Without context, it's hard to know the real situation. I was laid off at the end of February. To make a long story short, the product wasn't selling well and t

Without context, it's hard to know the real situation. I was laid off at the end of February. To make a long story short, the product wasn't selling well and the company had to cut costs. In my case, my manager gave me a heads up months in advance. If you're still in touch with your manager or people you worked with, try to find out the real story. --- Think about some of the excellent experienced people you learned from early in your career. You now need to be just like them. --- Career-wise, what kind of "leadership" is expected from someone with 15+ years experience? A lead does the most important designs, sets the technical direction, mentors other developers, takes part in bug triages, works on the most difficult parts of a product, and interviews candidates. Sometimes the title of "architect" is used. You can also be a manager, or a consultant who can get in and get things done. But, someone with 15+ years of experience isn't just a coder getting a bigger paycheck than someone with 3 years of experience. Your career lessons need to rub off on the younger developers. Otherwise, your large paycheck just turns into a giant target compared to your cheaper peers.