Ask HN: Devs who were let go, how did you spend your notice period?
I was the only developer in the company who had three other developers working as freelancers remotely from two countries. It made more sense for my company to let me go and outsource the tech to the freelancers.
The hr even offered to set up a meeting with a COO of another startup she knew who is already interested in hiring me. I think it was nice from the HR but it also shows how fast the company wants to get rid of me from their books.
After thinking a lot, I personally feel I need time to take a step back and slowly rediscover my lost passion for writing code just for fun. I worked 5 years very hard and the last year I moved to another (non-English speaking) country to work as a backend developer. I now feel that in trying to fulfill my dreams of moving to another country I ended up burning out really hard and it’s time to take a step back and think about everything.
I start with slowly learning / practicing some of the concepts that I wanted to learn for a long time. I’m a backend dev who can write code in python and use frameworks like django/drf or flask to bootstrap SaaS products from scratch. I know how to use docker for local development and setup k8s for production. I know the value of CI/CD to get constant feedback from product owners and stakeholders. I can also fix small bugs in front end stack written in VueJS/Nuxt or vanilla JS.
I don’t have any immediate family or any loans. Savings are zero but the next three months salary is good enough to keep me going for 6 months.
My question to fellow devs here. How would you spend your three months of notice period and what skills would you focus on next ? I’m thinking to build some fun projects on the side and strengthen my database and software design skills. But most importantly I’m also going to sleep well, exercise daily and take it easy for a couple of months now.