Compound AI layoffs with outsourcing and its a dangerous time to be a software engineer in the US. I look at the current job environment with dismay. I really don't like my current role and it provides almost no benefit to my resume as i work in such a specialized niche industry but it pays well and I see no alternative. So I just clock in each day, do what i have to do and clock out dreading the next morning when I have to clock in again. I have maybe 2 years until this position winds down so am trying to do whatever I can to prepare for whats next.
Insulate your house with cash as much as possible, I understand better than most that saving is possible sometimes and not others, but to the degree possible? Stack it up.
Cash on hand is leverage in tech employment just like anywhere, but amolified during periods of structural demand shift. If one can get a year or three of easy runway, one can reskill/upskill into stuff with demand shifting into it. Right now I'm screwing around with Jetson boards and stuff like that: LLMs may cone and go but robots are here to stay.
And even the BATNA of "I'll go do OSS full time for a year" is leverage with your current employer. People with options are less likely to be fucked with in the first place.
> its a dangerous time to be a software engineer in the US
Eh - it's a dangerous time to be a software engineer anywhere.