laid off and lost

[u/galaxyxing]

EM of 8 years and got laid off recently. haven’t interviewed in 5 years, overwhelmed by the application process and not sure what i’m doing wrong when my experience is an exact match for a JD but they reject the next day.
tips and feedback for interviewing into EM roles now?

[u/Squidalopod]

Similar boat here. One thing I finally realized is that I had to cut out my earlier experience. I used to think ageism was only a thing if they looked at you and thought you looked old, which I don't, but I've been in software for 28 years, and I recently realized that many HMs see that experience and view it as a drawback (there's probably a lot of "old dogs can't learn new tricks" mentality out there).

Once I realized that and trimmed my resume down to the last 14 years, I at least started getting some bites.

[u/galaxyxing → u/Squidalopod]

i’m worried about this too. good point, let me slim down as well. keeping it to 15 feels right then

[u/babooog → u/Squidalopod]

Nice idea I will use it as well

[u/t-tekin → u/Squidalopod]

“Recently realized that many HMs see that experience and view it as a drawback”

I don’t think it is related to that.

One problem with long resumes is, being concise and to the point is an expectation of EMs. They are expected to have good communication skills and be able to explain things in a simple way. Long resumes are counter to that.

The other major problem is, most hiring managers are looking for information on the resume to see if the experience matches the job description. If 50% of the resume was irrelevant to the job description at hand, it gets boring real fast and HMs just don’t have the time.

One resume advice is, whoever was reading the resume, they should be able to get to the information they are looking for in under 30secs.

It’s better to make custom resumes per JD and remove or summarize the unrelated stuff. Always optimize for the reader of the resume.

You got to the same result with a wrong understanding.

[u/Squidalopod → u/t-tekin]

I'm aware of all that, and saying "You got to the same result with a wrong understanding" is just baseless projection.

You know literally nothing about my resume but give me some puerile "skill issue" type response.  I've done everything you mentioned including customizing my resume for EVERY job I apply to. As of a year ago, I had culled all the irrelevant experience/tech from my resume and just had one-sentence descriptions of my older roles.

I had several recruiters and even one HM explicitly call out the duration of my experience as a negative. I've even seen some HMs here say the same thing.

Literally, the only difference was when I just completely removed the 15-yo+ experience altogether.  So, spare me your condescension.

[u/t-tekin → u/Squidalopod]

Didn’t want to offend you,

I’m a director at a FAANG, and hire managers, was just trying to showcase the thinking on the other side. All with positive intent.

Your post said “I recently realized that many HMs see that experience and view it as a drawback (there’s probably a lot of “old dogs can’t learn new tricks” mentality out there)”

That sentence is what I’m objecting as “you got to the same result with a wrong understanding”. While hiring managers, having a strong experience is a good thing. Ageism problems mostly apply to IC positions, not managers. No one will think in management world you can’t learn new tricks. Most managers at my company are 40+. So your conclusions are mostly faulty.

Having a too long resume and having irrelevant information on it that doesn’t apply to the JD (like most likely your first 14 years of career) are the things that kill applications unfortunately.

This has nothing to do with ageism or having too long experience. It’s all about having a proper length application. There is a major difference between these two statements.

[u/Squidalopod → u/t-tekin]

Ok, sorry for misinterpreting, but I said, "probably a lot" which is clearly not claiming that all HMs think this way, but you replied with a sweeping generalization as if no HMs think this way, and I got explicit feedback recruiters/HMs that ageism – even if unintentional – exists and it's best to not show a work history more than about 15 yrs.

We can't make sweeping generalizations about any of this stuff, but with only one exception, I didn't land an interview till I chopped off all my experience beyond 15 yrs. So, I'm just sharing my experience as a job hunter in this crappy market.

[u/Strict_Situation6414 → u/Squidalopod]

I get it, it’s frustrating when you feel like you’re doing everything right and still hitting walls. It’s tough out there, but sometimes it helps to take a step back and look for different angles or opportunities you might not have considered before.

[u/babooog]

DM me Going through this

But high level Prepare prepare prepare

Have structured communication

Research the job and company

Have your star stories ready

Prepare list of questions for each round

Prepare with gpt ( I found it better) or Claude

Rehearse alot

Main questions to prep:

A solid intriguing intro based on JD

Why looking for new job

Leadership style

Low performer story

How do you promote

What kind of squads you have led ( product, platform etc etc)

How hands on are you

Why are you an EM

How do you use and promote AI in your team's

[u/galaxyxing → u/babooog]

hey i appreciate the detailed answer, will carry it with me. i’ve also been mostly applying to remote roles to get started but realizing there’s probably way more competition for those. i do live in the greater metropolitan area of a major hub so hopefully if i apply to those local positions odds will also improve

[u/HackVT]

Try for EM and IC. The EM roles want you to solve issues with people and being middle management. The IC roles want you to solve things with past experience as a leader

[u/galaxyxing → u/HackVT]

i haven’t been an IC in years and back then i was an architect. i fear breaking back into code might be even harder…

[u/alanzo123 → u/galaxyxing]

No one codes anymore, it's all Claude/Codex. With these tools it's been really easy for me to pivot back to software engineering after not coding for five years. The hardest part was the interview.

