Ask HN: Laid off, need advice on next steps | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Laid off, need advice on next steps

4 pointsumbrella119 comments

Hi HN, I’m a long term visitor/contributor here under a throwaway.

I was laid off last week from my job as a Product Manager at a company I’d been with for 2.5 years. Prior to that I was a PM with 2 different startups over a span of 3 years (i.e., about 5 years Product experience with 3 different companies).

I was really unhappy in my last position, and frankly view I the layoff as a thinly veiled blessing. I was planning to leave anyway, they just expedited the decision for me. My mood in the last week alone has been so much happier, lighter, healthier, than the last year or so of corporate misery.

I hope to relax and regroup over the next couple of months. But I am still not sure what my next steps should be. I know I should keep the momentum of my career in Product, and try to land a comparable position at a better-fitting company. I have about six months of runway before I will need to start earning an income again.

I’m 35 years old, and also have an unprecedented level of freedom. I’m single, no kids, though I do have a dog. I live in Southern US. If there were ever a time to make a big move and start over somewhere new, I believe it’s now.

I’d love to know how others have approached this type of life situation. Do you have any advice for me? How should I think about this stage of my life? How do I decide where to go next, what to do next? I don’t want to squander this period, where I feel unburdened, energized, and optimistic.

A few other facts that might be relevant: I’m LGBT, I’m creative and have recently dove into some new passions: painting, writing, and video making. In my dream world I would make a living out of my creations, though the pragmatist in me doesn’t see how this is possible in six months.

Thank you for any and all advice you might have for me.

I feel for you. My startup collapsed about a year and half ago and I was thrust into the job market.

I would say start hunting ASAP because it is likely to take most or all of the 6 months to find what you want. I would also recommend getting a career counselor. I used someone from placement.com. The coaches know what is going on w/ the job hunt world and how to set yourself up on LinkedIn and Indeed to start getting replies. There are definitely tricks to the trade.

I found the job hunt terribly depressing and dehumanizing, so steel yourself against that. It took me a few hours every day to properly research and reply to all the right ads, even though most would ignore me and several dragged me through long processes only to ignore me after that. So just expect that and know that it's not you.

As for switching up your career, I get that, too! I was totally worn out and I asked myself what my dream job really would be. I've always loved video games and spent my career in business and web software development, so I put the focus on trying to get into the gaming industry -- and was successful! It can work for you, too. My in was to find a bridge from what I have already worked on to what the game studio needed.

Good luck in your hunt and thanks for sharing your story!

Thank you for your response and support! Your comment about video games makes me think about the areas of tech I‘m interested in but thought were inaccessible to me (e.g. video and art). So you inspire me to consider those as real possibilities to pursue.

> I would also recommend getting a career counselor. I used someone from placement.com.

Was this very expensive? I’ve been out of work for too long. I had an easier time finding work when I was first trying to get into the field with no experience. I’ve already wasted time and money on resume rewrites that turn out to be useless though.

It was not and it was worth it in my case. My resume needed very little help. What I didn't know was how to get past the filters and processes that are used now. If you're good at that, you may not need help, but I did get more responses after I really beefed-up my LinkedIn (grueling) and wrote individualized reply letters to every match that I liked from Indeed.

no advice in particular that you should listen to except that every year over 35 prob counts against you - market seems pretty bad right now, too, but i'm not sure how bad - might just be me. in either case, 6 months looking might be optimistic, esp if you hope to land a job at or near the same level - whether pm, sr pm, etc. and that might be no matter your particular skillset, desired IT position, experience, etc. we're a few months out from the layoffs, so maybe things start easing a bit now, but who knows.

i'm finally being pushed into trying to go from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur - it's not working out for me (yet?), but it's def exhilirating. and i still have this feeling that as soon as i do it, i'll be like 'FUCK!' -- as in, why didn't i do this x years ago? i, like a lot of people, have tried to try, but not _really_.

my particular view on life is, as an americano/whitey/male/etc., i have literally 1Mx more opportunity, thus responsibility, to do good/important shit than the literally billions of other people who do _not_ enjoy what i do, so that's a driver to me to actually try to do something useful/meaningful w/ my time on earth.

but it's also just selfish - i want it - i don't think humans were made to take orders from a dictator, and it's a/the reason i've always had problems with having my own personal dictator - whoever happened to be my boss.

That's awesome that you're moving to real deal entrepreneur. I relate a lot to what you said. I'm not male but otherwise do have a crap ton of privilege in my life. And beyond that, like you said, I want it too (it being, business success, to make an impact, to be financially independent). Good luck and if you're open to sharing I'm curious what your business is and how you're starting it.

Hi. Had similar thing happening to me about 15 years ago. I was bit younger than you and had a kid. I jumped to consulting and did that for a 10 years then worked couple of years in a startup as a manager. Then I started my own business. Looking back now, I could have started my business a lot earlier. No regrets though.

If you have savings, travel. Especially in Europe you might be able to take that 1/2 years off just for yourself and your passions.

Thank you for your perspective. I was also considering consulting. Re Europe, incidentally I am going there in August for a family wedding, and I plan to stretch the trip out for at least a month.

Coming back to your comment about starting a business. If you're open to sharing, how did your business come about, and why do you say you could have done it earlier?

I'm asking because my long-term goal is to run my own business, and I'm wondering if I'm ready to do so now or if it would indeed pay off to wait and gather more experience and know-how, or if you'd recommend just going right fo rit.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com