1) I've been laid off once. I got caught up in the massive layoffs during the MCI/Worldcom fall back in 2002. It was completely not performance related, and my entire division was let go at the same time.
2) The layoff itself was not a blemish, as far as I knew. The big issue was the simultaneous dotCom bubble burst. There was a huge glut of guys like me looking for work, and the jobs at the time just weren't there. What was worse, I was going from making a pretty high salary to applying for jobs at Blockbuster just to try and make ends meet. No one wanted to hire me because they knew it was just a temporary thing and I'll probably leave at my first opportunity.
3) No social stigmas beyond what I mentioned above. It was a long recovery though. I couldn't find anything for almost 2 years until some friends started their own company and brought me on board. I was only making about half of what I'd made previously, but I was happy to be working.
This was definitely the lowest point of my life. Couch crashing with friends and living in my mother-in-law's basement. Before this, I was turning down offers because I liked my job. This event severely humbled me, and now I'm absolutely terrified any time I see that my job might be in danger.
I've had many personal websites over the years, but they all eventually get forgotten, and get stale over time... eventually getting deleted and replaced when I come up with a new idea or want to play with some new web technology.
I think it just comes with the fact that I wasn't really doing anything interesting career-wise that a million other people haven't done already. However, my fascination with modern AI technology has got me ready to start either blogging or possibly vlogging again just to open up the discussions and get my thoughts and questions out there.
Are you suggesting Frontend is more enjoyable in general? I think it depends from person to person. As a Backend Dev/SRE, I'm currently learning React and have to admit that it's a very refreshing and rewarding experience, but I'm not sure if I would like that setup in a real job - that would probably mean more "fighting" with UX designers, stakeholders etc. compared to backend job.
I'm the same way. 25 years in the industry, though I consider myself a jack of all trades. Went from Oracle development -> ASP Classic -> C# -> PHP -> NodeJS. I think I'm pretty good at getting what needs to be done, but I absolutely fail when doing tests. I know how to program, I just may not know all the terminology and what... and if I don't understand something, google is always a few clicks away. Keeps me scared of looking for new opportunities though.
I've got the same mindset. In my case though, I feel it's mostly because I want to put my stamp on the world somewhere. As a web developer, I've built some pretty amazing sites over the last 20+ years in the industry, but I can count the number that still exist out there with just a few fingers, probably not even a good portion of one of my hands. I accept that as part of the industry that I'm in, but I've still got that nagging feeling of wanting to put something out there more permanent. So, I do game development, and art, and writing, and music production. Do I think I'm the next person to make it huge with any of these? No... it would be nice, but no. I just want to have something tangible out there that when I'm gone and forgotten, someone can load up an old game of mine, or listen to a track that I produced, or see an image hanging that I drew or painted, and for a brief moment, my legacy will live on.
Now, the problem I face, I've got way too many hobbies, and I'm not even to "Jack of All Trades" level for any of them... can't seem to focus my talents in any single direction.
Went through this a few years ago. My wife and I were having some hard times, and my marriage was right on the verge of falling apart. It affected everything in my life, and I just lost all focus for a few months. My performance sagged, projects fell behind. I knew this, and actually talked to my direct manager, and he said it wasn't a problem... at least until upper management realized and it became a problem. I got let go, and honest to god, it was probably one of the best things that happened to me. The work stress that I'd been feeling for months lifted, I was able to spend a little while focusing on my marriage (still together happily). I had many interviews, and was pretty much given the choice of the jobs I wanted. Within a month, I was fully employed and much happier with my new gig.
As for what I'd do differently, I would have tried to have more in savings. Would have been nice to have something to fall back on. Especially since at the time my wife was going through a career change as well.
The dread... I'm not sure what worried me more: my career failing, or my marriage failing. I think it was mostly the latter, and it felt I could do nothing right. Career-wise, I knew the writing was on the wall, I just tried keeping my chin up until I found myself hopelessly underwater and being flushed out. After that... things just got better. Probably not the norm, but it was in my case.
No real family support. My wife and I were both unemployed at the same time, and we were considered the safety net for everyone else in the family. We just cut the budget to pure necessities, and held on for dear life. Thankfully, it was a very short ride, and both of us found employment in weeks, and not months or years.
As for the change in management attitude, the only person I really talked to was my direct manager. I got small hints in the days before it happened that something was up, but no one told me outright, or acted any differently. The day of, I was just pulled into a room and told my services were no longer needed.
As for keeping the role on the resume, I'd say absolutely. You're going to get more questions about a "blank" than you will about a short gig.
Hope this helps, and good luck on your future endeavours!
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