
Help HN: Developer laid off 5 days before Christmas, have kids - up_and_up
Hello HN,<p>I was just informed that a key investor pulled support for a startup I am working fulltime for. Thus, people are being laid off 5 days before Christmas. Bummer.<p>I am reaching out to the community as I am on the hunt for Developer-related position.<p>About me: Berkeley Grad, 7 years of development exp, 4 years at startups. Held titles: Developer, Sr. Developer and Lead Developer. Great team-player, active communicator, can step into leadership as needed.<p>Skills: Ruby, Rails, Sinatra, MySQL, Postgres, SQLServer, API's, JS, HTML5, PHP, Python, Linux system admin (AWS, Linode etc), DBA, Product Development, Team leadership<p>Experienced in domains: Ecommerce, Saas, Social API's, Analytics, Finance, Health IT<p>Currently Learning: Objective C, Node.js<p>Seeking: Remote Fulltime opportunity, willing to travel occasionally. I am great as a technical co-founder in early stage scenarios, helping to define product and rapidly build it. Also great as part of a dev team. Open to possibilities.<p>Shoot me an email at: prgrmr75@gmail.com if you have any leads or want to talk about opportunities.<p>Thanks and Happy Holidays!<p>EDIT: I am located in the Midwest about 2.5 hours from Chicago.<p>I greatly appreciate the heavy response to this. This is a great community to be a part of.
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achille
Not sure why you are concerned. A cursory look at your past experience tells
me you'll have no issue finding work.

Enjoy the time off for the holidays, spend some time with the kids, and start
looking for work in January.

~~~
chernevik
OP's spouse may be somewhat less confident. "See honey, HN doesn't think I'll
have a problem! Look at all these emails! We'll figure something out."

Such demonstration is especially important if said spouse was skeptical about
the start-up foray in the first place.

N.B.: Perfectly valid motive for posting. And not one that invalidates the
inquiries.

~~~
ChuckMcM
Funny story, so when I left Google I was thinking, I am going to take a break,
maybe take the summer off, recharge the batteries, Etc. My wife says "Well we
are in a recession and who knows if there even are jobs out there? At least
let your network know you're available." And I did, and that was how I met
Rich Skrenta and got to talk with him about his amazing insight into the
problems of search and why those problems were killing Google's product and
what we could do to capitalize on the post-exponential growth world of the
web.

So I find myself agreeing with both the 'take time off' and 'let people know'
advice. Opportunities flick in and out of existence all the time, so letting
people know is good, taking time off really helps you restore balance if you
can afford it so taking a break is good too. If you have CORBA so you can keep
your benefits uninterrupted, then recharging has a lot to offer.

~~~
pinko
s/CORBA/COBRA/

Or, "you know you're a programmer who was alive in the early 2000's when...."

~~~
MartinCron
Both are equally daunting and ultimately expensive.

------
brador
This guy will have no problems finding work. But as a hot life pro tip for
fresh grads: keep 6 months expenses in the bank. Minimum. Don't spend on any
++ till you're set with this base safety net.

~~~
textminer
Would you change that suggestion if the fresh grad had near 100k in loan debt,
some of which was private and high-interest? The benefit of 10k sitting in
savings when it could pay off a savage Chase loan seem less great.

(To be explicit, that person is me, and I tend to throw all buffer money right
at student loans before they grow like a hydra, faster than I can kill them.)

~~~
patio11
I did the damn-the-emergency-fund-full-speed-ahead loan repayment plan myself.
You're basically gambling that you won't suffer a cash shock. That can be a
reasonable gamble if you are e.g. well-insured, have very stable employment,
have family support, have other income streams, etc etc etc. Otherwise, you'd
consider the marginal 10% APR or whatever you're paying an insurance premium
against a cash shock.

There is no circumstance where student loans will grow when you are actively
making scheduled payments on them. Your balance will decrease monthly if you
make your normal payments. Just mentioning that for sake of clarity -- some
smart people I know don't necessarily have a lot of personal finance
knowledge. Your loans will only grow if you either default on them or do
something like triggering one of the income-contingent payment plans (which
are a _lot_ less good of an idea than people usually think, BTW).

