maniclucky's journey

I'm feeling really overwhelmed right now. I've been job searching for 8 months after being laid off from my data analytics position, where I had been working for 7 years. I even completed my master's in data science last year, hoping it would open new doors for me. Unfortunately, the job market has been brutal, and I'm feeling the weight of my current situation. At my last job, I was already buried under double the workload for a year, and despite promises from management, nothing has changed. With a coworker about to go on maternity leave, I'm bracing myself for even more stress. I don't have a professional network outside of my company, which makes it tough to find new opportunities. I've tried using some AI tools to help with my job search, but they haven't been useful. I can't showcase my work since it all belongs to my previous employer, and I'm not in a position to accept a lower salary because we're barely making ends meet. I'm really questioning whether I should just give up and do the bare minimum at my current job while waiting for the market to improve. It's exhausting, and I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.