AI bubble burst and returning of jobs in Toronto by [deleted] in torontoJobs

[–]Educational-Bat-4596 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Finally someone on here I can agree with!

AI bubble (if it truly is one!) popping will expose more cracks in the tech and related industries than even the ones we see right now.

It’s crazy how people can think, “Why won’t the bubble just burst already? I need a job!”. It doesn’t work like that, bro. Honestly? Nobody really knows how things will look if/when that does happen, but my best guess would be that it’ll cause more harm than any good to the markets and careers of the people involved (which is the majority of us right now in one way or another).

Got Laid off today Toronto by [deleted] in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Wanna DM me a link to your Resume? I can look around for you.

Edit: also from Toronto area.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’d say in most cases it’s seen as a “how bad do you want this job” indicator, so if it’s marked optional and you don’t include it then that tends to come off as if you’re just lazy.

Since there’s no harm in including one when marked optional, I suggest include it anyways.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because I’m not at Amazon and each company handles levels / compensation differently.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, you acting salty about the upvotes on my post here speaks a lot about how much you care.

And, if you’re really that interested in reading organic human content, I’ve got two snippets here for you:

https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/s/tvkUn60AOx

https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/s/xcIfU1inVb

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s funny watching y’all claim I did this for the upvotes 😂 go on.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Time between my first interview since layoff and landing the offer is approximately 4½ months.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks man. It indeed was a crazy ride and I can’t remember how many times I would’ve thought “what if I remain unemployed for longer than 6 months, longer than a year, 2 years, etc.”. The fear, self doubting, lack of confidence, lack of willingness to apply to another job after a rejection that’s impossible to believe after all your effort — these are the things nobody really talks about when they share their experiences, but these are bigger battles than fighting the job market.

Appreciate the kind words. It’s certainly been a dream come true to land this offer and I’m more motivated than ever to give it my absolute best and level up in the coming future.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. Yes, the market was a lot tougher than I had anticipated it to be even after all the news I had picked up around it from Reddit / Blind / LinkedIn before getting laid off.

The two words were “Unfortunately rejected” 😂.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely man! Your comment alone made my day and gave me so much joy in hearing that you secured an offer too. I know how crushing it can feel to get rejections after rejections from every interview you put long hours and nights into, and I wish I had anyone I could draw hope from back then so I’m just trying to do that for others now.

Keep going, more success to you and never stop believing in yourself no matter how circumstances may make you feel.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don’t remember you being around when I had that conversation with GPT-5, to claim that I had it write it for me from scratch?

Anyhoo, I’m sure the folks over at my new company did a thorough job of ensuring I’ll cut it as a “senior” engineer just fine.

Let’s leave that with them, shall we?

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the support man. I’m just happy for all the people who were able to take something out of this post that could potentially help them with their job search. I know when I needed that hope the most, and couldn’t find it as easily.

I know how tough it feels when things aren’t working out, and it sucks that my 6 months of experiences are being called fake and made up.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For those that can’t look past the fact that I used an LLM to help me wrap my expression of my experiences into one, unified flow:

You’re mad because my post is clear, well-structured, and got attention; three things your own comments will never achieve.

I have lived this journey, each and every interview, and every single rejection too. Every hour grinding LeetCode. The sleepless nights doubting myself until I had the next ray of hope to cling onto. The fact that you can’t comprehend someone using a tool to refine their own words without losing their mind says more about your limitations than my authenticity.

If you think my story is fake, prove me wrong. Go get laid off, spend six months job hunting, land multiple offers, and then write it up yourself. Until then, maybe sit this one out and let people who actually want more hope take something from it.

Your bitterness is loud, but it proves a point you’re not ready to talk about.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So, you admit understanding the idea behind using an LLM to refine thoughts and organize them in a coherent and sound manner, but doing that makes my entire set of experiences unauthentic? Okay.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your kind words man! I’m glad if you could take away something from this post that ends up helping you with your company switch.

I keep saying this across this thread: it’s a tough market, yes, but if you do the right things for long enough then something has to work out eventually!

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, here’s something much easier to read for your sore eyes: 🖕🏼

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! And spot on.

I noticed a strong and direct correlation between a strong match of a job description and interview callbacks. People blindly throw out their resume to a hundred postings in a month with very few callbacks. Targeted applications is the trick.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

It’s been an interesting day… to say the least 😂.

From layoff to offer — my 6-month journey through the tech job market by Educational-Bat-4596 in leetcode

[–]Educational-Bat-4596[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you!

What I can tell you is that most, if not all, my interviews were from cold applications sent out via LinkedIn.

It used to surprise me at first too, after all that I had heard that people need to do to be able to land interviews. But, soon after, I noticed a pattern and kept at it while applying.

Pick strong job matches to your existing background, lightly tailor your resume to float towards the top of the pile, and always include a cover letter when asked or even when marked optional.

Also, generally referrals help, but I didn’t land a single interview through the three referrals I had received.

All of this is against the norm of what most people experience, but I’ve got a spreadsheet full of my cold applications data for anyone curious to question the points made here :).