> It was always employees being let go suddenly and on a whim.
I don’t have that experience. Nobody in my circle has ever been let go. Meanwhile many of them have gone through 4 or 5 employers in the past 15 years.
> I don’t have that experience. Nobody in my circle has ever been let go.
In the last 27 years, I've worked for more than 20 companies. Maybe 5 as a contractor that didn't go FT. Many startups, some name brands. I have been let go (or ongoing contract not renewed) ~6 times - hard to know with contracting when it's sometimes a factor of budgeting. Suffice to say, I have quit far more positions than removed by the actions of my employers. I have been at my current position ~7 years with 1 promotion. I fully expect that I will be let go out of the blue one day.
To prepare for this, I save aggressively. I do interviews with other companies from time to time for practice. Meta, Indeed, Nintendo, whatever. I work on the weekends from time to time, trying new technologies and picking at the low-hanging fruit that might make me more robust in the job market.
This is the state of the industry and will be for the foreseeable future. Losing a job involuntarily sucks. Interviewing sucks. Looking for jobs sucks. All that being said, it's still the best way to get a better job (whatever that means to you). I'm an old man and I'm at the peak of my ability. I do wonder when it will go upside down for me.
I don’t have that experience. Nobody in my circle has ever been let go. Meanwhile many of them have gone through 4 or 5 employers in the past 15 years.