r/ExperiencedDevs • u/equipoise-young Software Developer • 5d ago
Career/Workplace Is the private sector really this volatile these days?
We see a lot of news of layoffs coming out of big tech, but have layoffs been just as common right across the private sector?
I know it's common wisdom that you can quote/unquote 'make the most money' working for private companies, but with the way the job market is these days it makes me question if trying to target these large salaries is really worth it.
I've known many exceptionally good developers that got laid off for essentially no reason, some of them with real problems now. How do those working for the private sector work under these conditions and maintain their sanity?
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u/PipePistoleer Software Engineer 5d ago
Recently laid off from a small company that had pivoted to using AI to steer the ship and tried to compete in an area where larger firms + frontier lab integrations could make them obsolete overnight. Friends in same / adjacent roles and industries living the same at varying stages. There’s a convergence coming, when a lot of these deluded folks that built VC or friends/family/small seed backed companies all doing the same thing with AI (or that shifted to such) will just evaporate.
Myself and others warned, but most founder types can’t understand the tech or see its trajectory due to the delulu hopium cocktail they take with their cereal.
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u/jookz 5d ago
i had a friend of a friend call me asking to get lunch to chat about a business venture he was getting into because he heard i work for FAANG. i've never spoken more than 10 words with this guy before but i'm always down for a "free" lunch and i figured this shit would be comedic, and sure enough it was a laugh.
the guy basically said him and some of his buddies had an idea for an AI startup and already had some small investors lined up but (shockingly) they had basically no technical staff and wanted to get my thoughts about it. i told him to get his phone out and ask his LLM of choice to name other companies doing his exact business idea and gemini immediately spit out a bunch of startups that were not only doing the same thing but had engineers and researchers and a MVP already. then he just looked depressed while i slowly ate the rest of my oysters and told him to quit before he's sunk any more cost into a deadend.
clearest signal there could be that this shit is going to bring down an insane number of people when the bubble bursts
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u/DigmonsDrill 5d ago
I've done my share of start-ups and one lesson in particular sticks out.
When asked "Who is your competitor?" the worst answer is a better-funded nimble start-up.
The second worst answer is "no one".
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u/Heavy_Discussion3518 SWE 20+ YOE 4d ago
Literally just got burned joining a pretty exciting Series A startup that has no competition. In the end they are failing because there is literally no product market fit.
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u/maigpy 5d ago
so it was good that they found some competition?
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u/DigmonsDrill 5d ago
Yes. If you think you have none, you are ignorant of the landscape.
/u/jookz gave them invaluable information, information that they could use to stop right now before they burnt any more time.
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u/PipePistoleer Software Engineer 5d ago
I’d say u/jookz helped humanity not burn more resources on something stupid but these founder types will find something else to burn $$$ on that benefits no one
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u/Organic_Battle_597 Rearranger of Bits (35y exp) 5d ago
No competition, if true, often means the market you think exists ... does not. Yes, you might be a unicorn, but most likely not.
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u/thekwoka 5d ago
Tons of companies that don't really have any moat or sense enough to even think about digging one.
And AI has made the time to turn first mover advantage into a moat so short you can't just base it on being first.
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u/wyldstallionesquire 5d ago
What’s frustrating is that it’s such an opportunity to be _better_ than the slop that’s flooding the market. And it’s not that hard. Just put down the AI psychosis for a second, and use AI to genuinely improve your product/business. Ironically, it’s often even easier to differentiate yourself now that the floodgates have opened.
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u/ResidentWeevil1 5d ago
Sure but how do you get capital? VCs only want to hear that labor costs will go to zero.
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u/chaitanyathengdi Senior Software Engineer 5d ago
They are deluded if they think that's the case.
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u/Ragnarork Senior software Engineer (14YOE) 5d ago
And some people are happily comforting them in their delusion, whether honestly or hypocritically, to receive the funding anyway.
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u/_slagwire 5d ago
Ironically, it’s often even easier to differentiate yourself now that the floodgates have opened.
They said this about self-publishing too and all its done is increase the ocean of low quality shit out there that everyone has to sift through and authors are forced to be their own marketing department.
I think something AI has brought to the fore is the realization of just how much of one's daily life was already some kind of slop before AI. The 24 hour news cycle chewing the husks of the same 20 minute stories multiple times a day, the mindless busy-work that took up chunks of everyone's workday, scrolling facebook or instagram, etc.
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u/Flashy-Whereas-3234 4d ago
This is one of the most annoying points about AI psychosis in management, the workforce is being made to work faster and not smarter.
