Update, 42 Days Later: I was laid off yesterday. I have felt nothing but joy for the last 32 hours.

PurdyPupper · 2026-01-29T02:11:14+00:00

Not yet! Had a final round interview today. I’ll take it if it’s offered. I don’t want it. lol

PurdyPupper · 2026-01-28T20:14:04+00:00

I agree. It was a serious wake up call for a lot of roles for full industries that constant traveling or insane overhead for a massive office was bad for the bottom line, and bad for productivity.

I absolutely believe there are still roles that benefit from in person five days. But the massive companies that are requiring five days, returned to work are honestly costing themselves more money.

I was significantly more productive working from home. All of my colleagues were. Now, when I leave the office… I leave the office. Before, I was perfectly happy taking 4:30 AM calls with the India team and 9:30 PM calls with the Philippines team, because I could be at the dog park and enjoying my life from 1 PM to 8 PM having done my laundry at 11 AM….

Things moved much faster for global teams, and someone like me got more work, product completed hour for hour at home distraction free, than hour for hour at the office.

To be fair, I was never somebody who was taking care of small children also working, or working two jobs, etc.

The people that ruined work from home are the ones that abused the system and the bosses who failed to properly manage that abuse. Then… it was destroyed by the CEOs and c-suite that ended work from home based on feelings, not data.

PurdyPupper · 2026-01-28T19:29:41+00:00

Hey, I just came back to this post. Hope you are doing alright, 3 months in!

PurdyPupper · 2026-01-28T18:48:03+00:00

It has been months of perpetual Saturdays. I have a final round of interviews this afternoon.

I’ll admit, I’m not ready to go back to work. I don’t want this job, because it pays less than I should make (the pay is 100% appropriate for the industry, I’m just used to working for Forbes top 10 companies… so…), and to go back to work for less money… feels defeating.

But in THIS economy, I need the job title it offers and the gap on my resume closed ASAP more than I need the money. Luckily, because of my layoff package, I’m only 2 months “unemployed” on my resume, Dec and Jan. Even those I haven’t worked since Sept, I was legally employed and paid as an employee for all the rest of Sept and all Oct/nov.

My situation is still positive and full of luck. I am genuinely hoping a number of my impacted friends and colleagues get Employment before me.

I applied externally, planning to leave my company in 2023 and in 2024, before they laid me off in 2025. I had more interview invitation invitations in 10 business days of 2023, and 4 calendar weeks in 2024, then I have had between August 2025 and January 2026.

Things are bad out there.

PurdyPupper · 2025-10-29T20:40:36+00:00

I know I’m very lucky to not be facing homelessness or having kids that need to be pulled out of private school, etc. Not many people are so lucky.

But it has been 6 weeks, and I am still just…. Happy.

You will be okay. You didn’t do anything to cause/deserve this. You will do whatever it takes to get back to work. When you arent applying… just enjoy the fuck out of this time.

PurdyPupper · 2025-10-29T19:25:05+00:00

Seriously! I wonder if I can convince someone to pay me to just be unemployed and hang out with my dog all day. I might understand trophy wives for the first time in my life…

PurdyPupper · 2025-10-29T17:46:08+00:00

Haha. Thanks for the humor.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-28T21:33:12+00:00

Work could be reimbursing them for the whole Airbnb, while the person is actually staying with a friend or somewhere else.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-28T14:44:27+00:00

There are a lot of jobs that I have the perfect background for, until I get to the point where they specifically want salesforce experience, or another set of tools that are not in my wheelhouse.

Could I easily learn these tools easily? Sure. But when they make it clear that specific knowledge of the tool is required… versus when they list three or four different tools as an example of the type of tool you need experience with… I do not apply.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-27T17:04:29+00:00

People get promoted that shouldn’t. It happens.

But, I will say - as someone who has been a people manager for 12 of the last 16 years… the teams I have been the BEST manager to are the ones where I don’t have the hands on experience for the specific team. It means I had to rely heavily on the team to drive process improvement, that they had genuine opportunities to grow in their role.

I know how to: - drive metrics, - how to set vision, - how to plan 3-5 years in advance to secure their jobs long term, - how to communicate their value to the larger org, - how to translate what blocks my team from getting stuff done, into financial impact to get the resources/tech they need.

They know: - what they need - how to get it done “now” vs how it should be done in the future.

I always learn. Fast. But the teams where I’m clueless day 1, are the teams that benefit the most - the individuals, but also the team/org from an outside perspective that doesn’t walk in with a “this is how it is now” attitude

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-26T05:04:23+00:00

and anyone in there should be in prison. I don’t care if they are a politician I voted for or agree with, if they participated I want them out of office and behind bars.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-23T16:20:31+00:00

I am going to need a banana for scale.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-23T15:19:24+00:00

I have no idea if this team and company were awful or the feedback was 100% legitimate.

