I feel fortunate it's not layoffs that made me cynical. But working for mid and big companies.
I had the incredible luck of starting my career as the first hire and thus lead developer right out of college. The startup which hired me eventually ran out of steam, but the experience I got is priceless.
Now big corporations on the other hand are a shit show, and from what I can tell have always been a shit show. Have laid me off 3 times. And none of it has affected me much. Always quickly found another good position, and that's with being absolutely terrible at live coding challenges.
I'd say try to find work you're interested in. If you can, also try to keep your commute as short as possible. And live in a place you like.
And good luck.