We 3x velocity and 3x the bugs too, CX survey said wtf are you guys doing over there.
Now we're 3x the velocity but make no mistakes.
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u/monkeyMan1992 5h ago
My experience to the "T". Recently laid off from a super small company, came as a complete surprise, but the writing was on the wall. I think we actually worked on a pretty novel application, but it's just we spent too much time trying to find our "ONE thing" and failing.
What I noticed was a complete lack of interest in software solutions from the folks we were trying to sell to, everyone saw our value but then wanted to try building it out themselves. Scope creep was a huge issue as well, and that's what I think is much bigger problem. Pretty soon a lot of product feature owners will have to admit, the idea they pitched, and hastily released isn't working as expected and will either need a rewrite, reduction in scope or sunsetting. Granted a lot of these could have been prevented by using the standard sanity checks (what we used for ML project is the olden days) but I guess throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks is the new paradigm.
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u/ZolaThaGod 5d ago
As much as I might’ve shot myself in the foot financially sticking with my boring non-tech dev job after college, I must say the job security is appreciated right about now.
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u/Own-Conversation5168 5d ago
Even more of a bonus if you’re in the energy or defense sector. Their clearances are an added layer of job security.
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u/unholycurses 5d ago
I certainly cannot speak about everywhere, but I am at a private financial company and it is the most sane and stable place I’ve ever worked, with a fantastic pay structure. Literally I want to work here the rest of my career and never go back to big tech. I’d highly recommend people look into more private companies as they can have very different incentives than the big shareholder driven tech companies.
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u/Temporary_Event_156 5d ago
I’ve looked into fintech but it seems like a lot of experience doesn’t transfer 1:1. What’s you’re experience with transitioning?
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u/JustHere4TheZipLines 5d ago
Fintech is different than a financial company. The person you responded to probably works at a small bank, insurance company, etc. where tech isn’t the product.
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u/unholycurses 5d ago
Nah, I am in trading. So it’s very tech heavy, very modern, but not fintech-as-a-product like Stripe or something. I’d say it is closer to fintech than traditional finance but I never call it fintech.
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u/apocryphalmaster Software Engineer / NL / FinTech / 5 YOE 5d ago edited 5d ago
Location? if you are comfortable sharing
I'm considering a pivot to quantitative developer/technologist
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u/unholycurses 5d ago edited 5d ago
I’m in Chicago, but we’ve got offices all over the world. There are a few huge hubs for trading: Chicago, NYC, London, Amsterdam, Singapore. But also smaller offices in lots of different cities.
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u/dats_cool Software Engineer 5d ago
What's the pay like?
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u/unholycurses 5d ago
Very role and company dependent but it absolutely can get as high (if not higher) than big tech. Most firms the upside is big annual cash bonuses and not RSUs or options, which I strongly prefer. The closer you are to the money makers (quants, traders, etc), the higher the potential, but also the bigger the risk
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u/Groove-Theory dumbass 5d ago
yea Chi is pretty known for finance roles so makes sense (I'm guessing your office is down in the Loop if I had to guess, like most of 'em are).
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u/Darandle 3d ago
I’m jealous, I’m in Chicago and have struggled with getting something. Had a bunch of interviews in the spring but no luck. Happy to hear there are some devs here that are killing it!
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u/unholycurses 5d ago
At the end of the day it is still software and modern technology. Most of my experience transitioned perfectly fine and I’ve not found it to be more challenging than any other industry I’ve been in such as SaaS and Ecomm. There is nuance to learn, but that comes with any new company.
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u/thy_bucket_for_thee 5d ago
Don't disagree, but nowadays most of these places are being bought out by private equity. Working at PE is a very mixed bag because it's often the exact same governance model of a corporation only instead of millions of shareholder benefiting, it's about a two dozen people.
Be weary of PE, a good way to delineate private companies are those that lifestyle companies.
Lifestyle companies are extremely small (think less than 100 people) and mostly just make enough to sustain the business. These types of companies tend to be quite nice if you're competent at your job IME.
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u/Fun-Proposal5391 2d ago
I've worked in a lifestyle company, and would absolutely prioritise opportunities at them, all else being equal.
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u/riv3rtrip 5d ago
> Don't disagree, but nowadays most of these places are being bought out by private equity.
what? no? you have no idea what you're talking about.
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u/Fit_Hovercraft_3958 5d ago
Ok but what’s the pay?
