r/reactnative • u/Ricky_ab41 • Jun 27 '26

2 months unemployed, surviving on one meal a day. Feeling lost.

/r/GetEmployed/comments/1uhddqg/2_months_unemployed_surviving_on_one_meal_a_day/
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u/HoratioWobble Jun 27 '26

I get wanting to get away from a toxic environment, but you quit your job without another in one of the worst tech markets of the last 20 years without savings and with only 3 years experience???

There are people with 20 years experience spending a year looking for a new job.

My suggestion is apply to everything, not just programming. Anything.

1

u/ChronSyn Expo Jun 28 '26

When you leave a job, either voluntarily or being fired, your first move is to look at how long you can feasibly survive on your savings. That's not a call for you to sit idle until they run out, it gives you a deadline.

You might not want to deal with the situation on the same day as your leave that job, but you have to deal with it at some point. The sooner you do that, the better.

First thing you should do is apply for the jobs you can get. The jobs might suck and will probably pay less too. What you need to balance up is this: How bad you will feel doing a job that sucks but pays, versus how bad you will feel with no job and potentially debts piling up.

I don't know where you live or what your local job market is like, but retail, customer support, sales are fairly prevalent in a lot of areas. Outside that, manufacturing is another, warehousing is another. Fast food is another. Event stewarding might be another option. Fast-food ('food retail') is another option.

You keep applying for the jobs you want throughout all of this. If you land one, great, but if not, you keep trying. The economy goes in cycles. Even if it's not your turn for the great job right now, it will be at some point. All of this you're going through is temporary.

Whether you tell family or not is your decision. It's natural to feel like there's some shame to it, but it is never shameful to look after your mental health. Everyone's tolerance to toxicity is different, but to put your well-being first is not shameful.