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Ask HN: I Need a Pep Talk

3 points by jsscss ↗ HN
Front-end dev here with two years' experience. I got laid off back in June and since then it's been a daily cycle of what seems like sending resumes out into the abyss. Has there been a time like this in your own career, when the job market has just felt hopeless? Perhaps you have recommendations for coping mechanisms? Affirmations to say into the mirror each morning?

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I got off deployment. Came home to a depressed wife. Cleaned up the place. Moved to a college town to do college on GI bill. No job lined up. College fell through. Had some money from terminal leave, enough for like 3 months rent at in a studio apartment. Rented said apartment. Applied at a restaurant. The restaurant was exploitative, could immediately tell at the interview. Didn't take the cook job. Applied everywhere in my field. No results for several weeks. Weeks turned to months. Started running out of money. Got a couple calls. Drove to an interview and got a flat tire on the way. Got it aaa'ed and got to the interview. I felt pretty hopeless. I remember watching cartoons while my wife slept. I remember spending a lot of time alone outside, silently smoking cigarettes and walking around in circles. I reached out to my brother and we played a few cell phone games, free stuff. Having a goal was important to me in hindsight. My wife and I played through the entirety of Undertale (I did the combat, she did all the other stuff). Got the job. It wasn't my first choice but I was out of money. Advice: don't be alone, spend time taking walks, reach out and talk to somebody, don't be too proud to take ask people for their time and energy, and what job you get might not be what you think you want at the time, but either way you can make it work out in the end. Good luck, stranger.