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This isn’t the title of a post I was expecting to write for at least another few years, but as of October 2, 2025, the company I had been working at for over the past 5 years determined it was in their best interest to go ahead and shut down the department I was in. I get it. It happens. I don’t have any negative feelings for them at all. While it came as a shock to many, the company handled the process with grace and gratitude for all of the hard work we had each put in.

Reality Check

However, this means that suddenly I’m back in the job market in a time where the competition is higher than ever, AI startups and vibe-coders are pushing the idea that programmers are cooked, and an economy that’s less than stable, not to mention a family + mortgage to consider. There’s also the fact that after the 2020 pandemic, employers were quick to change policies around remote work, often demanding that employees return to the office which of course has increased competition for remote positions even further.

Back around February of this year, my wife decided to take over a local bakery and catering company she had been working at after the two founding owners decided it was time for retirement. She currently has around 12 employees, dozens of repeat customers, and many businesses who purchase their products each week. Next, there are my kids to consider. We’re very fortunate to live in a great school district, and we love the little town we live in. Uprooting my family is the last thing I want to think about. I don’t live in a major tech hub like Seattle, and while Portland is the nearest major city, the vast majority of positions are over an hour’s drive when considering traffic. During the pandemic we decided we really didn’t need two cars since I worked from home, and so we would need to buy a second vehicle before I even considered accepting an offer.

So in short, remote work is really my only option. Fortunately I’ve had the pleasure of working with many amazing and talented people over my 20-year career. I’ve also had the opportunity to gain a huge wealth of knowledge and skills which are currently in high demand even with, or maybe even more so because of the rise of AI coding tools. I still can’t say however that I am without my share of anxiety, but there’s the fact that sometimes staying in the same position for years on end can mean growing rusty in skills you’re not currently using.

The Silver Lining

Maybe it was time for a change anyway. I had been feeling a considerable level of burnout for some time. I greatly enjoyed working with my previous team, and I’m sad that tomorrow morning I won’t be seeing them in standup... but perhaps it was because of the fact that I greatly valued my colleagues and wanted to see everyone succeed that I chose to keep skipping the chance to take a vacation. Maybe I should view the time I have now as the vacation I desperately needed.

Dusting Off The Resume 💨

Do you have any idea how hard it is to try and cram 20 years of professional experience into a single-page resume? In the past I figured “well, I’ll just put the highlights first and if someone cares to read further, it’s just a bit of scrolling” but a good friend of mine who has interviewed hundreds of people at Apple was awesome enough to give me some pointers. I also decided to toss it at ChatGPT to see what it had to say. My perfectionist side is still screaming “not good enough” but the real test will be in how many positive responses I get.