My bro lost his job last month. This month it was my turn.

[hurple]

21. 6 months

August 31, 2018 I was walked out of the job that I have had for the past 21 years (almost to the day). I worked for one of the BIG Insurance companies, that just switched CEO's 5 years ago, as a Systems Analyst, and for some unknown reason the new CEO decided 2018 was a great year to cut investment in the systems department. Over a thousand were cut from that department. I was one.

It took 6 months, because of a glut of talent in the marketplace, and was the hardest thing I've ever been through in my life (and our house burned down taking *everything* my family ever owned with it 6 years ago) but I finally found another job. It pays $20,000 less than I was making, setting me back by a decade, but it has better benefits than the job I left (seriously, my first year I'll get more PTO than I was getting in a year at the old job after 20 years!) and a PENSION (which I thought I'd never have again)

It took so long because,

1) I'm 50.

B. My only Systems job has been at the insurance company, I'm entirely self-taught, and the "technical interviews" given by 99% of employers are biased against the self-taught, and older, programmers.

III - I'm not a very good interview.

6 months of fighting, not sleeping, depression and no healthcare has taken a serious toll, though. I could not get motivated to exercise (I do DDPYoga of all things) so I gained 30 lbs, and I look like I've aged about 20 years.

I sent out over 350 resumes, and interviewed so many times I've lost count (dozens, there were weeks I had at least one interview every day). The vast majority of them gave me the feedback "the interview went well, but... " followed by informing me there was another candidate that had some obscure experience in a tool or software that I've never even heard of... so they hired that person instead.

I filed the check-in for my very last unemployment check an hour before I received the email informing me of the job offer. And, I've still got 1/2 my severance money left (which wasn't as much as it should be IMO, but at least it'll help augment my new salary for a few years. I hope.

But, at least I won't be losing my house. (We got to build our dream house to replace the one that was destroyed, so losing that would have been devastating) I may not be able to eat every night, but I won't lose the house.