I can't be the only person who wants to know what company could have abused an employee like this, if only to never apply to them or help support whatever godawful business they're trying to run.
Honestly I don't think they're bad. I have a lot of respect for a lot of the dev team and the product itself, which is why I'm so vague on details. Like I said in the post, I'm fairly private and didn't bring much up with anyone until the end, so I don't think anyone understood the situation. Actually one of the things that was encouraging during the past few months was remarks from former employees that [CEO] is a d…
That's why he was able and willing to screw you over like that.
Here's a brief overview: http://www.sociopathworld.com/p/portrait-of-sociopath.html .. but the rabbit hole goes pretty fucking deep.
While I sympathize with your situation, it serves as a good reminder to others that you should put off having kids until you're financially secure.
On a more positive note, just "fake it till you make it", and everything will be alright. There are plenty of dev jobs out there.