This just happened to me, too. There’s lots of great advice in here, but an important one is to apply for unemployment. It won’t be anywhere near what you were making, but it will definitely help stretch your finances.

Does anyone have thoughts regarding either hiring a resume writing service or just putting it through AI? AI is free and might help get past some early screening, but it also just feels… Wrong. On the other hand, I imagine these resume services just do exactly that. I’d love any thoughts or advice on this

OP can you please give us an update about what happened? I see your edit but if you can share more please do.

Either way take care we are all wishing you well ❤️

In addition to the great advice in this thread, as a dev you were probably working in one stack for those 7 years. When that happened to me, I realized that my skills were out of date. So I did some leetcode grinding to get current. Also, lots of jobs use leetcode-type screenings now, so best to get proficient there. It sucks but that’s the way it is now.

Most of the advice here is good. The less you say the better. Don’t sign anything. If they ask if you can do anything for them that’s not COMPLETELY standard (returning keys and equipment is obviously fine.) say “I need to think about it”. Don’t let them push you around.

Don’t sign anything they give you, ask to take it home and take the time to read and understand it first.

In the meeting:

• Stay calm and maintain professionalism. Don’t show fear. Just try not to show any emotion.
• Take notes about anything that seems relevant to your layoff. PRO payouts, when your final day will be, any severance pay you might be getting, etc.
• Ask about COBRA benefits. But don’t go ahead with incoming those unless it’s necessary over the next few months, because they usually suck ass (cost a lot).

And some general advice:

• Look up how to, and then tee up, an application for state unemployment benefits. As soon as you’re laid off officially you can pull the trigger on that.
• Get personal contact info for anyone at your job who could be a good professional reference.
• Get copies of any work-related certificates that might be useful in future jobs.
• Try to find the good tech recruiters in your city or region. There’s usually at least one among all the crappy ones. Ask colleagues/friends if you don’t know where to stay. Avoid the sweatshops like Accenture unless absolutely necessary.
• Update your resume on LinkedIn and start looking for new opportunities. But I wouldn’t flip your status to ‘looking for work’ because you’ll probably just get flooded with spammers and scammers. But look on the down-low yourself.
• Determine which subscriptions you can cancel to save some money, because if you get laid off it’s belt-tightening time.

Good luck!

They may offer you a severance agreement. These are negotiable, you can always ask for more prioritizing what is the most important and/or where they will be flexible:

Larger severance payment amount Longer healthcare subsidy Pto types balance payouts not already mandated by law Keep your computer, phone or other hardware Reference (if important for your area/industry) or neutral employment verification Etc.

Save anything you think you might need that’s attached to a work account, like emails/contacts. You might be locked out soon.

Where are you based? Labour law varies quite a bit worldwide.

If it’s going to happen, just play cool. If they terminate you, you don’t have to agree to anything or say anything you don’t feel like.

7 years is a good tenure. You can apply for new jobs from a strong position. Learn to leverage your sales pitch for what you learned and how you grew in those 7 years - that’s the story your next employer wants to hear. What are you finally good at? What did you fuck up and learn a valuable lesson from? Tell stories about that kind of shit in your next interviews.

Establish lines of communication with coworkers you want to maintain contact with. LinkedIn is good enough. You just want to be able to contact them for a reference on your job hunt. Prospective employers want to talk to them - so pick people that will sell you the best. They aren’t going to call your previous employer and ask how you did - fuck the company. Keep lines open with people you want to, and set them up while you’re still employed and can exchange emails with them.

What do you want to know in the meeting? Just ask. You aren’t under any obligation to answer any questions but you can ask whatever the fuck you want. It is unlikely to have any impact on the rest of your life if you ask a question or don’t. You’re done with these people. Don’t feel like you have to be obedient or indulgent.

If this is how it goes, that sucks. I know the anxiety that comes along with it. The last time I got laid off, I was even looking into fucking military service. Don’t panic and make rash decisions like I almost did. A gap in cash flow is scary as shit but you will bounce back and hit a new stride. The uncertainty is just shitty.

Good luck!

Ask for severance pay. I have previously been in your position and got 1mo/yr of employment. So you should ask for 7mos of pay as severance.

Why are you being laid off? Is it a company wide thing?

Make sure to get phone numbers from your coworkers and managers that you like for use as references for future jobs.

Hang in there. It sucks but you can get through this. Spruce up your resume. Think about what matters to you. Message me privately if you want to talk more. Take care and good luck.

I don’t know how important or even possible a portfolio is for a dev job, but if the field is something where you need to provide examples of past work to future employers try to go ahead and save copies of your best highlights if you haven’t already been doing that. I hadn’t saved examples of my work from one of my first jobs but I made it a habit at future jobs after getting laid off from that job. It’s easier to do it as you go along. Even if you don’t show the actual project to a prospective employer, keeping them can help jog your memory for projects to highlight.

probably a career change tbh.

yer not gonna like how hard it is to get another job in the field

File for unemployment and, if you want to keep your insurance, COBRA. If not, apply through your state’s marketplace.

Definitely don’t copy source code and any documents you have access to.