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I found out that the most important skills in the IT industry is the bullshit skill. That's the kind of skill you need to build.
1. Live below your means. 2. Have 6+ months living expenses in cash equivalent. 3. Build retirement / investment savings. 4. Build skills and be able to demonstrate you can ship product. I've seen many co-workers get laid off in my career, they all landed back on their feet.
I found out that the most important skills in the IT industry is the bullshit skill. That's the kind of skill you need to build.
that's the best F-You skill you can ever have IMO. You want to be in a position where if you get laid off you make a phone call while walking out and have another job that very day.
You can start this as simply as messaging people you work with or use to work with on linkedin.
So, I started my own web dev company and grew it from myself to 20 full time employees in ~4 years before selling it.
I thought I had FU skills back in 2008 and maybe I did, but it was no match for the macro economic climate.
The fallback might not be another full time job, but instead freelancing or starting your own company.
The thing that helped me the most was building a “FU Network”. Keep in touch with past coworkers and clients and do good work consistently. They were there for me when I needed them most.
Having the skills to do the technical work is only part of the answer. I've met a lot of brilliant programmers in my career who were not good at following through on commitments, delivering work, working with others, or leaving old workplaces without burning bridges.
On the other hand, I've known a lot of good-but-not-great programmers who were great to work with, made sure they got their work done to good standards, worked hard to overcome skill gaps or looming deadlines when necessary, and left a good impression everywhere they went.
The latter group (good reputation, good communication, good networking) will always have a list of people happy to hire them back. That's what you want.
Also, avoid the trap of thinking that social skills are "bullshit" or other cynical dismissals. Business is more than just writing code and avoiding peers. Results are delivered by teams, not individuals. Knowing how to be a good team member is a crucial skill.
By Monday you might wish you had been.
It is less frightening if you can go through the motions and see all the other opportunity.
I also agree with all the advice to be kind.
The only thing that actually helps is to not amplify your emotional reactions, and instead encourage them to quiesce. The standard cognitive approaches are to consider yourself lucky (by thinking of those less lucky), or to see the situation as transitory, or just distract yourself. However, cognitive approaches are the cart leading the horse; it's more direct to pay attention to the emotion until it dissolves.
More broadly, there are plenty of less dynamic industries, where loyalty matters most and you get security. But you chose tech typically to make a certain kind of difference, and it's worth the risk and anxiety. You're part of the community only after you've been through the suffering and understand how quickly it can all go up in smoke :)
1. Live below your means. 2. Have 6+ months living expenses in cash equivalent. 3. Build retirement / investment savings. 4. Build skills and be able to demonstrate you can ship product. I've seen many co-workers get laid off in my career, they all landed back on their feet.
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