Unsolicited financial advice: go to the institution you deposit your paychecks
in and ask about consolidating student loans. (Another option, if you've been
diligent about building your credit history, is taking a CC cash advance for a
year, or take an unsecured loan. I'm getting unsolicited offers for either "1%
fee, 0% APR for 12 months, then normal interest" from my CC at BoA or "9%
interest, no fees" for signature loans from Discover at the moment.)

~~~
larrys
"I'm getting unsolicited offers for either "1% fee, 0% APR for 12 months"

Lotsa fine print in those offers as far as what happens if you miss a payment
(interest rate could jack up and retroactive things might happen). May or may
not be the case in the one you received. I remember always getting offers of
free financing on things for a year and if you don't pay off at the
appropriate time you owe all the interest retroactive.

In any case, someone wanting to follow that advice really would need to read
_all_ the fine print and _understand_ all the fine print before making any
decision. I wonder how many people could do that.

~~~
gojomo
Indeed; these teaser rates make money for the banks when most people who take
them snap up to the higher rate (by error or simply keeping the balance after
the promotional period).

It's best to only take them when you can set up an automatic monthly payment,
and zero the balance before the higher normal rates return.

(Personally, I'd also make it illegal to advertise "0% for 12 months" if
accompanied by "3% transaction fee" on the insider/fine-print. That makes the
effective 12-month rate about 3%, which should be the headline. But banks,
lotteries, and perhaps even government schools have an interest in keeping
most people from being too good at time-value-of-money/expected-return
calculations.)

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tijs
Everybody enjoys a good Christmas story so after you get that new job
somewhere early next year, as seems a given, do come back here and tell us
where you ended up :)

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bmelton
Sending an email now -- I note that you didn't state your location, so not all
of it may apply.

Edit: Acchile0 is probably right. I doubt you'll have a tough time finding
meaningful employment, but I completely understand the nerves that come along
with having just dumped a ton of money into your Christmas shopping at
probably the worst possible time, as people are generally not hiring at times
like this.

Christmas is a lot more enjoyable when there's a steady paycheck at the end of
it, for sure, but try not to let this ruin your holiday. Take a couple of
hours a day and pursue employment as you can, but try to relax if you're able.

~~~
michaelochurch
_people are generally not hiring at times like this._

In finance, January is a _great_ time to go job searching. People collect
their bonuses and some percentage leave, and that opens up spots.

~~~
bmelton
January, yes. December, no.

Like I said, I doubt he has cause to worry, but I know that I've had similar
circumstances where a loss of income source occurs immediately after a big
expenditure, so I know how poor the timing is.

January's a new month, a new year, and is likely to be rife with opportunity,
but in the interim, there's to be a few missed checks that could be important.

------
mikle
You know, I have all the sympathy in the world to up_and_up, and I wish him
luck. If I would know about a remote position I might even had done something
about it.

But this seems fishy to me for a few reasons, and out of place. HN has a job
board up there, job posts every month and there are more than enough places
for someone to find a few leads. I would be less suspicious if there was a
location mentioned and not just a cryptic "remote" or a link to a site, github
or something that makes this a real person.

Maybe I'm just a cynic, but it's hard for me not to feel skeptical.

~~~
potatolicious
Skeptical of what, that OP isn't actually unemployed and looking for work?

What, exactly, would the angle be besides a person who is looking for job
leads?

~~~
cedrichurst
A recruiter phishing for hiring managers maybe? But I would suspect this is
legit and totally above-board. This is part of what online communities are all
about.

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eitally
I know you said remote, but where are you located? We're global and have a
presence across the US, so what you think is remote might actually be local.

~~~
rms
It's pretty common for people with young children to seek true remote or at
least 2/week office work.

------
gbraad
I am sure you will find a new gig. I am also looking, similar profile as you
but I live in Beijing, China and my wife is pregnant.

Great all-round developer, <http://gbraad.nl/resume/> and
<http://linkedin.com/in/gbraad> email: me at gbraad.nl to get in touch.

Let us all have a great new year. Happy holidays!

~~~
davelocity
Check out App Annie, our Beijing office is hiring lots and lots of engineers:
<http://appannie.com/jobs>

~~~
gbraad
Thanks for the suggestion. Will certainly get in touch with them.

------
6a68
Pinged you. Mozilla is always hiring talented devs, remote is absolutely,
pathologically supported here :-)

Good luck!

