Having the support of a friend is always good when you go through life’s trials and tribulations. To that end, I have an unemployed buddy whom I shall call “DeShawn”. DeShawn and I go way back when we both worked on the first skate game. We’ve been friends for a while now. In fact, he moved into my building with his then-girlfriend about two years ago. Since then, he’s bought his own apartment which is in a new building just half a block from where I live.
DeShawn got laid off from his job a few weeks ago which is unfortunate. If there was a silver lining to that, it’s allowed us to be both focused on getting that next job. Since he’s not a software engineer, we don’t go for the same positions but we both tell each other if we see a company with a job opening. We compare notes in person about twice a week, usually over lunch or dinner. It’s been extremely helpful to have someone who is dealing with the same set of circumstances as sounding board for ideas and suggestions. It also helps to combine all our contacts in the industry to see what is out there in terms of opportunities.
We both hope we won’t have all this free time for much longer.