[Scubabear68]

After getting laid off after the .com bust, I did a variation on 3), accepted a contract job with a terrible company. It got me by until the market improved and got a much better job.

The trick in a bad market is to understand that mostly the cool perks are gone, and for a time you need to lower your expectations. I think that is going to be very difficult in this cycle.

[hsuduebc2]

Out of curiosity. How long till things turned to be better in these days?

[ghaff]

It was years in my case but should arguably have been less. (It wasn't a crap job by any means but didn't pay well by many tech standards at that point.)

It's always been through personal contacts but I've surely been lucky.

[Scubabear68]

I held on to the crap job for 1 year 11 months. In 2004 I quit and found a Wall Street gig that was much better.