WFH ended and so has my career. Dunno what to do with my life now.

Like me, you lack confidence.

You have a degree (field doesn’t matter) and 6 years experience. Your coworkers probably find you enthusiastic and engaged and smart, since you self taught your skills.

If you’re looking for a job I’m willing to bet you’ve got coworkers who will go to bat for you if you asked.

You are not unemployable. Your career isn’t over. You got hired with even less before.

Also my wife just hired but she’s been looking for powerbi people and you would not believe how many people say they know powerbi but only looked at dashboards. If you can, call out that skill because people are looking for it and it’s actually a differentiator.

I just got fired a couple hours ago. Long story. I'm old, no degree, lots of experience, good at what I do. I'm not sure what my future holds, but I'm gonna find out.

You're not alone.

I’ve only ever worked at this place and I feel that on paper, I’m not very hireable.

A work history with only one job, especially for an extended period of time, is not a bad thing. Not bad at all. Hell, even if you apply for something that's not really directly related to that job, it might still help, at least a little. Why? It shows your willing to stick with a job. So it'll help them to see you as someone who will be loyal to the company (but really, fuck that noise - are they loyal to you?!?).

If possible, you want to take a perspective where any company you apply needs to convince you that they are worth your time and effort. You know what you can offer, you "know" you can do the job, so what can they offer you?

1. You've been there since 2019? So you've got 5 years of work experience. And it sounds like you have amassed a lot of skills, and should be hireable.
2. An increase in expenses is a valid reason to ask for a raise. Not to mention lost life spent in a fuckin tin can on the highway. If you don't ask, you'll never get it. However, you should be prepared to look for a job somewhere else, as it may put you at the top of the list for future layoffs.

Someone told me when I was 19 that you should look for a new job every 90 days and that has served me very well. Even if you aren't looking actively, it helps you to get a good idea of what's out there, what compensation is being offered for people with your skillset, and keeps your resume up to date and your interview skills sharp.

While you look for another WFH IT job, you can always teach English as a stopgap.

Teaching is remote, no qualifications except speaking English, dozens of platforms, 2 billion students, make your own schedule, max cert is a 1-2 week pdf course that increases pay.

Guaranteed income if you want to give yourself some breathing room to figure out your next step.

lmk if you want more info and best of luck with your next step.

Lots of good advice in this thread so far. I just wanted to say that this is only a temporary situation and you will get through to the other side. From what you've shared I believe that you have more strength than you realize. Dig deep and tap into it. Good luck and take care.

Get this book.

"Discover What You Are Best At" by Linda Gail.

Six self tests you can finish in a morning. The rest of the book is a list of jobs that use those skills.

Think of it this way; a hair stylist, a paramedic, and a product demonstrator all need good people skills and good dexterity, but the jobs are very different.

If nothing else, it will give you some ideas of what you might like to do.

Truly sorry this happened to you.
At my job, WFH is part of the agreement between the company and the union.
Our C-suite wanted to end it, but they just couldn't.
When you start applying, try to research and concentrate on unionized workplaces first, if there are any.

It's unfortunate that remote work is going away for many places, but it isn't gone. There are remote work jobs out there, though the competition for them is fierce. Everyone has a different path, but let me share mine and hopefully it helps you. I

, too, work in IT, and when I got my start in IT beyond bench tech work there was almost nothing as far as jobs that could put me on a good career path. I had a GED, no certifications, but I'm a quick study and taught myself enough to combine it with a silver tongue and talk myself into a remote job. In the meantime I decide that I need to build up a network, so I start hanging in the r/msp Discord server and mostly lurk except to chime in to help when someone has a technical issue or needs help. Over time I get more active and establish a bit of a reputation with the regulars as a smart and helpful guy. So when I eventually put out there on the Discord server that I was looking for my next opportunity I got DM'd with 4 different job offers that same day. All but 1 required that I move to a higher cost of living area, and I made sure that the pay made sense for the area.

I took a job in a very expensive area with a lot of tech work available so that I have actual prospects around me, work it for almost 4 years, and then meet a guy who would be my boss for the next 3 jobs that followed. Now I'm very established in my career, and I can safely say that cultivating relationships with people did as much, if not more, for my career than the technical knowledge I've racked up has. Sure, my knowledge and experience were the reason I was hired, but I would probably still be a bench tech or help desk guy now if I had never made relationships with people who could help get me past the mountain of ATS-screened resumes and put me in front of an interviewer.

So the takeaway here is that, based on my singular experience, studying up and submitting applications aren't enough in today's job market. You need to get to know people, and you need to get to know people in different job markets in particular. My recommendation is to find a place where IT folk gather and just try to be friendly and helpful.

I don't have super helpful advice. I just wanted to mention I'm in a very similar situation. Graduated in 2018 got a diploma in web dev, started 2019, ended up WFH during the pandemic but I really want a way out of my current job as they're underpaying me.

I wish you the best of luck. I know it's stressful and scary. I try to remind myself that things have to work out because we keep trying. We have to put our best foot forward and at that point we have done everything we can. I try to remind myself that there's no point in worrying because we have no clue what could happen.

A coworker of mine was laid off twice in recent years but then ended up scoring a job where she barely has to work, is basically given free will to do whatever she wants as long as the work done. She actually complains about being bored during the day and I told her she should be having fun! Her works done and her job doesn't care what she does so she should be enjoying her life.

Long story short things sometimes work out far better than we could expect or forsee.

Importantly, they've given you a whole months notice. Figure out what happens with your PL (are you unlimited? Then make sure to take the max time your manager will allow, if not figure out if it gets paid out), two, don't let them terminate you early, try to still be employed by the 1st of Jan, it helps with health insurance sticking around a little longer, and third, figure out what's going on with severance. Potentially it's in your favor to tell them you WILL come in, then no-show, rather than say you won't and get laid off next week.

Finally: you got plenty of employable skills and people are hiring. To help do these 2 things: if you've got employee reviews from the past few years, email those to your personal email cause it might have accomplishments in it, 2) get a copy of the job description for your position, whatever skills it lists, you have em already, or they wouldn't have hired you!

Alls I can say is if you find a job then continue looking for one that pays well enough to live in an affordable area of a city and then switch over so you are not so vulnerable.

I don't have much practical to add, but I wanted to let you know you're not alone. The job market is now a sucky "AI" race, and ATS doesn't want creative, adaptable people; that's a red flag.

One of the biggest and most underrated things you can do now to prepare for a job search os have your current coworkers and managers endorse the skills you listed above on your LinkeIn profile. This is powerful both because it validates your resume (for real people and AI reviewing it), and gives recruiters a way to find you. With your skill set you should have plenty of people coming to you asking if you are interested in work without even pursuing applications yourself.

What kind of CAD software are you proficient with? What type of designs have you mostly focused on?

you sound like you know a little about a lot. not a bad thing. start looking online for WFH stuff. also Try navitus they are a good company to work for.