So you’ve been laid off. You’re in good company.

Every day for the past few weeks I’ve read posts on LinkedIn from people who have been let go who are now using their network to try to find opportunities. The sheer number of these posts isn’t surprising since Tech companies have been cutting back by tens of thousands, and in some cases more than once. I can’t recall a time it’s been this way since the early 1980’s. It’s bad.

I read with interest yesterday that the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the 10th consecutive quarter. Chairman Powell said he believed that there was a greater than 50% chance that a recession could be avoided. Thems pretty hollow words for Tech Workers, especially if you’re in recruiting or project management. For affected tech workers, we’ve been in a recession for almost a year.

Now the question becomes how to respond to a crummy situation.

As someone who has experienced a layoff, the thing I tried to remind myself of was that navigating your way to an actual job offer is in part timing and luck. Well, right now the timing sucks. It’s simple Econ 101. Too many headcount chasing too few jobs. That’s not your fault and there’s nothing that can be done about it in the short term. The good news is that history tells us tech will come back, and probably stronger than ever. We just don’t know when yet.

That leaves us with luck. I’ve never been too keen on relying on luck to get my mortgage paid.

So do we give up? No, of course not. But you might be best served by considering doing something different for a while to keep the bill collectors off your back. There’s no shame in changing course as life throws you curve balls. It’s should be seen as a sign of resiliency. The thought of taking a lesser title or a haircut in pay is a tough pill to swallow. I can speak to this from first hand experience. I once took a $15k whack and a lesser job to keep the money pipeline flowing. It took me a few years to get that back but at least I avoided a gap and kept the creditors at bay.

Multiple times I have seen peers not budge on potential opportunities because their pride wouldn’t let them take a non-management role or a perceived step down in any way. They hold out for the perfect opportunity and end up with nothing. I’ve seen houses lost and relationships destroyed over the inability to be flexible as the situation requires.

Another thing to consider might be that it’s possible you might actually like your alternative path better than sitting in scrum meetings and working the kanban board. A break from Remedy or JIRA might be just what the doctor ordered for your mental health.

Tech will come back and if it’s your life’s dream to work again in tech I’m sure you will, but a tech job doesn’t define you, or at least it shouldn’t. For some people I think having more of a pivot mindset could be helpful — at least in the short term. This is all about the psychology of the market right now. COVID happened. The supply chain got disrupted. Companies took a hit on their bottom line and got spooked.

It’ll change. I hope you can find something fulfilling to do that pays the bills.