My Six Rs for Recovering After a Mass Layoff
Clinton Begin4 min read·Just now--
If you were impacted by layoffs at Coinbase, the news lands in a wider pattern, not in a vacuum. Major tech has run repeated waves of large reductions, and Coinbase is only the latest to surface in that cycle. This stretch can still be disorienting. Severance gives different people different runway. This is the first time I have been laid off in nearly three decades. I still believe in frameworks in life as much as in software. Here is a compact one for thinking about what comes next.
1. Reach out
A layoff is a jolt. The first day or two are often about contact more than strategy. Shock and anxiety are normal, and you do not have to process any of it alone. You have nothing to be ashamed of.
One of the best early moves is to reach out, not to perform strength, but to stay human. Talk to friends, family, and others who were affected and who you trust. You are not less capable because a spreadsheet said so.
Be honest with close people about anger or fear if you need to. Still, steer toward support that lifts you up. Blame, public venting, and circles that only rehearse bitterness corrode you fast. Lean on people who listen without turning it into a pile-on. Negativity feels good for five minutes and costs a lot after that. Protect your headspace.
2. Rest
Before you optimize your job search, decompress and let the news land. Rest enough to think straight.
A layoff is not a moral verdict. It is a business event, and your body still thinks it is an emergency. Give yourself a real pause: sleep, move, eat something real, play music, step back from feeds that keep you in fight-or-flight, and revisit hobbies or anything that reminds you why you chose this work in the first place.
Accept that the decision is real. You will not reverse it by refreshing email. That is not permission to tune out forever. A sharper search often starts from a calmer nervous system. Be kind to yourself this week.
3. Reset
Once you can breathe again, reset the story you tell yourself. Reset is not “start from zero.” It is “remember who you were before the bad news,” including who you are outside one employer.
You were hired for a reason: problems you solved, how you showed up, what people relied on. You shipped, learned, and earned trust. The company changed; your track record did not.
Add what you have learned lately, including what you never want again. Write it down. That mix is your compass and can steer where you aim before you send a single application.
4. Review
Then look outward. The market is not the one we all got used to, especially in software: compensation and hiring norms have shifted. Name that without catastrophizing.
AI is changing how work gets done. It is not replacing every role overnight. Re-read your skills as outcomes: what pain you remove, what you make reliable, what you speed up. Map that to problems companies pay for today, including lanes you might have dismissed before. Curiosity beats nostalgia. If there was a seventh “R”, it would be “retool”, and that fits here as well. Learn the tools of the companies and sectors you’re going to target.
If you are updating how you describe yourself on paper or in interviews, treat it like a product launch for yourself: clear positioning, concrete proof.
5. Refocus
Once you know roughly where you are aiming, refocus beats drifting. Posting into the void is one channel; real conversations are another. Use your network, ask for intros, and look for roles that never hit the board: short notes, real questions, clear asks.
Rank what matters now: remote versus local, cash versus mission, pace versus stability. A good fit often beats a flashy title.
Be honest about whether “perfect on paper” is what you need right now. Sometimes the right job is local, slower, or smaller pay with better life fit. That is not settling, it is choosing.
6. Restart
Restart means stepping back in with intention: apply, interview, and show work through repos, writeups, or small shipped things.
Pair applications with artifacts you can point to, explain, and improve. If the work world is shifting, proof that you move with it matters.
If AI disrupted your lane, use it as leverage. Learn tools that make you faster and clearer, not as a gimmick. Invest in learning when it changes what you can demonstrate. Leveling up how you write, debug, and design can change how fast you produce interview-ready work.
Motion builds momentum; perfection does not. One small ship a week beats one perfect plan.