~~~
achille
Do you get referral bonuses @ Mozilla?

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jhawk28
You may want to browse the telecommute jobs from careers stack overflow:
<http://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs/telecommute>

------
pknerd
I can't do anything for you from Pakistan other than praying and wishing to
have a wonderful holidays with a new job in hand which you will be going to
start from Next year.

Best of luck Bro!

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timjpearson
We have lots of openings here in Seattle. tpearson@microsoft.com. Send me your
resume.

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ZVb9
Sorry to hear your news.

When people say 'remote' do they generally mean 'in the US'?

I am based in the UK, about 3 hours from London. I know I have a fantastic
skill set (Ruby, Rails, Postgres, APIs, Semantic HTML, Heroku, people
management and Accenture consulting experience) but I have never found a
single company in the UK willing to consider on remote working.

Such a shame for both sides as I don't want to move my young family to London.

------
brianbreslin
There are like 20 startups in Miami that would hire you as technical co-
founder right now. p.s. miami is nice and warm right now :-)

~~~
loceng
He mentions being remote. I imagine this makes one less desirable - though not
entirely.

------
Toddward
Sent your info along to our hiring manager - he'll be in touch.

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itsgettingcold
Your skill set is strong and in demand, you have nothing to worry about. Enjoy
the holidays and treat this as unpaid time off, I suspect you'll be employed
before the end of next month.

What region are you in, or is remote work a requirement? Most interviewers
like an in-person at some point, just a thought.

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braveheart1723
Take up Buddhism, that'll make Christmas much cheaper. ( other religions
available )

~~~
saraid216
Economically-motivated religious conversion. I haven't heard this one before.

~~~
mahmud
Many Somalis pretend to be Christians to receive church aid, or qualify for
refugee status.

~~~
epochwolf
I think saraid216 was joking. There's plenty of examples in history for people
changing religions for non-religious reasons.

------
mscarborough
Good luck, man.

Nothing about this post has any urgency outside of "i have to buy presents".
FFS. You aren't the first person to have to tighten it up during holiday time,
and you sure won't be the last.

Stop the crybaby nonsense. "have kids" ... who cares?

~~~
talmir
Now that is an interesting post. Pay attention kids while I break it down for
you:

"Good luck, man."

Clearly this guy has a heart, saying that to a stranger is nice, but adding
the "man" adds a friendlyness to it that is hard to come by on the internet.
This is what we call a bait, as will be seen by the things to come.

"Nothing about this post has any urgency outside of "i have to buy presents".
FFS. You aren't the first person to have to tighten it up during holiday time,
and you sure won't be the last."

Now here, because the original poster did not state that he had immediate
financial problems, somehow this suddenly is not that big a problem for him.
The time honored mantra of "someone else has it worse, so you cant have it
bad" is strongly indicated with Mscasborough reminding him he is not the first
person to be in a bad place just before christmas. The optimistic "and you
sure won't be the last" leads us onto the next golden nugget of communication.

"Stop the crybaby nonsense. "have kids" ... who cares?"

There we have it! Full "Dick!". It is rare to see in real life, but more
omnipresent on the internet. The first sentence indicated that the original
posted might not have complained enough while the "Stop the crybaby nonsense"
indicates that he in fact was complaining too much. But the piece de
resistance, the ode to the world of dickishness and the absolute pinnacle of
human dickishness is encapsulated in the words "'have kids' ...who cares?"

Personaly I hope the original poster will get a job as soon as possible. The
feeling of being unemployed just before christmas must be very hard indeed.

~~~
joonix
Why do people make such a big deal about being unemployed before Christmas?
Can't buy presents? Oh well, consider yourself lucky: you just got an easy way
out of the empty consumerist scam that is Christmas in the West. I grew up
without Christmas my entire life, and I turned out fine. I celebrated it once
a few years ago with an ex's family and it was a terrible, contrived
experience. Now I consider myself fortunate that we don't celebrate it; I feel
sorry for the people who run around malls getting stressed out about which
useless piece of junk to waste their hard earned money on for people they
rarely get to spend time with.

Xmas/New Years is not that bad of a time because nobody else is working,
anyways. You know you aren't going to find anything so you can take a break
from resume spamming. Then, after the New Year, there is a flurry of hiring
activity as people settle back in and take care of things they've put off
since Thanksgiving.

