Help HN: Laid off due to Covid, almost out of runway

[inferred_type]

Hello HN, It's been a long month of interviewing since I was laid off due to the market shrinking from COVID.

My position (Frontend/Full-stack Engineer) became redundant as the company had to change direction. A lot of really great engineers were let go of.

I've been interviewing for full-time positions but the process is slow going and I have not yet received an offer. I don't have much more time before my own savings runs out and I am the sole provider for my family, so I am reaching out to the community for help with any leads.

About me: full-stack/frontend engineer with 5 years of development experience (all remote)

What I'm looking for: remote contract projects utilizing the technologies below - or - remote full-time position as a full-stack or frontend engineer

(US citizen in the US, no visa sponsorship required)

Skills: - Node.js - Go/Golang - React, Redux/Flux - TypeScript, JavaScript - CSS, SASS, HTML - Mocha, Jasmine, Enzyme, Cypress, Unit/Integration testing - Mongo, Dynamo, Redis, Postgres - Docker - AWS, AWS Lambda, Serverless - Jenkins, CircleCI, Grafana - Microservices, SOA - Linux, Ubuntu, bash, ssh, git - API and EHR/health system integrations across multiple protocols and dataformats - Scrum rituals, Agile

If you are hiring or know of any teams hiring (ideally that you could introduce me to) then I'd be glad to know.

You can reach me at [e-mail] — I'd be glad to forward my resume and LinkedIn profile.

Thank you for your time! I would greatly appreciate any help.

[mguerville]

In my line of work (non engineering, strategy and other business side leadership roles) there’s also the problem of a very tiny pool of jobs to begin with, so I decided to be very proactive and I have started reaching out to companies that raised money recently or who have “we’re hiring” on executives LinkedIn profiles and cold emailing them something to the tune of “I have helped many companies with various hard to define problems and taken a variety of roles that may not fit the traditional job titles paradigm, I like your company and you’re growing your team at the moment, could I get a chance for a quick chat to see if you have problems or opportunities I could help solve?”

One week in, I’ve already had a handful of informational interviews, while my applications to actual postings go into a black hole.

I bet that approach could work for your profile as well, I’ve even deployed a sales enablement tool and a CRM to automate, track and document (for unemployment claims) my process

Good luck

[inferred_type]

Oh that's very interesting. Can you share more about your strategy for filling the top of your funnel? Where are you finding companies that recently raised? I can only think of maybe Angel.co or Crunchbase

[smtlaissezfaire]

What's the CRM tool you've been using?

[burger_moon]

Have you looked through the July Who's Hiring thread? Also probably worth going through the last few months of submissions and reach out to any of those companies looking for front end devs.

Also post this in the Who wants to be Hired thread, although I don't know how effect that thread is (I never got any contacts from that one)

Edit: also sorry I don't have anything to offer you, my job isn't hiring right now. But any time I see these posts I always give them an upvote. I hope you the best!

[inferred_type]

Thanks for the suggestion! Yes I've gone through the recent thread and submitted my resume and cover letter to a number of jobs but haven't heard anything back yet. I'll try like you said the older threads, thanks!

[kugelblitz]

Yeah, really sucks, am in similar boat. Also single income household with runway running out. Am a freelance contractor, projects are rarer than last year. My last long contract ended earlier than I thought. Was able to get a one month project through a colleague, but that also ended now. Most of my leads have dried up. And my side project usually brings in 20-50% of monthly income / profit, but the last months was actually losing money (it's a niche jobboard, so yeah).

Did calculations, and will reduce my regular rate by 15%, because 6 months at 85% is better than 5 months at 100%. Got a 1 day/week contract for now, and will look for something additional 4-5 days / week.

I assume you have looked into weworkremotely.com and remoteok.io? Maybe reaching out to recruiting agencies like Michael Page or Hays are worth a shot.

Good luck to you!

[danieka]

I've had luck working through Toptal, but that was about two years ago. But when I worked through Toptal I could usually get a gig in two weeks. The pay is roughly equivalent to what I would earn in Sweden, or at least fair, if I consider that I don't have to do sales, billing etc, and can invoice 40 hours a week.

I think Toptal is better than UpWork or other platforms where the price is driven down by competition.

If you have any questions about Toptal or the application process feel free to reach out to me on mail[at]danielk.se

ps. not sponsored by Toptal, but I used them when I was in a similar situation to yours

[alec_kendall]

Have you heard of upwork? Create a profile on it... and if I were you, I’d focus on marketing yourself for cloud services. Hourly rates range but the experienced contractors charge around $150 and there seems to be a lot of companies hiring off of it (some of the top guys have a couple thousand hours with over $500k earned).

[probinso]

Upwork is terrible

[throw51319]

So you got laid off maximum 4 months ago. Did you only have 5 months of living expenses saved up? That's like 10k max.

The market is def ripe for >mid-level devs, esp with Trumps H1b thing. Just keep applying, use Hackernews whos hiring, and use LinkedIn. You will def find something in 2 months.

[boring_twenties]

You're saying the "max" figure for living expenses for a family (which GP says he has) is $2k per month?

[probinso]

This is a nonsense comment

[inferred_type]

10k would only cover rent for 3 months, no food or other bills.

[giantg2]

Most people don't even have 10k saved.

[quickthrower2]

Hope this helps: Reach out in my HN profile and I’ll give you a free pro version of my job search app for 12 months.

[alexmingoia]

Why don’t you apply for unemployment benefits?

[inferred_type]

That could help definitely, but would only cover my rent, and I am discouraged by what I've heard about it, i.e. taking weeks/months to be approved.

[runT1ME]

File ASAP. Even if by the time it goes through you get a job, they'll still pay you for the time you were unemployed. Presumably you already paid into unemployment, get some of that money back now that you need it. Even if it comes weeks from now and you're happily employed, use it to rebuild savings or pay off credit card debt etc.

[jdan222]

I am in the same boat. My runway is gone, and now I have to choose between rent or debt. I am choosing rent. Still, apply for unemployment. Do it if you’re not even eligible for it yet. Then when you are eligible it'll be a breeze. Use it to supplement your life while you continue your search.

Sorry you’re in this boat with us. Good luck fren!

[inferred_type]

Ah, that's a great idea, thank you! And good luck to you, too!

[thorin]

If you aren't working I'd apply for anything going. Try and create a few projects however trivial, apply for jobs widely and spend some time with your family. Good luck!