In my case, I'm 2 years into being an indispensable engineer at a publicly traded midsized company. Unless they decide to shut down our business unit, I should be in good shape.
Everyone is indispensable until they aren't.
Every business is profitable until they aren't.
And these days, with the insane expenses and revolving credit businesses all rely on, damn near any business can end up insolvent in the blink of an eye.
- Government adjacent jobs that are needed are good, especially if part of a requirement contract with a publicly traded company
- Geography ultimately determines impact; recessions move like earthquakes. Cities can bounce back quick.
- Cash is king, but be ready to switch back to stock based comp
- You won't get a home deal right away, it takes a bit for people to give up and sell their home. Bankruptcy takes longer.
- Every 5% of unemployment results in 40k suicides, be nice to folks. Everyone's hurting.
I'm currently working at a FAANG as a vendor and I'm about to apply internally. I'm already seeing a decrease in job postings which mean I'll potentially have to compete against more people but I'm lucky to have several referrals lined up which will help. If it doesn't work, I'll apply elsewhere but in any cases I'll have to surf this wave as a new hire somewhere.
On the other end, I'm lucky to live in a country (Canada) where a good unemployment insurance program exist so if it ever has to come to that, not too bad I guess.
At least I won't have any visa issues as I applied for the citizenship. I can't wait!