I have been at factories that closed (when I worked as a manufacturing engineer), and worked at an IT department that was eliminated (its functions spread among

I have been at factories that closed (when I worked as a manufacturing engineer), and worked at an IT department that was eliminated (its functions spread among several other departments), and have been told that I, in particular, was done because the company's contract wasn't working out to be as profitable as expected (unspoken, but understood, was that as the senior programmer I was the most expensive one). I think the first time is the hardest, because of the feeling of panic and also rejection. Later in life, I actually had much more to worry about (wife and kid to support), but experienced much less stress because I knew that I had gotten jobs before, and could do so again. I think some of this may be that the first time, you have less of an idea of what you need to be doing next. The more of a plan/procedure you have in mind for what to do, the more you can focus on that, and not any emotional impact of what you think about the fairness or correctness of the decision to lay you off. In truth, for me, being still at work after a layoff or firing of co-workers is much more depressing, but I'm sure that's not true for everyone.