[YZF]

You do you. If you can't stand your current job then look for a new one while doing your best at the current one. There are jobs out there and it's much easier to find a job while you have a job. Are you learning? Can you pivot a bit with your current employer to do something more interesting? Are you paid well?

Ignore the articles. In the worst times of the dot com bubble burst you could still find interesting jobs. The aggregate is the aggregate and you are you. These are somewhat weird times but the companies are piling in money and will need to find ways to put it to work. AI not taking our jobs any time soon.

[wucaworld]

I find your second sentence very difficult to pull off in practice, if you have any sort of responsibility (e.g. kids). Modern interviews seem to assume you have a lot of time to dedicate to prep.

In the old days, one could prep while on severance. But those seem to be becoming. Less generous and in some cases being skimped on through shenanigans.

[AnimalMuppet]

Don't prep by doing leetcode. Skip leetcode places and places that expect multi-hour homework assignments as part of the interview process. Doing so narrows your options, but does not eliminate all openings. (In fact, I consider both leetcode and homework assignments to be negative signals about the company, or at least the team, so this can be a net win.)