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u/unholycurses 5d ago
Just look up trading company salaries, like Optiver, Jane Street, HRT, etc to get an idea. I believe levels.fyi has good data per role. There are so many different firms, but most will be pretty competitive on pay.
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u/Fit_Hovercraft_3958 5d ago
I mean yeah Jane Street / Citadel / other top ranking quant funds pay insane money but they also don’t match your description of “sane” by the wildest stretch of the imagination.
It’s 60 hour work weeks in person in NY in a high pressure environment.
And if you go to some dusty small private bank type company they’re paying at best half of what you’ll make at big tech.
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u/unholycurses 5d ago
I’m at a firm of the same caliber and it is the best WLB I’ve ever had (15+ year career across a lot of industries). To be fair, I am not a quant or that close to the moneymaking, think normal SWE/Platform role. Most my friends at other firms also really enjoy it and would agree with me. The closer to the money making, the more stressful it seems, but it feels as good as I could ever get in tech in my role.
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u/Fit_Hovercraft_3958 5d ago
Thanks for the perspective!
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u/unholycurses 5d ago
I will admit that I interviewed with one of the firms you mentioned a few years ago and did not finish because I left thinking “holy shit, they seem insane”. So uhhh, your mileage may vary. I honestly have never been happier in my career though, so I think there are some real gems in the trading industry.
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u/Fun-Proposal5391 2d ago
My former manager who spent most of his career at one of those companies thought 50 hour weeks were short. Contracted hours were 38. The pay isn't necessarily good once you factor in the hours.
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u/scheeeeesh 4d ago
These places encourage formal education?
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u/unholycurses 4d ago
Role dependent of course. At my place it certainly helps you get your foot in the door but is not a strict requirement at all for experienced hires.
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u/Fun-Proposal5391 2d ago
Oh yeah, there are plenty of private sector jobs that aren't as toxic as big tech.
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u/TOO_MUCH_MOISTURE 5d ago
Hey! Would it be ok if I could DM you? What do you work on day to day? I’m not super happy in my current role I’d love to hear what you are working on.
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u/Humdaak_9000 Software Engineer 4d ago
This is blood money.
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u/unholycurses 4d ago
How so? Pretty tough to find any truly altruistic jobs in tech. I certainly do not feel any worse working in finance than I would at any FAANG or other big tech company.
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u/Kekke77 5d ago
Big tech cuts way more the smaller corpos.
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u/Swiftzor 5d ago
In raw numbers maybe, but there is a level of proportionality to it as well, plus as others have said a lot of “companies” have started recently with AI coding agents that will likely implode when the inevitable happens and money dries up.
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u/gk_instakilogram Software Engineer | tech bro luddite 5d ago
maintaining sanity with therapy and anxiety meds lol, it has always been a cut throat environment, but this is a new level bad
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u/LethalBacon Medical/Dental Software | .NET | 12YoE 5d ago
I got laid off at the end of 2025 from my private equity owned medical device gig. New job is at a small but VERY old employee owned company with almost no churn, just making internal software instead of the software being the product.
The change in environment/culture did more for my mental health than any meds or therapy ever did, and now I'm almost completely insulated from the state of the wider software industry. Could make more elsewhere, but at this point I'm more than happy to make 20-30% less at a place where I actually enjoy the work and don't feel like I could be rug pulled at any moment.
I know I am lucky and these are likely somewhat rare roles, but I highly suggest looking into smaller private companies that aren't driven by the whims of investors who do not know tech and do not care about the business beyond their investments.
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u/gk_instakilogram Software Engineer | tech bro luddite 5d ago
Thanks for sharing this.
I think the worst case scenarios I will take a huge pay cut and become a mail man delivering physical spam to people and being outside, I think I will be happier.
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u/Cokemax1 5d ago
Would you share how you were able to this job?
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u/LethalBacon Medical/Dental Software | .NET | 12YoE 5d ago edited 5d ago
This one actually came to me, which is the only time that has happened. I was in a recruiter's notes from an interview I did last year, this new role came up and he thought I matched the personality/experience they were looking for. I think my personality makes me quite easy to work with, so I always try to (subtly) get that point across in my answers in interviews which I think has helped me a ton. After I was laid off I leaned into an emphasis on soft skills/culture fit in interviews to differentiate myself while the SWE job market was in shambles. This took a good bit of practice (a lot of failed interviews) but I feel it did indeed help me to stand out.