The worst time, I'd say, is in the dead of summer. July/August. Really bad
time to try to find a job.

------
desireco42
Seriously, if you really want to work, you should have no problems finding
work, provided your description is accurate. It sounds like you just freaked
out.

I would suggest being a little flexible on your side in terms of location, as
Chicago is full of awesome opportunities, and then don't grab first thing, but
look for something you would enjoy doing. Like, hit LightBank and other
accelerators and see what they have. Have first relaxing holidays, then chase
work, as others suggested.

Happy Holidays

------
ews
The company where I currently work at (Etsy) is really good at allowing remote
work. Could you send me your resume to my HN username @folksonomy.com ?

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MatildaEmily
Hi There, I saw your post via Twitter and decided to respond on behalf of
Modis. Modis does both permanent placement and contract IT staffing. email me
at matilda.anderson@modis.com and I can put you in touch with the right person
in your region who can help you find a position that's the right match.
Thanks!

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chriscampbell
It's clear from this thread that a seasoned developer with your skills is in
demand- my question is what motivates you to choose one company over another?

I am making the assumptions it's not just salary- benefits, stock options,
vacation days, culture? Curious on your thought process for selecting a
company?

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mschaecher
If you're still looking, I might be able to find you some temp contractor work
asap, as well as introduce you to people looking for more permanent (or at
least medium term) remote devs. michael@munchery.com

------
JoeAltmaier
Another startup? Same risks, could get laid off at any moment (e.g. 5 days
before Independence Day, 5 days before Yom Kippur, its always 5 days before
something). Glutton for punishment?

------
tyrelb
Best wishes this holiday season. Enjoy the time off with your family, and I'm
sure (along with everyone else here) things will turn up in 2013 with a little
work searching... :)

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pknerd
Why am I getting impression that startup people are ruthless?

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thifm
Man, you are awesome. Just like everybody told you: enjoy the holiday and look
for a good opportunity.

I bet you will find a even better job, you are hot for the market now!

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perfunctory
The title sounds as if it's the end of the world.

Oh, wait a second...

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achompas
We could use a senior dev on our systems engineering team. Just contacted you
--good luck!

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pplante
Sent you an email, good luck!

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n1ghtfury
check your email - sent you some openings from my company & my gf's

~~~
joey_muller
right on! nice to see folks lending real support at this time of year.

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kgc
Be sure to collect unemployment during your time off.

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melvinram
Email sent. Subject "HN Amigo"

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michaelochurch
Email me (michael.o.church at gmail) and I'll put you in contact with some
recruiters in NYC who'd love to work with you (although I don't know if they
have remote options). With your CV, I doubt you'll be unemployed for long.

If you're interested in finance, Wilmott and NuclearPhynance are also good
places to find headhunters.

Sorry to hear about the startup. Good luck!

------
ygmelnikova
On Christmas day 30,000 children will die around the world from preventable
diseases.

Think about that while you stuffing turkey down your pie hole.

------
MyNewAccount99
Protip: don't have kids.

~~~
alexkus
Advice your parents could have used...

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paulhauggis
If you have kids, you shouldn't be working at a startup. This will happen to
you again.

~~~
oliyoung
As someone who has not only kids, and a mortgage AND was let go from a startup
last week (in Australia, resume's here <http://resume.oliyoung.com> ;)) all I
can say is … no.

Startup work may be a little more _financially_ risky than "traditional" work,
but it's sure less risky emotionally for some people. Like me.

~~~
paulhauggis
"Startup work may be a little more financially risky than "traditional" work,
but it's sure less risky emotionally for some people. Like me."

You are the exception to the rule. In my experience, startups are more risky
and much more stressful than a traditional job.

Working for a startup has about the same risk as starting your own company. It
can be done, but you need to have savings and be able to handle things like
getting laid off when funding doesn't come through.

The majority of people aren't prepared for this and shouldn't even be thinking
about working for a startup if they are married/have kids.

~~~
niggler
working for startup is far riskier than starting your own company, because you
have the same risk exposure with limited upside and little control over your
fate (e.g. the founder louses up or takes a really shitty deal which screws
over the employees -- has been chronicled many times here)

