[edw519]

I have been a professional programmer for 44 years and have NEVER had "job market anxiety". Why? Because I sincerely believe that there is zero correlation between the job market and my ability to find work.

I don't pay attention to what anyone says about the economy, the market, or anything else macro, especially on the internet. And I have gone through times that were much much worse than now.

I never worried about losing any job because I was certain I could find another. The longest I've ever been out of work was for a few weeks.

A few tips:

  - Have x months expenses in the bank. Take the pressure off.
  - Have multiple resumes ready to go, programmer, analyst, sys admin, manager, even data entry.
  - Stay in touch with your network. Not to get a job. Just to stay in touch.
  - Keep your skills fresh. Always have a side project.
  - Remember we're not in energy, education, or manufacturing. Their cycles are killers. Our in tech are not. Everyone else depends on us.
  - Fuck anxiety. We build stuff out of nothing. We're stronger than bad news.

[smelly101]

This is all good and optimistic but is a little bit in denial of the currently reality.

I don't think it's super surprising news to anyone and most people have done everything you've mentioned and are still struggling to get a job so it seems a little cruel to place the blame on them when the market is gone.

[antisthenes]

> This is all good and optimistic but is a little bit in denial of the currently reality.

The current reality is still better than 2009-10, when millions of fresh grads even in technical roles went into economy with 11% unemployment and had to take close to min wage jobs if they could find them at all.

I have many peers still recovering from that recession, and some never found meaningful employment and are still in dire straits financially.

The current situation is far better in comparison, especially for techies who had a decade of cushy jobs to pad their safety net.