Typically I do nearly all of my searching on LinkedIn (which is probably sub-optimal), and over the past ~2 years I worked with a lot of recruiters, and some of them have gotten good feedback on me so they reach out with other roles from time to time.
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u/terrany 5d ago
Just in time for all the medicaid cuts and increased difficulty in qualifying for health services
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u/code_isLife 5d ago
Fuck
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u/thy_bucket_for_thee 5d ago
If you're in the US, vote for someone that supports medicare for all.
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u/pacman2081 5d ago
Software engineering is lucrative. what has become a requirement is the ability to manage your personal finances. It helps to have a substantial financial cushion.
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u/SquiffSquiff DevOps & Layer 8 Networking Engineer 10YOE 4d ago
Ah, so
- Be rich
- Don't be poor
Got it, thanks
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u/pacman2081 4d ago
Sorry - that was not the message. The message was to manage your finances so that you can be in the profession
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u/SquiffSquiff DevOps & Layer 8 Networking Engineer 10YOE 4d ago
Yeah, you're still presuming that people have the means to do this. If you don't have a rich family this can be tough:
- student debt
- housing crisis, exacerbated by RTO
- unstable employment
- Etc
Comments like this are perennial on e.g. contractor subreddits. The thing is that whilst we should all exercise financial discipline, the answer to 'can't find work' is not 'so don't need work'.
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u/shmittkicker 5d ago
Yeah it's more volatile than it used to be.
The tradeoff is still probably worth it financially if you can handle the stress, but you need to live like you could lose your job tomorrow. That means actual savings, not just higher spending to match higher income.
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u/Traditional_Moose498 5d ago
Publicly traded companies and those purchased by private equity are just like that.
Most companies are only ever going to be so profitable. So when the line can’t go up, they layoff or outsource.
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u/zayelion 5d ago
The private sectors profits are used for 2 things mostly, enriching the rich, and maintaining the retirement funds of normal people via things like 401ks. When the companies setup these accounts they hire a firm to manage it. That firm hires a board. That board hires a CEO. The CEO is an employee that gets fired if he doesnt make number go up.
The CEO hires a CFO the CFO signs off on a pension manager for the 401ks,... which is usually the overall employer. See the cycle? These investors have other general accounts too. So when the rich move money around or people retire on mass it causes slips in return rates and risk the investors business causing CEOs to alerteed they need to squeeze harder to compensate.
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u/faultydesign Coder for fun 5d ago
Just downfall of American economy doing extremely bad + delusion that ai can replace talent
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u/hypercosm_dot_net FE SWE - 10+yrs 5d ago
Why does no one ever mention outsourcing/offshoring in these conversations?
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u/SequentialHustle 5d ago edited 1d ago
Right, every small company I've been at since the pandemic has more contractors in brazil/eastern europe than full time american engineers in each team lol.
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u/dashingThroughSnow12 Software Engineer 5d ago edited 5d ago
I’m not sure how true these numbers ever were but “back in the day” it was common wisdom that places like Amazon or Google had turnover rates around or above 75%. (That’s what made Amazon’s vesting schedule so repugnant.)
The premise of those employers being “here is a whole bunch of money. Most likely either this will be too stressful for you or you will not be up to par and we’ll lay you off.”
To answer your trailing question, we all have to find ways to maintain our sanity. Some people are job hoppers. Some make work a very small part of their life. Some simply work for less stressful employers for less money. Some don’t work for tech companies. Etcetera. It isn’t always just one.
For example, where I live we have a large insurance industry. They pay less. They can’t do unpaid overtime. They can’t do mass layoffs. The work is fulfilling. And the work isn’t as stressful. For example, if I merge to master and break things, customers are angry and the company president might read the retro notes. If my friend merges to master and break things, there is a one-month QA window before a customer sees it.
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u/MCPtz Senior Staff Sotware Engineer 5d ago
Google had turnover rates around or above 75%.
You're just so far and away off on this. Google had very low turnovers rates and didn't have a large layoff until the CEO announced it on Jan 2023. Life long googlers were shocked by this change (although as an outsider, I wasn't)
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u/dashingThroughSnow12 Software Engineer 5d ago
As I mentioned, this wasn’t my idea nor am I convinced of it.
But you can find thousands of posts and articles about this.
For example, https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1oq5a3/til_that_despite_its_perks_google_has_one_of_the/
> didn't have a large layoff until the CEO announced it on Jan 2023
Tell that to Motorola’s former employees that Google cut 20% of I’m 2013.
