Ask HN: Laid-off from Big tech, found new job and still very unhappy
Like many, I been laid-off by a big tech a while ago. I still feel I haven't managed to recover emotionally from this despite doing therapy.
I work mostly with webdev and had top performance, but they've decided to abandon most R&D efforts in my country in Europe.
I have a new job, but it isn't anywhere mentally stimulating as the previous one, as to get where I was, I worked really hard. I'm my 30s and have had a good career so far, but now it seems I went back a few years, perhaps almost a decade.
It might sound silly as there are plenty of people still looking for a new job. But I find my current job sad, the scale of work is minimal and it isn't growing at all, but it helps to foot my living expenses. Also, it was a huge pay cut to come back to my local job market.
But I wish I could back to big tech and work in really interesting problems, with scale etc. But at least in Europe for my skillset, this looks over. Most interesting companies now are mostly only hiring in US.
I feel also limited because I don't have the money to say fuck you and try something new for a few years without income.
I'd like to have back this excitement back, of working in a big and important thing and I'm wondering what are the next steps, there are a few possibilities:
- Try to re-skill in AI (I did some courses, understand linear regression etc, but nowhere as good as to be even a junior ML eng) - Further specialize and try to get back into Big Tech again when the market is better - Try to build a company (etc).
Perhaps if you have been into this situation, I'd like some enlightement that would help me deal with it.
I don't feel well at all. My work has always mattered a lot to me and now my skillset is suddenly not that interesting anymore. I feel in despair.