Checkpoint

I was recently laid off from Meta, and I have a lot of complicated emotions around my layoff.

Part of me feels relieved that it’s finally over. Part of me feels frustrated because I feel like I never worked in a place at Meta where I felt comfortable.

A lot of people have been reaching out to me. They’re really sorry, and they’re trying to help with referrals, warm introductions, and all of that. And I feel really guilty about it because I’m just so, so, so tired and exhausted. I don’t have it in me right now to take advantage of the opportunities that are coming my way.

For context, most people at Meta knew layoffs were coming. There was a pretty credible rumor around April that there were going to be layoffs soon. But I knew before that there were going to be layoffs this year. It just felt like a matter of time with the AI costs and everything else that was happening.

Combined with the fact that I wasn’t happy where I was at Meta, I’ve been looking for a job since November 2025.

During that time, I’ve had to relearn LeetCode, relearn how to code without AI, relearn system design, relearn frontend development, and relearn agentic development.

Those are all things I don’t really use in my day-to-day job, but things I need to know in order to pass interviews.

These days, cold applying to jobs rarely gets you anywhere. Every single job now requires warm outreach to people in your network, hiring managers, recruiters, or anybody willing to take a chance on you and advocate for you. And that’s all just to maybe get one interview.

Then you get the interview, and you never really know what they’re going to ask.

They could ask LeetCode and DSA. They could ask backend system design questions. They could give you a React component and ask you to fix it. They could give you a codebase and ask you to use AI to add features to it. They could ask you to review code. They could give you a technical discussion and ask what you would do in a particular scenario. They can literally ask anything, and you have to be prepared for it all.

Because you never know what they’re going to ask, you either do as well as you can given the circumstances, or you don’t. Then you get rejected, and you have to go through the entire cycle again just to get another interview.

And I’m just tired. I feel like I can’t do it anymore.

Part of me feels like I can’t even say that because how else am I supposed to get a job?

At the same time, because of how difficult it is to get a job, I’ve also been working on my own thing. I’ve been reading a lot about business, joined a business academy, and started working on my own venture and entrepreneurship journey, which also takes a lot of mental effort.

Combined with a number of tragedies that have happened in my personal life throughout the year, I’m just exhausted.

I feel like I can’t see in front of me anymore.

As difficult as it is to say this, I feel like I need to let go of everything for a little while and allow myself to take a breather from having to constantly fight to prove my worth to other people.

I feel like I’ve reached a point where I just can’t keep pushing. I just can’t do it anymore.

I really appreciate everybody who has reached out to me with referrals, recruiter contacts, and opportunities. But I don’t feel like I’m in a state where I can fully take advantage of that help right now because I’m just too tired.

I’m going to take a break and focus on doing some things that I enjoy rather than continuing to invest myself in other people’s dreams.

It feels bad to say that.

It feels ungrateful to say that at a time when so many people are reaching out to help me.

But I don’t want to waste the effort people are putting in to help me through this difficult period in my life.

I wanted to say this publicly because I feel guilty for not doing more, even though I’ve already done a lot.

I’m tired.

I think I just need to rest.

This is the part in the game where I save my progress and rest at a checkpoint until I have the strength to continue the journey.