Job searching really stinks, especially when you enjoyed your job. A ton of companies are going through layoffs and unfortunately I was affected. I was excited for the new year to keep pushing beyond and become and even better engineer. I had coordinated with my manager and made a couple of different goals to hit in the first 6 months.
Before being layed off I saw a meeting on my calendar with on of the co-founders. At the time I thought this must be about the promotion I asked for and that I was finally being recognized. I put in a ton of hard work and really grew as a developer. Before the meeting I decided to catch up on Slack and that's when I realized I had been locked out. Finally it hit me. I woke up that Friday excited to get started on a big feature, but before it even hit 10am I had no job.
I took the following week off to take care of myself, and fight through all the stress and anxiety I felt. By the end of the week I was feeling much better. But nothing really prepared me for the second week. I think my brain finally caught up and I realized this wasn't a vacation. This was reality, my new normal. I grieved for myself, all my co-workers who were also effected, as well as the 1000s of people I didn't know who are now in a similar situation, as other companies went through layoffs.
Although I've job searched before and I have a ton more experience and confidence this time around I think this job search will be even harder. I watched this video by Theo and it really put into perspective what I was already feeling. I'm going to write here about my progress each week and what I've been doing. I'll also have a dedicated post about the side project I'm building. I think building, creating, and writing will be more helpful in my job search. I've never been a fan of leetcode so this works in my favor too. I'll still be applying for positions but not nearly as many as I usually would. I plan on attending more online events with communities I've been apart of and posting more on Twitter and LinkedIn to get in front of potential future co-workers!