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Ask HN: Facing unemployment – what now?

49 points octo888 | 2 comments | 16 May 25 18:36 UTC | HN request time: 0.462s | source

Hey everyone, I could really use some advice.

I’ll likely be out of a job soon — whether I’m fired or I quit first. Health issues, silent breakdowns, being on the spectrum, poor social skills have caused me to damage my work relationships beyond repair.

So, I'm planning my next steps.

Some context:

- I’m 40.

- I struggle with networking, so I have no professional connections.

- My savings can last about two year, and a part-time job could stretch that.

- I haven’t interviewed in years and get extremely anxious in interviews.

- I'm a tech generalist

- I'm quite disillusioned with tech + corporate world, and a bit burnt out. This AI hype, Agile, having to fake excitement about the latest shiny new thing, KPIs etc.

People say I'm pretty good with 2 non-tech things. There are some relatively easy (but not free) qualifications/courses I could do in those areas (I don't want to dox myself here with specifics). I'm open to being self employed.

I also would like to use this time to focus on my health (I have things I need to escalate with my doctor and I need to work on my body), see more of my family, and work on my mental health. I'd also be interested in using my skills for something other than making a rich person richer - something local, for a charity perhaps.

...or am I dreaming and this an indulgence I can't afford?

If you have advice, ideas, personal experiences, etc, I’d really appreciate it.

1. guga42k ◴[16 May 25 22:19 UTC] No.44010275[source]▶
A bit unorthodox advice, start lifting weights. Heavy. Aim to build strength, not muscles or look. 40s is a great age to do this, better than 50s for sure. For men, physical strength gives more confidence, and problems which you perceive hard will look less so when you are able to deadlift 500lb. And yeah, don't quit your current job without getting new one. Bad idea. And don't give away anything for free to your employer.If they want to fire you, make them sweat (in some places it is not easy process).

ps: speaking of taking 3-6-12 months off advises. Irrelevant of your situation, I think we are living through interesting part of the "hockey stick" curve when being out for one year could mean end of the tech career. Things move way too fast, and gaining velocity.

replies(1): >>44019534 #
2. octo888 ◴[18 May 25 06:59 UTC] No.44019534[source]▶
re your last paragraph, I'm not sure (another commenter told me to be more positive so here we go!)

In my ~20 year career, a huge amount of tech has just been: servers, frontend, backend, databases, queues, caches, auth etc. The big shifts have been gradual and evolutionary (eg NoSQL, OAuth, React, SaaS, Cloud)

Big fads that were going to disrupt tech work as we know it have not entirely lived up to their hype (at least from my perspective): No Code, Blockchain, Serverless, GraphQL, Big Data.

Tech is a lot of big companies who move very slow. Particularly outside of SV/US where there is less VC hype.

But, it could be different this time. It's of course something to keep an eye on, particular if I feel I need to ride the hype train to get back into things