I started my new job in Machine Learning at a YC startup whose core product was a platform to make computer vision ML modeling simple. The product, peers, culture, and the pay was great. A few weeks later we started working from home, just like almost any other company dealing with the pandemic. Even then, everything was super smooth.
One day, I get a DM from the CEO on slack that he wanted to chat about something. I knew it’s happening. I just didn’t know how to react. I asked about the reason, which I obviously knew. Somehow that awkward conversation got finished in 5–10 minutes.
To be honest, I did not feel too sad. I had spent only a little over a month there. Bothering part was the future — Yet another job search. Job search is draining. Normally, you get to search your job at ease, as you have an existing one. You take your time to evaluate the company, your future in it. I had none. And there were more like me and fewer openings than ever.
My immediate reaction
The first thing I did was to process the situation. Called up a few close friends to give them the news. Really helped me calm my nerves and reduce the nervous excitement.
Soon I made a few hunches for my next hunt —
- I can’t be too selective. I need to assess who’s hiring pretty quickly. I need to have a clear set of minimum criteria for a job. So minimum that even if I remove one, my work life is as good as hell.
- Since I am fired, I can publicly get the word out that I am looking for jobs. I was hopeful that my friends and network would help me. And they did. I got so many leads because of my one post on LinkedIn.
- From my past job search experiences, I figured which job listing sites worked and which didn’t. But beware, many job listings exist but no one checks them. They are Resume blackholes.
- _Working — _iimjobs, hirist, angel
- _Waste of time — _Linkedin jobs
- Apart from job listing websites, I relied more on referrals. Instead of applying on LinkedIn jobs, **use the search bar to search content with tags like _Data Science, Machine Learning. _**Connect to people posting openings via posts.
Time to chill :)
Full disclosure — I lived in my home in Mumbai during this period. I had enough savings to sustain myself and my family.
I took my unemployment pretty easy. I knew one thing — There’s no point applying for jobs all day. I had a clear strategy for applying — Every 2 days, visit job listings, find anything interesting, and apply. I was active on LinkedIn anyway. I had an eye on posts that mentioned any opening. Simply bookmark it. There was no point in wasting hours on job applications. The best I could do was have patience. For every important application, find a person who can refer you. Works 90% of the time.
I took a lot of good habits meanwhile. I started exercising, played a lot of indoor and outdoor games (in my society), took interest in Yoga.
On the technical side, I decided to learn new stuff. One regret I always had was not learning Data Structures and Algorithms. At least 4 times I started learning and then gave up. This time I had a fire under my ass. Mission accomplished.
https://giphy.com/explore/hacker-man
Next, I really missed the technical meetups companies in Mumbai used to organized. I loved the industry level discussions and making new friends. During this unemployment+lockdown period, I decided to connect with people online. It was the best! I got introduced to so many people. Not only from Data Science but also Fashion, Management, and a lot more.
#jobs #covid19 #data-science #hr #interview
