still being built, but all the cool kids moved on from it.

flappyeagle 3 years ago |

Do you know anyone you’ve worked with in the past that can strongly vouch for you? Any past managers you’ve gotten along well with? Where are they now?

factorialboy 3 years ago |

Position yourself in terms of value you offer to the Business.

Becoming a freelancer is a booster as it won't suck you into office games.

FrenchDevRemote 3 years ago |

find an average/below average company with low expectations and don't be too picky about the salary

News-Dog 3 years ago |

  'We are all but grist to the mill of Society'

Perhaps time to take a sabbatical, given financial ability, is travel a possibility?

What other types of different work prospects do you have, anything that you find interesting?

You skills; training and/or teaching?

Recharge, refresh and renewal.

reactreflux1 3 years ago | |

My degree is in Art, with digital media which was very niche at the time. That's where I sparked interest in web dev although there are other interests in there.

I like some DIY electronics stuff, Arduino, AVR and such. Integrate it with PC building perhaps. Putting out feelers for that type of work is even more of a longshot than my typical web dev work.

My current "work" routine is sending out my resume to online groups every week or so, and a few applications and call it a day.

Travel isn't possible right now. I don't have to pay for housing, but neither do I have a large pile of money to sit on. That means I am partially living on welfare

nannePOPI 3 years ago |

A lot of companies don't "need" anyone because they are not subject to profit and loss anymore. This is the result of government policies of cheap money, government contracts and higher and higher barriers to enter the market.

If there was a need, even if there were a lot of candidates managers would prefer the first to be enough. But they don't have a need, government policies give them all the time in the world. So for managers it's worse to get the "wrong" candidate than a sufficient one. Managers also prefer multiple rounds, testing, etc, because they can avoid blame by showing they hired someone that passed all the tests. At the same time for managers it's better to get one superstar they can brag about than a person that can do the job, because there is no job subject to profit and loss in the first place.

This is how I explain the current situation, situation I find absurd. I may be wrong, but that's what I think. I don't know if it can help, I think your pain is fully justified and this is my attempt at easing it. It helped me a little, knowing I'm not the problem and nor is the person in front of me (at least not really)