[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Are you a 40-year old software engineer with...
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Ask HN: Are you a 40-year old software engineer without a job for >
1 year?
Large numbers of skilled software engineers are unemployed for
months. Many are unemployed for more than a year. Is this an
arbitrage opportunity? What's the best way to harness this
concentration of energy?
Author : nextn
Score : 42 points
Date : 2025-03-02 20:11 UTC (2 hours ago)
| rvba wrote:
| New OS to beat Linux?
|
| Consulting for smaller companies to give them cheap software that
| helps them with their problems cheap? (And scales revenue with
| many subscribers) - I could write one example that comes to my
| mind but I dont want to soubd like a shill
|
| Probably some of them are good, but software recruiters have
| problems to identify who (this happens to many jobs, not only
| software). I could write a book how recruitment and assessments
| could be changed to identify real gems.
| markus_zhang wrote:
| What new OS has the potential to have a foothold?
| mrcode007 wrote:
| The new OS that doesn't exist yet. Linux is starting to show
| its age, dominated by special interest groups and with the
| upcoming C+Rust contention it's a perfect breeding ground for
| the competitor to enter the scene. Best idea likely not to
| come from corporate
| figassis wrote:
| I would say a Unix OS that can leverage existing Unix/linux
| tools like OSX, but more open than, and with real UX effort,
| native UI, not the gnome/kde, whatever stuff. Or at least
| something that has a Linux subsystem like windows does.
| nradov wrote:
| A new OS to replace the incumbents will only be possible in
| conjunction with a disruptive innovation in hardware. The
| device driver issue makes it effectively impossible to build
| a new OS for PCs, tablets, or smartphones. We don't know what
| the next disruptive hardware form factor will look like yet:
| a lot of people are betting big on AR/VR goggles but it could
| be something else totally unexpected.
| profsummergig wrote:
| Serious question: what's the definition of "skilled software
| engineer"?
| ninetyninenine wrote:
| Someone you would consider skilled. Your own personal
| definition of this would suffice.
|
| I suspect though there isn't a lot of these people that are
| unemployed. There's more "mediocre" engineers that are in this
| zone.
| ivewonyoung wrote:
| Perhaps but it may also include people that were consciously
| or unconsciously passed on because of their age.
| mrcode007 wrote:
| Multiple possibilities exist but everything depends on context
| and the skill set.
|
| One option is to start a consulting business with a group of
| engineers (essentially a market equivalent of a union but with
| more legal protections) and start charging very high market rates
| and nickel-and-dime the client hedge fund style with pass-through
| fees for everything. Use the knowledge of former jobs' contracts
| and undercut on price.
|
| If the skill set is very niche and highly specialized you could
| even attempt cornering the market by recruiting people away that
| are still employed and sell back their services through the
| consulting gig (offer profit share as a sweetener, etc.)
| MasterScrat wrote:
| I suspect the largest opportunity right now is to leverage
| whichever industry you have experience in, and build vertical
| tooling that leverages LLM.
| ninetyninenine wrote:
| Is it that bad?
| irq-1 wrote:
| The best way to harness this is to offer what companies don't:
| unlimited time off, no return-to-office, health insurance and
| savings plans that don't kick-back to the company, flat(ter)
| management, no all-hands meetings...
| nitwit005 wrote:
| It sounds like you're proposing hiring people for less than they
| used to make. That can absolutely work.
|
| The problem tends to be that high unemployment tends to coincide
| with economic downturns. It's hard to get investment to start a
| business during such a downturn.
| colesantiago wrote:
| > Is this an arbitrage opportunity? What's the best way to
| harness this concentration of energy?
|
| Here is a profitable idea.
|
| Make a group decision and choose a target profitable SaaS company
| or startup of your choice, replicate it with AI and race the
| target SaaS company to near zero in pricing and sell your
| services as the cheapest offering to SMEs and enterprises
| (assuming you guys have experience in this area)
|
| Keep it running or sell it to another business and the collective
| reaps the profits once the target SaaS company is dead or is
| unable to compete.
|
| Repeat for all or any companies or startups that you wish should
| not exist or that laid you off in the past
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(page generated 2025-03-02 23:01 UTC)