Ask HN: What is a physiically disabled person to do in this job market?

I'd reach out to recruiters/agencies. It'll also be a pain, but I've had more luck doing that than cold applying the last time I was looking.

You can also try pivoting to something adjacent like data engineering and I've read a few people had luck by focusing a lot of time/energy on companies they like as opposed to specific positions/roles, but I'm not sure how well that would work because I've never tried it.

Even during great hiring times, the roles you're seeking are often slow to hire and sometimes don't get filled even when there are qualified applicants.

There has to be a hand-in-glove fit to the team for these roles to be effective, which means interviews often get delayed because someone key can't be there... then later, another key person is out, and the cycle turns into a crisis and finally interviews happen and the role gets filled.

But, as you know, AI has seriously cut into your niche and hiring has been very minimal for over a year in data-related roles. Non-data people can do so much more with the help of an AI that can read CSV output from common data sources that I'm seeing people get more benefit from directly being able to work with the sources themselves and ask questions rather than get a report made from the BI team.

I would consider widening your search into other domains, adding AI to your workflow and make it front-and-center.

I clicked on your LinkedIn profile and you are wearing the most casual outfit I have ever seen on a LinkedIn profile, so I would consider finding or taking a photograph that looks like a typical job seeker. I would then remove any recent activity from my profile: without logging in, your first post is about difficulties you are facing and the third is a "hot take" that some companies would not appreciate. I'd cut all personal information that wouldn't get me hired.

Lastly, I'd make a more memorable and higher resolution main graphic. Right now, if this is an example of the quality of your work output, it is very blurry on my 15" laptop and doesn't give a great impression in that regard. None of this is a complaint or attack - I heard your desire for input and am sharing my feedback as a person who has been in hiring roles for 2 decades.

The market is very difficult right now from my experience. Some people I know have been out of work since the start of the year and still haven't found anything.

I think once IRS section 174 is overturned the market will get better.

I do not have the same physical situation as you but was out of work for 7 months with similar experience level and got to the “offer or no” with 10 companies Before I finally got a job thanks to a referral and good interview.

What I’m saying here is that (a) your time in the market isn’t absurd for this current economy, and (b) it’s also not provably due to your disability so don’t go blaming that without proof or you’ll talk yourself into giving up. Shits HARD right now man just keep trying and focus hard on networking and referrals. It seems the only way to get a job right now

You mentioned you had CP and you walk with a cane. But didn’t mention if it affects your speech or your hands.

You know this I’m sure. But most people don’t know that CP affects different people differently. I have left hemiparesis CP that really only affects my left hand and very slightly my left foot - i walk with a slight limp. But properly conditioned, I’ve run a 10 minute mile up to a 10k.

I’ve been working professionally since 1996 across 10 jobs from everything from startups, to boring enterprise jobs to BigTech and full time for consulting companies. My last three jobs have been remote as have been the interviews. No one had the slightest clue about my having CP since going remote.

Why do you think it’s your CP and not just the market sucking for everyone right now?

Why do you have that you are “physically disabled” on you LinkedIn profile? Don’t do that. You are giving people a reason to discriminate against you unlawfully.

Second point: if you are just blindly submitting your resume to job sites/ATS’s you have already lost. I’m very credentialed in my field and I heard crickets from fire bombing my resume in 2023 and last year when I was looking for a job back to back. But that was my plan C while I was going through the interview processes based on my network and a targeted outreach where I had the exact set of skills and specialized experience that were looking for and responding to inbound recruiters.

But if your skillset is generic, you have to lean on your network, every open req gets hundreds of applications within a couple of days - LinkedIn shows you.

Why do you think you aren't getting past the interview process?

Current data scientist here, working for a cloud consulting firm. Two things stand out from my experience: (1) my company isn't hiring, while the DS team is doing fine revenue wise, the rest of the company is doing poorly; so uncommunicated moratorium on hiring; (2) I interviewed at an AI company that I'm currently subcontracting under - and they like me - and I didn't get past the first round because their requirements are so high right now (aka I did mediocrely on one interview and that was enough to tank me).

All this is to say, GenAI is booming but there's competing factors going on for businesses to hire.

Also a different take, look for contract jobs. As with (1) above, my company isn't hiring FT but they're open to contractors.

I wish you luck.

You post your resume link?

"What is a physiically disabled person to do in this job market?"

Same thing as a person with a social-emotional disability - get screwed. I'm being pushed out of an early career role even though I'm overqualified and producing similar numbers as my peers. I'll end up working at Walmart. Good luck.

Your professional network is your best resource. The people who you have worked over, under, and beside you know your work so talk to them. Even if they probably are not hiring at the moment, maybe they have a lead. Even if they don’t, maybe they will in the future.

This is exactly the same approach anyone else should take. Good luck.

My anecdotal experience has been that the demand for data science/analytics jobs has cratered for the past couple years. Probably has something to do with AI, but even before ChatGPT it felt like the data science demand was vastly inflated. Financier capital in America is over, the era of lean startups is here to stay for quite some time.

Unless you're interested in applying your statistics knowledge to the military industrial complex or AI market, I'd probably recommend diversifying a bit. My honest $0.02.

write a book, consult on book