HACKER Q&A
📣 _throwaway882

Furloughed, Options?


Hey HN,

Was recently furloughed by my company a dev for a large restaurant chain. I knew I was going to be first on the chopping block as I started in the past 6 months and am one of the more junior on the team. 3 years out of college, ~17k in cash saved up, no debt at all. I don't know if my job will be there in the 4-5 weeks stated the furlough will last as the corona virus in the US doesn't look to be stopping in that time period aka no restaurant cash flow increase either unless we get a miracle..

Wanted to ask you all for some advice; should I start looking for new jobs asap, wait it out and hear back from my company, drop my lease (month to month) and move back to a low COL area and job hunt?

Just wanted to brainstorm with yall, more minds are better than one and Id rather be proactive than reactive. Figured some of yall were in the dotcom bust or the 08' bust and had some wisdom to drop on me.

  👤 taurath Accepted Answer ✓
There will be lots of places looking for devs, but I'd start RIGHT NOW before larger problems start to seep in and competition gets higher. Depends what your run rate is - but I'd probably give it a month of looking.

Do not wait it out to hear back no matter what you do. You don't have income and a large recession is looming - get that income back.

👤 codingdave
Just start looking - you don't even have to make any decisions until an offer is on the table. It will take time to get to that offer, and you will then be able to see how this crisis has progressed. With more information at that time, you will better be able to decide whether to take the new offer or wait on the old job.
👤 sushid
IMO looking for a new opportunity is a higher priority than moving to a lower COL especially since moving takes time/money and also increases your infection risk.
👤 sharemywin
I would start looking now. If they happen to hire you back before you find something else awesome.
👤 Spooky23
Get on unemployment ASAP. Look but be prepared for a gap.