I wanna know how to get one of these damn jobs; I currently play with shit like Proxmox and high availability clusters at home just for a laugh, and because I enjoy it; but with no formal education - and I’m making peanuts at work rn. I wish I could break into this somehow.

First, was the layoff WARN compliant? The tldr is if 500 or 33% (whichever is less) people were laid off then you were required to receive either a payout of at least 60 day’s wages or a 60 day notice. Second, assuming you weren’t completely fucked by your company with that barebones requirement, what is the separation package? That is a major factor in how I would proceed.

If the package is substantial enough to live on for a while, try to slim up your budget a bit overall and treat yourself a little in the moment before looking for work. Keep a consistent schedule, and pick up some interests and active hobbies. Set aside at least 2 hours per day for submitting applications, and at least another hour per day on other tasks related to job searching.

Don’t let this time be miserable though. Make sure to find ways to relax, get outside, volunteer to a cause, get involved with community organizing, work on a personal project, whatever you feel is worth your extra time. There are a lot of ways to enjoy yourself without a lot of money, like going to your community library.

A few tools that I’ve seen come up which look interesting:

• https://www.jobscan.co/
• https://wellfound.com/
• https://swooped.co/
• https://app.otta.com/

I’d recommend running your resume through ats tools.

Everyone is telling you to take a week off but I have never really had that option myself. I do think you should prioritize making sure you are signed up and jumping the hoops for unemployment. I would like to prioritize the job search right away but again the hoops you have to jump for benefits make it unfortunately a secondary concern. After that primary is resume and professional online prescence. That whole time sending resumes should have been secondary and now it becomes primary. I like to sorta prioritize contract positions because I can keep the search up during them for what I really want and extend my unemployment if its a bumpy ride. I find tech to littered with serial unemployment myself so if this is your first time you are either very young or very lucky.

Don’t panic.

Take a moment to re-asses yourself, your wants, your needs, and why you’re persuing your specific niche and whether or not you want to change it up.

Take your time in this, or at least as much as you can afford to.

Be kind to yourself, and be honest with yourself if you want more from your personal life and less demand from work.

You as an individual matter more than a job. Your connections with your family and your friends matter more than a job, too.

I wish you all the best and hope you find a new, better job as soon as will benefit you the best.

Sorry to hear that and I’m sure you’ll bounce back quickly.

Let me start by suggesting that if you can, take a week off so you can get in the right headspace for getting ready again to get out there again (if you can afford the time).

Is your resume up to date? If it isn’t, start by refreshing it so that you can start passing it along. If it’s not, use ChatGPT or any other LLM to help with this.

Do you have any friends at other companies or other people in your professional network? They might not be able to get you a job, but if they can cut through the first round of the cycle, that might make things easier.

Are you looking for the same type of job? If you are, are there any other skills/certificates that you can pick up to bolster your background?

Are you open to only staying in the same city or is moving elsewhere on the table? Assuming it’s the right thing to do for you/your family economically, perhaps a job in one city might be easier to acquire than where you are.

The last thing I’d ask you to keep at the top of your head is there is no shame in taking a lower paying job to keep yourself fed/clothed/housed. You know the saying, it’s always easier to look for a job when you have one.

Keep your positivity!

The market isn’t great right now, and a lot of companies are doing the thing where they list jobs just to make their teams feel like more help is coming, but have no intention of hiring for the role. Try not to take it personally when an application doesn’t work out, it usually is more about them than you, and the numbers game works against you. Hang in there, you’ll pull through if you keep at it

Start job hunting

I was also recently laid off. Regional management for retail support. Piggybacking onto this thread for any useful tips.

Open document with your plan. Make it actionable using planning techniques.

Keep a diary, it is free style and meta.