A week after college (or uni, Sweden is a little weird), I didn't know what to do, but I got scooped up by the local combined "hey we make websites, run courses

A week after college (or uni, Sweden is a little weird), I didn't know what to do, but I got scooped up by the local combined "hey we make websites, run courses in Internet-y things and programming, and we are also the largest local Internet Service Provider". I worked there for a while for a way too low salary (but I thought I had struck gold) for a couple of years, then switched employer to one of the companies I was consulting for. I was sent overseas to attend a one week cours in "Vision 4GL", which was the language we were using at the time. Everything was very expensive, yet money flowed. They also had to pay a hefty penalty to my original employer so they could hire me. There I was doing logistics software for an airport. Each package back then had in total, 17 paper copies being pushed around. Then the twin towers were hit. We had a "live feed" of logistics messages. (IATA and EDIFACT messages.) Suddenly, a lot of "cancel" messages started dropping in. Planes bound for the US were turning around. We didn't have a TV at the cramped, jet exhaust stinking office at the airport. We listened to the radio but there was almost nothing of substance. We turned to news on web sites, most papers had a web presence, but it was only one in Sweden which held up to the pressure of so many suddenly looking for information. They did it but cutting out images and serving only text content on their front page. A couple of months later (IIRC) I was laid off. It was hard finding a job. Since I was this hotshot newly hatched programmer on the market, I hadn't bothered paying "unemployment insurance" and I didn't have any savings either. All the big companies like Ericsson were in starve mode, and the ecosystem of consulting companies around the big industry were dying or laying off or both. I started a ltd liability company and found a gig through that for a year or so. I had to cut rates something fierce and move to another city but it was a living. A year later or so I found a "real" job and promptly decided running my own business was not for me. Been on the salary treadmill ever since. (But at various smaller and larger companies.) Edit: insert all sorts of personal life shenanigans affected by all this, too.