I worked for nearly two years on a skunkworks project spearheading the use of ML.NET in a part of the company that was run by classically trained data scientist

I worked for nearly two years on a skunkworks project spearheading the use of ML.NET in a part of the company that was run by classically trained data scientists using classic data science tools. You can imagine the pushback. On the upside, I worked with some of the nicest people I've met. I also briefly worked in an extension team for a company, as a part of a huge hiring wave of about 30 people at once. The team on the customer side was really cool and I was excited for the project. However, suspiciously little work was given to us, I was one of the lucky few to have something to do every day, but it all just seemed like filler. After a month, the CTO of that company gathered all of the new hires in a meeting and sheepishly declared that they've overestimated the scope of work and their budget and they're firing all the new hires with 1 month notice.