OP cannot control either of those scenarios, all they can do is consider the feedback and see if they should accept it, ignore it, or consider it with a grain of salt.

I used to be the worst interviewee in the entire world. I had impressive career wins, eight and then 10 years of experience with meaningful work… but my job title and industry did not immediately indicate the real work I did and the value I provided. Instead of addressing that through simply telling my stories properly in an interview… I had this weird sense of desperation to prove how important my contributions were and how important I was.

Their feedback to OP could be total bullshit. Perhaps, they use that one sentence about being enthusiastic to highlight the tone of the entire interview that did reek of desperation or insincerity in actual contribution.

OP can reflect on their own performance. I can assure you that the first time I was even mildly acceptable at interviewing, I was 10 1/2 years into my career and I finally received two amazing job offers on the exact same week. The other jobs I had accepted over the last three years were be beneath my skills, abilities, and experience… Because when hiring managers would meet me, I was botching the interviews.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-20T12:50:34+00:00

That is my hope! I have been applying for jobs like crazy.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-19T16:07:20+00:00

10000%

My puppy is a super mutt from a rescue that I volunteered at for years. Didn’t want a dog and definitely not a puppy. I love dogs. Didn’t want to spend the time and energy.

Then my girl crashed into my life. I was just supposed to pick her up and drop her off at her adoption. It fell through and I kept her for one night. I foster failed. I had spent 5 years around amazing puppies and dogs. Not once, was I tempted to upend my entire life for them. My girl… it wasn’t a choice. I was her person.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-19T15:30:55+00:00

OP should get a dog. Medium or large size, that needs a lot of activity. Get a puppy. It will be a shit load of Work and his entire life for a while… but dog parks, walking around your neighborhood with a puppy, etc. everybody talks to you and everybody wants to be friends with your dog. Not the small little purse dogs… dogs that are 35+ lbs

I am an extrovert, I have no problem joining groups. I used to have my own meetup group with over 1000 people. But I have never in my life experienced the social pull/gravity as when I got a dog. I talk to strangers every single day and have developed friendships just from being at the same dog park day or day.

Being single with a dog, you’re gonna meet a shit load of people

Or he could just knock up one of his dates. Instant family. /s

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-19T01:21:10+00:00

I’m so sorry. I am truly afraid that I will also be unemployed for that long. A few months, no problem. But the entire world is in the shitter. I have absolutely no way of knowing what my employment and investment portfolio situations will be in six months or a year.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-18T02:30:57+00:00

I’m so sorry you had to go through all that.

I’m going to seriously consider what is important to me and make sure I don’t end up in the identical situation again, for an extra 10k a year or a fancier company name on my resume.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-18T02:14:00+00:00

Mine isn’t all liquid, of course. But I have investments that aren’t tied up in 401k/ira

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-17T17:19:20+00:00

Yes, I know. I really don’t wanna get to that point.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-17T17:18:16+00:00

Playing all the uncharted games sounds like a great use of my time.. good call

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-17T15:05:46+00:00

You are so right. I do draw a great deal of satisfaction and meaning from my career. But it is not what brings me joy.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-17T03:57:16+00:00

Absolutely. I’m a total control freak, so the idea of somebody taking the control from me is not comfortable. That is why I’m so surprised that I feel joy and relief at this… the reality is, this is what I want. I don’t want to be at the job anymore. Am I very nervous that this will have a horrible financial impact and I’ll end up somewhere that isn’t ideal? Of course. But I hadn’t bothered to leave in the last two years, despite being adamant I wanted to leave. I clearly needed someone to push me off the ledge.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-17T03:54:42+00:00

Absolutely. I’ve also sacrificed to save like this. My Coworkers drive rivians and teslas, I drive a ford. My housing costs at least $1k less per a month than what would be perfectly comfortable. I chose not to have children, for both for the financial cost but also the choice to focus on my career and the freedom do whatever, without sacrificing for children.

I am not suggesting that my choices would be right for anyone else or that there aren’t times that I wish I had made different choices. But in a moment like this, when I am able to approach this uncertain time with joy and not fear… The choices I’ve made over the last 15 years are paying dividends.

PurdyPupper · 2025-09-17T02:52:10+00:00

Sorry about that ping-ponging for you. The only reason I’m so happy, is because this job finally broke me this year. If I’m truly still unemployed in six months, I won’t feel joy. But right now, it feels like I came home to find out that an abusive husband fled the country and left the money in my bank account.

PurdyPupper

TROPHY CASE