I was let go in December from a contract gig at a startup after they lost their funding from a large semiconductor company that was/is cutting costs in a big wa

I was let go in December from a contract gig at a startup after they lost their funding from a large semiconductor company that was/is cutting costs in a big way. I think we were doing interesting stuff and if we'd had another 6 months or so of funding our corporate patron could've benefited from the tech we were creating. Now, AFAICT the startup has been entirely mothballed. > How did you feel then vs now? Are you doing alright? At the time they cut us I felt like it was all futility. We were working on something that could save save power by making certain workloads run much more efficiently, seemed like something worthwhile, but there was no money for it anymore. Doing OK, just feel kind of 'meh' about looking for work... interviewing in tech really is the worst and TBH I have a lot of what I call "interviewing PTSD". > Are you looking for/have you found work? I have been sort of half-heartedly looking for work - basically just doing the minimum 5 contacts/week to keep my unemployment coming in. We paid off our house at the end of last year so not feeling really particularly worried as my wife is still working and we get our health insurance from her job. I've had 3 interviews in the last 4 months. In two of them I ended up saying "I think this is not going to be a good fit for either of us". > How do pay/benefits (remote, etc.) compare? Not sure, haven't gotten to any salary negotiation stage. > How have your feelings about the industry changed? I've been in the "industry" for over 30 years, I'd say my feelings about the industry changed about 10 years ago when "tech" became synonymous with "social media". Silicon Valley hasn't been about silicon for quite a while now. When I was younger I was really excited about new tech developments, but now I'm just not sure that we're doing good for the world anymore, in fact it seems like there's more bad than good coming from our industry in that last several years. I'm lucky to be in a financial position to be very picky about what I work on - I have to find it interesting and it needs to seem beneficial somehow. I'll probably just consider myself semi-retired if I don't find something that fits my criteria in about 6 months.