During this time I have tried to take advantage of the lax schedule to pursue a few side projects that although were interesting (even ended up on front page of HN once) were not sustainable or profitable as their own thing.
Anyone ever been in a similar situation? Did you do a coding boot camp or just search for new jobs? I feel like, given my lack of progress on my skills, the best case scenario for me is to find another job with slightly less pay and way more hours which does not sound fun. Though perhaps in the long run I need to take the dive and go for it.
It's fine launching on HN, but you will enjoy a brief moment in the sun before your daily active signups start to dwindle. Like any good marketing strategy you need diverse channels to spread the word. You need to be active on Twitter, LinkedIN, Product Hunt, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, TikTok and a few lesser known platforms like Mastodon, Parler, Gab, etc
And you need to leverage those channels the right way. So Reddit would be useful for AMAs, TikTok for vertical videos, Facebook for groups and supporting a community, Twitter for small announcements about your product/service. Then there's word of mouth which is the holy grail of marketing. A lot of that leverages luck and network effects.
You have an opportunity that many people would be delighted to have. Of course, you could always quit and get a "better" job and let somebody else have your problems and income.
Just coast and enjoy it.