Yes. I was laid off from Hewlett Packard Enterprise about 3 years into my career.
Job-hunting became my full time job. Because my whole team was laid off, we created a support network for each other.
Yes. At the request of fellow campers (this was in the very beginning of the forum) I wrote this post.
The job market of the last few years could happily absorb tens of thousands of experienced developers. Many companies (including the one I work for) have been operating at a talent deficit for years. The significant thing about these public layoffs isn’t the number of people on the job market. It is an indication of an overall trend in how that market is going to change. As others have said, there has been a glut of hiring tech talent for many years due to the cheapness of debt. People have also mentioned previous cycles or a pendulum effect in tech jobs. That’s likely part of what we’re seeing here - after years of aggressive hiring companies are now (over)correcting to trim down. In this case, we’re not just talking about a change to the technical job market, but a massive economic recession. That being the case, we shouldn’t ascribe too much significance to the fact that these newsworthy layoffs are happening at technology-based companies. It is, overall, a bad time to need things like food, shelter, and medical care.
I’m not sure I understand the connection between layoffs and AI or automation.
I’m being more conscious of maintaining enough savings to support me through a potential months-long job search. I’m also adjusting my plans and expectations around changing jobs. I’ve been considering leaving my current job in the next few months, but I now expect that the interviewing process might be more frustrating and the offers less enticing. Part of that is that I expect companies to leverage the anxiety caused by these news stories to manipulate tech workers into accepting lower compensation and higher demands (such as off-hour availability and in-office requirements). I am not concerned about my ability to provide for my family, but I am concerned about the effects that this climate will have on the emotional wellbeing of myself and my friends.