I was laid off on Thursday, I feel awful and relieved, I was working ridiculous hours trying to stay of top of my JIRA. I keep thinking about the first comment from this post[1], I don't know if I was a good developer, and I can't ask my co-workers because they could just lie to make me feel good. Now back to LeetCode grinding and system design.

[1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33581828

Primarily: don't beat yourself up over it.

Life is fairly random. You end up with people, problems, and cultures you’re ill fitted for. Or are even outright toxic. All you have to go on is the interview and sketchy Glassdoor reviews to make an assessment. It can seem that the team seems great, but you get stuck with a boss that doesn’t suit you well or a poor team. You mostly can’t control this stuff.

Often we can switch teams or jobs before you’re let go, but other times we just get blindsided by a layoff or being fired.

Be realistic about the very very small set of things you influence.

> Life is fairly random. You end up with people, problems, and cultures you’re ill fitted for. Or are even outright toxic.

This has been my experience as well. Being at the right place at the right time can change one's life, but most of us aren't that lucky or have the connections. Hard work is the minimum buy-in, but luck ultimately determines your success.

It’s just a job. It’s not who you are. It won’t love you back. You won’t wish you worked more on your death bed, nor will missing out on time with family and loved ones be worth it. Maybe you underperformed, maybe their expectations were unrealistic, maybe you got stuck with a bad manager. Just go find the next job. You are a mercenary. Take care of you first. No one else will.

That companies do what’s best for the business, not for the employees.

It’s up to you to do what’s best for yourself.