IT/Software career thread: Invert binary trees for dollars.

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pwe

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I haven't applied for a job since my first job 30 years ago (I am a programmer). Things just happened and there was always plenty to do. Now I find myself without a job and the ones that are relevant to me have 100-200 applicants. I also read an article about how 50+ years will often exclude you by default. I am 53. Currently it looks like it's not a matter of time, I might actually not find a job, like, at all. This sucks.
 
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Cad

Sheriff Cad

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ShakyJake said:
They can't ask your age. They don't know you're 53.
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I mean if you have 30 years of experience on your resume they do, and if you suddenly sprouted as a senior engineer 12 years ago, they're not idiots. That said not hiring a 53 year old is crazy.
 
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P

pwe

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Cad said:
I mean if you have 30 years of experience on your resume they do, and if you suddenly sprouted as a senior engineer 12 years ago, they're not idiots. That said not hiring a 53 year old is crazy.
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I’m actually going to remove the oldest entries to mask it a bit. But still… 100-200 applicants for even the shittiest sounding jobs.
 
Khane

Khane

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pwe said:
I’m actually going to remove the oldest entries to mask it a bit. But still… 100-200 applicants for even the shittiest sounding jobs.
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They aren't real applicants. Welcome to AI land.

I updated my resume this morning on LinkedIn and within 5 minutes got these 2 emails back to back

I hope you're doing well. My name is XXXXX, I am the Senior Vice President of Sales at XXXX Group — a global leadership and talent advisory firm with deep relationships across professional services and advisory sectors.

I'm reaching out regarding a confidential retained search for a Software Architecture and Enterprise Integration Leader with an actively operating company in the healthcare and financial software space. Your background as a Senior Software Architect and Engineer at XXXXX, with 18 years of experience in Integration Software Architecture, Development, Application Server Administration, and expertise in Enterprise Integration stood out strongly during our shortlist review.

This role is ideal for leaders who drive measurable outcomes, build teams, and shape organizational performance.

If this aligns with what you're exploring, I'd be happy to share the full brief.

I hope you're doing well. My name is XXXX, I am the Chief People Officer at YYYYY, a global leadership and talent advisory firm with deep relationships across professional services and advisory sectors.

I'm reaching out regarding a confidential retained search for a Senior Software Architect role with an actively operating company in the financial technology and benefits space. Your background in senior software architecture and engineering at XXXXX stood out strongly during our shortlist review.

This role is ideal for leaders who drive measurable outcomes, build teams, and shape organizational performance.

If this aligns with what you're exploring, I'd be happy to share the full brief.

These emails were sent by 2 different "people" from 2 entirely different "companies" using the same exact template and verbiage. I wonder if anyone falls for this and why LinkedIn is so garbage at filtering this shit. A Senior VP of sales and a CPO reaching out to a software engineer directly! What a world!
 
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ShakyJake

ShakyJake

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Cad said:
I mean if you have 30 years of experience on your resume they do, and if you suddenly sprouted as a senior engineer 12 years ago, they're not idiots. That said not hiring a 53 year old is crazy.
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Yeah, don't put that on your resume. You can be creative in your experiences without outright lying.
 
Lendarios

Lendarios

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Noodleface said:
I'm tired of coding. I kind of want to switch to product management myself
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Claude will do that for you.

I have been using extensily as they moved from a C# to a python team and I duplicated a fairly large application on a language foreign to me, because i knew the business side the best. I spend 80% of my time writing promts and watchign AI go brrrr..
 
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Noodleface

Noodleface

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Lendarios said:
Claude will do that for you.

I have been using extensily as they moved from a C# to a python team and I duplicated a fairly large application on a language foreign to me, because i knew the business side the best. I spend 80% of my time writing promts and watchign AI go brrrr..
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You and I both man.
 
ShakyJake

ShakyJake

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Another great thing about AI is that I don’t need to know Git gymnastics. I can just tell an agent, “go cherry-pick those commits from So-and-So on Such-and-Such branch into this one,” and poof it’s done.
 
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Noodleface

Noodleface

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I have people now using AI in JIRA bugs blaming my code and dumping the AI analysis with 0 human interaction. And shocker, haven't met a single analysis that was correct.
 
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ShakyJake

ShakyJake

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For those of you using AI coding agents for work, what's your typical workflow? Do you mostly stay inside the IDE, or are you primarily using the CLI or desktop tools like Cursor, Codex, and/or Claude Code?

At my company, we haven’t formalized anything yet. Our repos don’t have any standard files like AGENTS.md, skill definitions, etc. Everyone is basically doing their own thing.. if they’re using AI at all. We still have several people who refuse to touch it.

I’ve moved almost completely out of the IDE and now use the CLI almost exclusively. I set up a “sidecar” directory alongside the project where I keep all the configuration files, point it at the source code, and define plans, tasks, etc. Session continuity comes from files on disk rather than the agent’s conversation history. I'll verify what's written within the IDE, approve or issue revision requests.

This is the system I’ve come up with on my own. Curious to hear how others are approaching it.
 
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