Today starts my first full week of “funemployment” after nearly seven years at Indeed.com due to their recent layoff. I’m starting a weekly newsletter (hat tip to Brendan Sterne for his amazing newsletter when he was at Indeed) for a while to document progress, share tips, and keep my mind a bit busier while I find the right next role. I’m no expert on this space, just sharing my notes in the hope that they help someone out there searching. If I can help your search in any way, please reach out to me. I’ll probably vary the format of this newsletter for the first few weeks, so give me feedback on what you like or don’t care for and I’ll adjust. For full transparency, I have no affiliation with any of the tools, companies, or resources I’ll be sharing. These are just my impressions not tainted by any outside influences.

Looking Back

I’ve talked with a number of people who were very hurt by the layoff and I completely understand where they’re coming from. Personally, I’m mostly just feeling disappointed. I’ve definitely had moments where I’m deeply sad that my time in the Incubator is over, and been very upset about the stories of folks who are far more negatively impacted by the layoff timing (those with children on the way in particular.)

The best advice I can give and have seen repeated elsewhere is to spend some time reflecting. I couldn’t sleep the other night and took out my Remarkable (that’s another post for another time, but I highly recommend them for those who are curious) and jotted down a number of things I loved about my role, things I felt could have been better, what I wanted to do next, and people I should reconnect with. Unloading those things from my brain helped a ton and I was able to crash. Well, that and a healthy dose of melatonin. ;)

Forbes had a pretty straightforward article on coping with a layoff that I’d recommend. There are some good tips for getting yourself into a good place, and then taking on the immediate tasks of looking at your finances and healthcare to make sure you’ve got a good stable place to start. (4 min read)

Looking Forward

I’m fortunate to have several opportunities opening up, but I know that’s not the case for everyone. This read by Morgan Luce was a super short one, but very dense with tools and based on their search after their layoff. (2 min read)

This week my goal is to set up a system for tracking my next steps and to start filling it in with various opportunities that have already presented themselves. I’m planning to use Notion. I’ve only ever had a chance to dabble with it and wanted to learn more about it. Additionally, I’ll start looking through my network to see who’s hiring engineering leaders (more on that later.)

Additionally, I’m still trying to live the mission of “I help people get jobs.” I have time, resources, and a network, and I’ll be using them to help my fellow former Indeedians find their next good role. Reach out to me if I can help. My network is deepest here in Austin, but I do have connections across the globe as well.

Today’s Tip

Nothing revolutionary here: use your network. I dug into LinkedIn in earnest this morning and was able to pretty quickly find a number of roles in my network for former Indeedians. Mastering the quite powerful search functionality in LinkedIn is a great skill. I was able to filter to particular roles/titles, in my network, in Austin within just a few clicks and see exactly how I’m connected to those opportunities. (1 min video)

Several people in my network have already reached out to me and I’m looking at a number of opportunities in a number of different industries. It may not be my next “forever” job, but in this challenging market, I’m thankful that there are some great companies looking to pick up the amazing talent that’s being laid off from big tech. I know that’s one of my favorite parts of the job and I look forward to being back in those trenches soon.

Fun Stuff

You made it this far. Here are a few fun cracks at the layoff market and one cat gif to cleanse the timeline until next week.