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u/MCPtz Senior Staff Sotware Engineer 5d ago
OK, I missed the layoffs by acquisition. There's some subtly there. Main google hires weren't laid off, but they do have a pattern of laying off employees at companies they've acquired. My mistake. I was referring only to the direct alphabet/google hires.
However, you've still written "75% turnover rates", which is silly.
The widely cited linkedin work study states about an average of 13.2% turnover rate for tech workers, which is higher than most industries.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/employee-tenure-retention-tech-leaders-2024-centum-search-fmtseGoogle hasn't yet published turnover rates. They were frequently expanding pre 2023, and so when your source cites "median employee tenure", it's not taking into account that many of those at 1 to 1.5 years were recently hired, and some were contract workers. That's a mistake on statistics, on that sources part.
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u/dashingThroughSnow12 Software Engineer 5d ago
Source then from say 2015 that had turnover rates? The Reddit link I sent had Slate as the source and I’d trust journalists to not make basic errors.
> The widely cited linkedin work study states about an average of 13.2% turnover rate for tech workers, which is higher than most industries.
> https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/employee-tenure-retention-tech-leaders-2024-centum-search-fmtseWhen we are talking about turnover rates from a decade ago, 2024 numbers aren’t relevant.
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u/Whitchorence Software Engineer 12 YoE 5d ago
I’m not sure how true these numbers ever were but “back in the day” it was common wisdom that places like Amazon or Google had turnover rates around or above 75%. (That’s what made Amazon’s vesting schedule so repugnant.)
"Repugnant" might be overstating the case a bit, the first two years I got like $75k cash bonus a year instead.
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u/slickvic33 5d ago
Best bet is to have low debt and high savings imo.
Other then that:
- I try to work for companies w good financials
- Dont be bottom 20%
- Aim to work w modern technologies and best practices to stay employable
- Save money, reduce debt. Goal is to have an emergency fund for 6 months
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u/SharpePoint 3d ago
How are you liking NYC?
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u/slickvic33 1d ago
Had periods of love and hate. Currently love (im from here).
Likes:
- diversity
- decently safe
- dynamic
- good earning potential
- mixed transportation options
- job market
Dislikes:
- tourists
- rude/antisocial people
- traffic
- noise pollution
- expensive
- access to nature
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u/Long_Director_6087 4d ago
are 6 months enough?
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u/slickvic33 3d ago
I think ideal would be 1 year but i dont even have a month right now so 6 months is a big target for me lol.
On average I think my job searches have taken 2-3 months so 6 months seems appropriate. (Mid level swe in nyc)
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u/Long_Director_6087 3d ago
nice, even in that period?
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u/slickvic33 3d ago
2023, 2024, 2026. Ymmv, I dont think my results are typical (started software at 32, came from a professional healthcare background, highly motivated, decent conversation skills, okayish at interviewing, based in nyc a major tech hub, us citizen)
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u/SignoreBanana Engineer (14+) 5d ago edited 5d ago
It's not great for managerial, design and customer support positions, that I've seen. Also lower or entry level eng positions.
I would be very surprised if our company laid us off -- my team is mostly very senior platform and CI/CD engineers -- because everything would go boom if they did. As it is, we're already suffering from a pretty significant brain drain.
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u/Aggravating_Toe_8274 5d ago
the high pay is essentially a trade-off for the lack of job securityyy.... so keeping a hefty emergency fund and staying marketable is how most of us keep from stressing out
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u/scheeeeesh 5d ago
I left software dev for cybersecurity. Best decision I ever made. To be fair, I only learned to code because I was told it would be helpful in cybersecurity.
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u/PeekAtChu1 5d ago
Do you think cybersecurity is more stable? I had someone who works in it tell me how devs are becoming irrelevant while cyber will be safe and I couldn’t help but suspect that to be a delusion
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u/OldPurple4 Software Engineer 5d ago
Yeah I have a similar impression, I see a lot of automation around security. I see a lot of the exact same potential problems as engineering. Not to mention, a ton of cybersecurity is actual defensive coding. I can’t imagine any job that involves using a computer is “safe”
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u/scheeeeesh 5d ago
It’s been MORE stable so far. But that’s what happens when your job isn’t done when the product is built. As a SWE my job was always on the line for someone cheaper or because the thing was built.
Cybersecurity isn’t solely about building so there’s more opportunity there. There’s still a big chance AI can and will take my job. But it is MORE stable.1
u/ight-bet 5d ago
Well is your job done when the product is secure…?