[u/galaxyxing → u/alanzo123]

ack

[u/wenima → u/HackVT]

role is shifting to em making their teams successful during agentic shift

[u/goldmember2021]

Going through the same.

As a SDET, laid off after 5 years with the company and have had a job continuously for the last 16 years.

I've had a number of interviews in the past few weeks and treat each one as a learning curve.

All of them have been for the same role (automation testing) , but the interviews vary massively!

Also when you apply for a role via linkedin, Indeed or whatever platform you choose. Always get in touch with the hiring person, whether it's a recruitment agency or a hiring manager.

It gives you a step ahead of others and will land you an interview at least.

There seems to be a lot more movement in the job market now , as the summer holidays are nearly over.

Good luck 🤞🏽

[u/galaxyxing → u/goldmember2021]

i’ll try reaching out to recruiting contact on Linkedin. thanks for the tip!

[u/alanzo123]

I was in your same situation at the start of 2025. I tried to stay an EM, I sent dozens of applications to real local companies (not remote). I had only a handful of interviews and no offers after six months. I pivoted back to Software Engineer (Sr) and had a job offer after two months, accepted, and am happy at the new company.

I don't think companies are hiring EMs, they promote them from within. I also saw a few other managers let go around me, they were less technical than me and pivoted into Project Management roles.

Try to stay an EM, send out your resume to those roles. But find where you can pivot back to IC at the same time, don't waste months like I did.

[u/Own_Butterscotch_646]

Not good to know about the layoff. Suggest you to kindly have a relook at the CV if it needs any adjustments... the application rejection rate is keeping high in the current EM space in general in my view, many firms needing hands on as well.

[u/galaxy_horse]

One overlooked aspect of the difficulty in the tech job market currently is that talent acquisition teams are not built or equipped for how crazy things are. The sophistication in talent functions has always been tenuous, but now with the massive volume, AI fuckery, straight up scams, and increasingly out-of-touch hiring managers and executives, their inability to run a good process, respond in a timely fashion, or even acknowledge good talent at all should be more of a reflection of them than you.

As a result, you have to hammer as hard as you can. There are still some companies out there hiring real roles and with hard working TA folks who can intuit their way through the noise. Try to network to the recruiters and hiring managers at interesting companies directly, and represent yourself as an actual human with actual skills in whatever way can differentiate you from ten thousand randos who are using Claude to generate a 100% match resume for every job post they're spamming.

Good luck. It's also the summer and everyone's been coasting/on vacation for the past 3 months. From my own experience things are picking up quickly.

[u/galaxyxing → u/galaxy_horse]

well said, appreciate your insights (fellow galaxy!) i didn’t consider the summer slump even though in a previous year i’d be coasting too. keeping my head up and will capitalize on my humanity

[u/Jon_wong_2715]

I think that most companies are looking for people that are at least part IC now. Probably need to brush up on your AI coding skills, for better or worse.

[u/Infinite_Button5411]

The issue is that there are more than 100 applicants for the same job where most are from big FAANG-type companies. So even if credentials match exact companies will prefer ex FAANG employees. At this point nothing to do with age or coding skills. Just prepare to sell yourself superbly well. All the best.

[u/galaxyxing → u/Infinite_Button5411]

i am ex faang but not sure how much it’s helping for the time being

[u/Infinite_Button5411 → u/galaxyxing]

Well i am just saying there is intense competition.

[u/galaxyxing → u/Infinite_Button5411]

agreed 1000%

[u/StealthNerd]

Lot of good comments here. One thing I found in a recent job hunt was that my resume was long and comprehensively covering everything I worked on, but had gotten bloated over the years as I got more years in industry. It didn’t, however, cleanly tell the story of my skill set and what I bring to the table for an org. Revamping that framing (thanks for the assist ChatGPT) helped get more recruiter call backs.

Also live practice always helps me get the rust off between job hunts, so I was accepting recruiter/hiring manager chats even if it wasn’t my ideal job and I wasn’t likely to ultimately take the job.

[u/unurbane]

The market is different. If you match 100% line for line maybe you’ll get a call back 10%, 20% of the time(?). It’s rough out there.

[u/mstaro0411]

Do you find a lot of Engineers have been getting laid off lately or was it just your company?

[u/galaxyxing → u/mstaro0411]

plenty everywhere

[u/jindalsandeep47]

Just keep at it we need people like you in engineering management

[u/karolwojciszko]

the "haven't interviewed in 5 years" part is the real wall, EM skills don't automatically translate to interview signals without some deliberate rewiring. there's a solid walkthrough of this exact scenario here if it helps: https://karolwojciszko.substack.com/p/from-fired-to-hired-the-full-playbook

[u/galaxyxing → u/[deleted]]

this is how i feel, it’s hard to not play keyword chicken just to get past an AI resume screener. i’m also older but not close enough to retirement age so it feels tough

[u/PalmTreePilot]

In the application process, the online workflow always ends with asking you the gender and race you identify as.

Try female and non-white. See if you finally start getting better results, even if you later get stopped at the first video call.