Happy Easter, everyone. I hope you all had a great Easter weekend with your family and friends. It was a beautiful weekend to celebrate, and amazing to see the confluence of Easter, Passover, and Ramadan. I hope all of your celebrations have been equally blessed. This time of year, the grass is starting to grow, the trees are putting out their leaves, and flowers are blooming. It’s a time of rebirth, which seems very apropos, given we’re three weeks into a new start of our own. New growth builds on previous expertise and experiences, so let’s start by looking back at where we’ve been.

Looking back

Another characteristic I appreciated about Indeed was the autonomy in the Engineering organization. I regularly saw teams given the leeway to set their goals, the measures of success, and the methods to accomplish their plans. I know this isn’t the case everywhere within Indeed and isn’t common in other companies I’ve worked at, but it was something I found impressive about Indeed. 

We have autonomy in spades now that we’re laid off, but it’s a double-edged sword. We have the freedom to do everything and the opportunity to do nothing. We have to provide the structure for ourselves on how we utilize our time. As for me, I’m trying to balance time spent networking with time spent in self-development. Networking with those laid off and in the workforce rekindles old friendships and opens new opportunities. Self-development means journaling about what’s next in my career and “sharpening the saw” by writing some code again.

Even after you find your next job, this sense of and desire for autonomy will not immediately disappear. In fact, according to this HBR article, autonomy is now a key driver in selecting jobs and staying with companies. I appreciated the suggestion to focus on principles over policies and the breakdown of self-determination into autonomy, competence, and relatedness. (12 min read)

Looking forward

I’m hearing some stories of laid-off employees finding their next role and want to say “Congratulations!” to each of you. I know some roles will take longer, so some will be searching for some time. For you, my advice is “keep your hopes up.” Opportunities are out there even in hard times; they’re harder to find.

When you’re interviewing, most companies will give you several opportunities to ask questions (if they don’t, it’s a pretty big red flag for me.) While this article is specifically about interviewing for a VP of Engineering role, this set of questions to ask when interviewing should be a valuable resource. (8 min read)

Today’s Tip

After two weeks in a row of LinkedIn tips, I wanted to branch out and suggest some new tools. I realized a little too late that with our health insurance expiring at the end of the month last month, I should have decided earlier which insurance to get for this month. I knew I had the fallback option of COBRA coverage which could be reinstated retroactively, but I did not connect the dots that many open-market insurance plans don’t take effect until the start of the next month. It’s not a huge issue to have a one-month gap in insurance; however, since we had several appointments scheduled this month, it is a challenge. So, for those who’ve been putting off this work, if you’re considering a non-COBRA plan and you want coverage next month, be sure you get the selection made before the end of this month.

Fun Stuff

Sorry for the bit of language in this week’s fun stuff, but these are pretty tame and all too appropriate right now.

Editing your resume and …

Finally, getting back to the gym like:

Final Words

If I can help with your search, please get in touch with me. Please give me feedback on what you like or don’t care for in this newsletter, and I’ll adjust. For full transparency, I have no affiliation with any of the tools, companies, or resources I share. These are my impressions, not tainted by any outside influences. https://onlynewmistakes.com/