I graduated in 2001. I had an offer from campus placement in the summer of 2000. Things were rosy till March, April 2000. And then everything moved very fast, m

I graduated in 2001. I had an offer from campus placement in the summer of 2000. Things were rosy till March, April 2000. And then everything moved very fast, most of the offers were cancelled. I was utterly unprepared for this. I picked up pieces and went for the masters. About 18 month later I was in the middle of masters I got an email from the company saying they are honoring their offer. 2008 wasn’t that harsh for the tech sector. I was at Amazon. I was visiting colleges for campus recruitment, we were given reduced head counts to fill but nothing bad. And I don’t remember there being any mass layoffs. Given this experience I would say the current downturn to last for about 18 months. Here’s what I’d do differently. 1. Always be on the lookout for opportunities. Even if you get a job offer don’t make plans around it. 2. Develop network your university alumni who are employed. Figure out ways of making yourself useful for them. 3. Internship or part time work is totally OK. You will be abreast of the ecosystem. 4. Learn macroeconomics and business cycles. We all are impacted by it. Whether we like it or not. So we might as well be prepared.