WideSkill4654's journey

I was an SDE at a non-tech company with 4 years of experience when I got laid off just over a month ago. Honestly, I thought my position was stable and didn't prepare for the possibility of losing my job, which I now realize was naive. I'm currently trying to get back into interview prep and working on LeetCode, but it's definitely been a humbling experience. I can imagine it's easier for those who had a heads-up about their layoffs, but for me, it was a complete shock. If a company had called me the next day, I wouldn't have been ready for an interview at all. I've heard from others in similar situations that they also felt unprepared, even after years in their roles, and now some companies are offering retention bonuses to keep their remaining staff. It's tough out here, and my response rate for job applications has been the worst I've ever experienced in my 20 years of work.