The blackout policies are a tiny part an employer policy and a large part an anti-insider trading policy. If you learned of what might be material, non-public information while an employee, then got fired/laid off/quit, that only puts you in the clear with respect to the employer's policy (what are they going to do? fire you a second time?) but does not put you in the clear with the SEC.

I agree. I’ve rarely had any insight into finances, so that wasn’t an issue for me. I keep my head down and write code.

The SEC won’t do shit in this case with respect to your personal shares in a company you just left.