got laid off last month. nine months into my first real job out of college. i've been in a spiral about it and i'm going to write through it here because maybe it helps someone else who's in the same place.
the short version of the fear: i have nine months of experience. my resume looks like a gap before it started. i'm going to get filtered out by systems looking for '2+ years' for even junior roles. i was just starting to actually get good at the job and now it's gone. what do i do.
okay now the calmer take i've developed over four weeks:
nine months is not nothing. i shipped things. i was on-call. i participated in design reviews. i learned git and CI and how to do a code review that wasn't just 'looks good'. that's real. on a resume it's one line but in an interview it's several concrete stories.
RIF layoffs are not the same as PIP or performance termination. every recruiter i've talked to has understood this immediately. i mention it once, briefly, and move on. nobody has made it weird.
the YOE filter problem is real but porous. the 2+ years requirement gets waived constantly for candidates who come through a referral or who do well in a screen. apply anyway. especially to companies where you have any connection.
what's actually helping me: i've been doing a lot of behavioral interview prep because i have some stories now that i didn't have when i was interviewing out of college. the nine months gave me something to talk about. that's genuinely true.
still scared. still sending applications into the void some days. but i'm not convinced this is the end anymore. more like an unexpected extra chapter.