What do you do if you're a software engineer facing a layoff and want to grow personally and professionally?

Facing a layoff can be a challenging situation, but it also presents an opportunity for personal and professional growth. Here's a plan you might consider: Continuous Learning: Make use of platforms like Coursera, Udemy, or LinkedIn Learning to acquire new skills and deepen your knowledge. Consider courses in emerging technologies, management etc. Networking: Build and maintain relationships within your industry by attending meetups, conferences, and networking events. Networking can lead to job opportunities, mentorship, and valuable insights into industry trends. Freelancing/Contract Work: Consider taking on freelance projects to gain experience, expand your professional network, and maintain financial stability during your job search.

- Reflect on current skillsets and think about the new skillsets for the new position which you aim to target. - Many times, we under-estimate our own skills and need to come up with a better way to present them, rather than dismissing them as being unimportant.

Nowadays, for upskilling, all we need is just a computer, a good internet connection, and some enthusiasm on some topic(s). There are plenty of resources to learn from and contribute to freely.

Always a bit daunting, although always look at the positives. 1) More time with family and friends 2) A refreshing change and a new challenge to invest yourself in 3) Stick close to your normal working hours, but utilise the time to build a self improvement plan. Identify your weak areas and use your time between interviews to upskill where you think you are weakest in your technical domain. 4) Importantly being laid off is rarely your fault, do not dwell on this or self blame. You held the position before and there is another out there for you, go seek it out. Stay upbeat, I wish you well, remember transitions are just that..... temporary.

Network and be open about your situation. Ask for help and make sure to track each network and thank them genuinely who supports you . Chances of getting new jobs are more through networking rather than applying for thousands of companies.

Networking these days is as easy as searching for a topic on Linkedin or Github and find other people interested in the same topic. Then starting the conversation on the area of interest is not that difficult anymore.

In today’s world talent is not rare, so the competition is immense. Only a known and reliable contact can push your resume into the system. If not there is no way you could get an interview call. Another reason for this kind of recruitment to increase is that, people take an offer but never honor it. So unknown recruits are a risk to a proper plan. Actively participate in community events, grow your network, attend seminars, webinars and even paid events, connect with people, build new bridges. It’s not just for a job reference. This can aid you at work, you can bring in new business, or extend your business to give sub contracts to your connections for a winning situation. People who know you and your value are key to your chances.

There are plenty of open source repositories on Github (and similar platforms) that make the contribution feasible. Contributing to more popular project could be more difficult, since there are many contributors with different styles and different thoughts already. Forking and reviving an abandoned project could be another good way to contribute.

If you are unsure or inexperienced, my recommendation is to volunteer for a non-profit while searching. It helps with networking, upskilling, recent projects for your portfolio, avoid resume employment gaps, and/or a safer place to find yourself (personally and/or professionally) which will help narrow down which paths you want to take. When lost, any step will do.

Looks like the idea is scary and is the reason nobody responded :)- 1. Find out a group of people, laid off or who are willing to learn anything new by building their own project. 2. Start working in this group and ideate some of the challenges that the group thinks are good to solve and it will help in learning the tech concepts you want to use. 3. Share that you are building it, It keeps you on your toe to work daily on this project. Post weekly updates in any social media platform. 4. Work as if you were working in your office, or work more... Get it done as quickly as you can, but make sure you are learning everyday something new 5. Announce the completion and showcase it in your resume. 6. It is an startup idea now.

You have been working as software engineer and now you have the backbone, That's enough to reorganize yourself and focus on market needs and start on contributing with groups of people who are working on different projects and open new network of people to share your knowledge. be sure that you gonna be engaged with new roles from these networks.