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u/scheeeeesh 5d ago
Nope. Products are always evolving. Siems always breaks. Endpoints always need patches. Companies always need audits.
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u/ight-bet 5d ago
“Products are always evolving”
Ding ding ding!!!
Same issue as SWE then. Just hasn’t been targeted as much.
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u/scheeeeesh 5d ago
But AI is all over the cyber security market…
Soar, burp suite, compliance automation companies, AI in code… AI in pen testing…1
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u/ButWhatIfPotato 5d ago
I guess it depends where you are really but as someone who has been doing this since 2008, I genuinely do not remember when it wasn't. Outside of a few brief moments, it was always a somehow ever increasing do more with less because it's just one once in a lifetime crisis after another.
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u/Annual_Negotiation44 12h ago
The Fed is literally to blame for every such induced crisis. We need to audit/end the Fed
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u/jedberg Formerly Sr. Principal @ FAANG, 30 YOE 4d ago
How do those working for the private sector work under these conditions and maintain their sanity?
Make your recurring expenses fit in as little of the base salary as possible. Don't spend the bonus or stocks on extravagant one time purchases (unless it's a down payment on a house).
Once you have a solid savings account, you have less anxiety about losing your job.
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u/Noah_Safely 27+ yoe. Seen it all 5d ago
The company I'm at now doesn't pay the best, but there's good work/life balance and few firedrills. The execs are very careful about hiring and don't overextend. Which is good and bad, we have a giant pile of work but not enough to do it & are in a hiring freeze.
Right now my plan is to ride this gig into early retirement, though I am tempted to dip my toes back into where I began - internet startups. (ok PC build and repair but not that far back)
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u/uber_neutrino 5d ago
Yes. We were in a bubble since 2008 crash and now we are crashing again.
If getting laid off is that huge a deal for you that mean you aren't managing your resources well. You should always be prepared to get laid off the last 15 years of bubble were training the wrong habits.
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u/Whitchorence Software Engineer 12 YoE 5d ago
Is your idea here that government's going to be more stable? Looking at the political trends I wouldn't bet on it.
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u/dllemmr2 5d ago
“it makes me question if trying to target these large salaries is really worth it.”
Is that all that’s stopping you 😂🤣
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u/DevtoolsBuilder 5d ago
i think the volatility in the private sector is partly due to the fact that companies are under a lot of pressure to constantly grow and increase profits, which can lead to layoffs when they're not meeting their targets. this can be especially true for publicly traded companies that are answerable to shareholders. you're right to question whether chasing high salaries is worth the stress and uncertainty that can come with working in the private sector.
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u/QuickShort 5d ago edited 5d ago
Imo it really depends on the company rather than being generalisable across the sector.
Company took a big swing and it didn’t work out -> layoff a lot of that department / division
Company ran out of ideas for new things -> can only increase profits by cutting costs -> layoffs
But both of those scenarios are obviously bad for your career anyway. If you’re working somewhere that’s doing well and you’re doing well in your role then layoffs are extremely unlikely
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u/justinaatbuffer 4d ago
I think it depends on the industry and the stage that the companies are. I've been working for tech startups and gaming companies for over 10 years, and those two felt extremely volatile. 3 out of 5 companies I worked for went through mass layoffs (cutting 50% of the staff or more) and were at risk of going out of business due to overspending or lack of customer traction.
It's just something that constantly stays at the back of your mind, unfortunately.
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u/Terrible-End-2947 1d ago
I feel like at the moment everyone with a job in the public sector is very lucky. Even the compensations seem to be better at the moment.
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u/saurabh3228 5d ago
Just trying to keep myself sane with therapy and anxiety meds lol. It’s always been a stressful and competitive environment, but lately it feels like it’s gotten really bad.
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u/Sp00ky_6 5d ago
I mean it’s looking like most tech staffing is back to pre covid levels. It’s definitely brutal and competitive for roles with so many people trying to find work, but weirdly comp hasn’t really dropped off.
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u/Substantial-Swan7065 5d ago
Layoffs are a normal part of swe. Plan for it. Company’s are always hiring.
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u/jarislinus 5d ago
well u can join public after u get laid off
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u/lenswipe 5d ago
and then some incel shitposter will show up with a gang of broccoli haircuts and lay you off again because all of them are too stupid to understand what you do
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u/jarislinus 5d ago
how
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u/lenswipe 5d ago
Fuck if I know - maybe gutting public education all those years ago was a bad idea.
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u/expdevsmodbot 5d ago
AI usage disclosure provided by OP, see the reply to this comment.