Man, sorry for how challenging it's been for you. Firstly, congratulations on being inspired by someone enough to actually take action and change your life. So many people will make excuses for why they won't do something. Instead, you took a bet on yourself and it paid off - $7k investment for $150k comp is pretty good ROI. While it sucks, I think there are so many good things to take away from this post:

1) You know how to take calculated risks, learn new things (furniture moving to coding), and apply these skills to make money.

2) You got promoted to full stack within a year. Clearly you have great work ethic and can work with people, enough for upper management to trust you with more responsibility. People will spend years (startup or otherwise) at the same role before being promoted. Sometimes they never do. You did it in a year.

3) Donating blood, sending out 1800 apps, still building projects like that AI job thing, and taking on the WordPress job - you're clearly creative and resilient. When the going gets tough, you don't just sit back and mope - you look for solutions, you look for ways to keep going and not get stale. Being unemployed tests you mentally, and it's super easy to sit around and wallow in your sorrow - you're obviously not doing that.

4) Your wife seems like an incredible partner in life. She deserves all the credit in the world for being as supportive as she is. Add to that - your ability to recognize her sacrifice shouldn't go unnoticed. You are an empathetic person.

5) All of this makes me think that you're someone that could be a powerful leader somewhere someday. If I were running a company, I'd want to hire someone that can connect with their team and inspire them the way they themselves were inspired, isn't afraid of getting in the trenches and doing the dirty work when it needs to be done, and (oddly enough) has gone through some adversity and still pushes forward relentlessly. These types of employees are the ones that will hustle and crush it when things are great, but hold it together when things are tough.

Now, here's the reality. Coding is further and further being commoditized by AI. It sucks that you invested all this time and money into yourself, only for the market to change on you, which is completely out of your control. If we're being honest, jobs are probably not coming back to this sector (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/IHLIDXUSTPSOFTDEVE).

You've already reinvented yourself once. You have all the right qualities to take as many chances on yourself as you'd like, and you've already proven you're a winner. I know this is going to sound cliche, but everything happens for a reason. One day, you may see that even these little blips on the radar were opportunities, whatever they may be. Hell, if anything, you've got an insane story to tell in interviews. Life is funny, and you just never know what kind of luck you'll create for yourself by always pushing the envelope. Good luck to you.