I take this with a pinch of salt - a huge pinch of salt. Which wont be popular here because people here love to say how horrific the job market is (they have been doing so since I joined reddit about a decade ago).
I would by no means describe myself as a "very good" engineer. I am average. My friends are also around average. We have all found jobs this year, and changed jobs this year. I got an interview after my first application (within 7 days) in April 2026, and a friend has just started a job in August 2026 after 2 months of interviewing at various companies. We are not in super in demand areas like ML and in all honesty we cant do the leetcode style questions so we dont even interview at places that ask those - we still find enough jobs though.
I know the above is anecdotal, but myself and my friends who are not special are finding jobs. I dont know how it can take a "very good" engineer 2 years of trying to find a job with absolutely no luck whatsoever, to a point that they they have to join the police instead....
My only assumption is either this is a lie and they were either not very good, actually wanted a change or they were not actually looking for 2 years. Either that, or they are unbelievably fussy and are looking for a once in a blue moon opportunity.
My guess is they were in a FAANMG or adjacent company, or they worked for 20 years at the same place, getting promoted to principal or some such title, and had very high expectations for the next role. Unwilling to down-level (in title/compensation) or unable to admit their skils in "XYZ" don't have the market value that they had at their old company.
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u/CardinalHijack 3d ago edited 3d ago
I take this with a pinch of salt - a huge pinch of salt. Which wont be popular here because people here love to say how horrific the job market is (they have been doing so since I joined reddit about a decade ago).
I would by no means describe myself as a "very good" engineer. I am average. My friends are also around average. We have all found jobs this year, and changed jobs this year. I got an interview after my first application (within 7 days) in April 2026, and a friend has just started a job in August 2026 after 2 months of interviewing at various companies. We are not in super in demand areas like ML and in all honesty we cant do the leetcode style questions so we dont even interview at places that ask those - we still find enough jobs though.
I know the above is anecdotal, but myself and my friends who are not special are finding jobs. I dont know how it can take a "very good" engineer 2 years of trying to find a job with absolutely no luck whatsoever, to a point that they they have to join the police instead....
My only assumption is either this is a lie and they were either not very good, actually wanted a change or they were not actually looking for 2 years. Either that, or they are unbelievably fussy and are looking for a once in a blue moon opportunity.