The Lost Art: Marketplace Heartbeat and Finding Closure after a Layoff with Jason Gass (2/2)

Nerd Journey: Career Advice for the Technology Professional

Remember all the times someone took a moment to help you in your career? This act of support is what Jason Gass calls a “lost art” in the tech industry.

Jason returns this week in episode 343 to share the conclusion of his layoff story. Listen closely to understand why he’s so committed to helping other people in the industry as a result of going through this process and eventually finding closure.

You’ll hear suggestions and practical examples for how to keep in touch with colleagues after a layoff, and we emphasize the importance of staying on top of the job marketplace in terms of trends and skill sets. Jason will also share how managing finances carefully can provide peace of mind when it comes to unexpected job loss.

Even if you haven’t been impacted by a layoff, stay tuned for practical ways of supporting people who have, and learn why keeping a pulse on the job marketplace can boost your career at your current company.

Original Recording Date: 08-07-2025

If you missed part 1 of our discussion with Jason, check out Episode 342 – Planting Seeds: Networking and Maneuvering Unexpected Job Loss with Jason Gass (1/2)

Topics – The Lost Art of Supporting Others, Marketplace Analysis and Skills Gaps, Things That Brought Peace of Mind, Reaching Closure and Openness to New Opportunities, Parting Thoughts and Final Lessons Learned

• Jason Gass joined us as a guest host for a series of episodes reviewing the book Finish by Jon Acuff and is back this week as a guest.
  • The book series on Finish was published in episodes 272 – 275, and you can listen back to them using the link above.

3:16 – The Lost Art of Supporting Others

• What other types of support does Jason wish he had been given by others that he did not receive, and how can listeners better support others in a layoff situation?
  • Jason says when people announce being laid off on LinkedIn, for example, there are a lot of responses from people. Many times, people say something like “I’m so sorry. Let me know how I can help. I’ll keep an ear out for you.”
  • “They mean well. They absolutely do, but then shortly afterwards, they forget. They have their own lives. They are working their own jobs. They forget that you are on the market looking.” – Jason Gass
  • Jason tells us there were a handful of friends and colleagues who were on the lookout for opportunities on his behalf.
  • At the same tech event where Jason met a hiring manager that we discussed in part 1, Jason reconnected with personnel from a partner he had worked with in the past. By the next week, Jason had lunch with a hiring manager from that partner. Though there were no openings at the time, Jason highlights the unique role of partners that work with multiple vendors and customers.
    • As a result of being in this position, personnel at a partner may know about open roles across many companies. In fact, Jason got a call about a possible job opportunity that originated from a partner contact while he was on vacation.
  • Jason tells us there is a lost art in our industry. All of us started at a junior level and worked our way up to more senior roles, but it took help from others to get there.
    • “I can map it out and pinpoint each and every person that helped me along the way in the career…. They saw something in me. They helped me. They mentored me…just taking a moment and helping out. I try to do the same thing now… We all are in the same boat. We’re all going in the same direction. Things change. Things happen. People are going to go through this, and it’s a tough situation. My thought is that…I had help getting where I’m at, especially though this transition. I should give it back to the next person that’s going through it.” – Jason Gass
    • Jason has been known to reach out to people about job openings in a specific area if he knows about something and feels the person is a strong candidate.
• Is there a way to stay in touch with colleagues who stayed without it being weird and awkward?
  • Some people think co-workers are not friends, but Jason disagrees with this. He’s found there will be a handful of work colleagues with which we stay in contact after leaving a company, but it depends on the relationship we had with that person while we were at a company.
    • Would certain co-workers be people you would want to hang out with outside of work? This is a good screen for those you would want to keep in touch with long-term.
  • Jason credits a former manager who created a team atmosphere where co-workers became friends.
  • Now and then, Jason will text colleagues who remain at his former employers to see how they are doing. Those people always want to know how Jason is doing as well.
  • “The market will shift. People will end up at different companies. You might start collaborating with each other.” – Jason Gass
  • Jason shares a story of reaching out to a former colleague to discuss an opportunity for them to collaborate even though they work at different companies.
  • Someone leaving a company doesn’t end the friendships made while at that company.
  • John says there is probably a limit to the number of people we can effectively keep in touch with, and we are also at the mercy on platforms like LinkedIn of the algorithm.
  • “You don’t get to see every first-person contact and their job updates. You just don’t. Somebody else is making that decision for you. So, you have to curate your feed and maybe be a little bit more active, too.” – John White
• Jason shares a story of leaving a company to pursue a role in sales engineering. He kept in touch with a core group of colleagues and even had them over for dinner recently.
  • “A lot of them have moved on to other companies in the area. Once again, we built that synergy up when we were there. We have an ongoing group text message, and every 6 months, we try to get together….” – Jason Gass, on keeping in touch with former colleagues
  • Jason says we might not be able to stay in touch with 10,000 people at a company, but we can stay in touch with 5. We’re looking for quality over quantity.
  • Jason was on a webinar recently and noticed a familiar name. It looked like the name of a good friend from a former job. After exchanging some text messages, Jason found out it was the friend he thought, and they went to lunch not long after that to catch up on how each was doing.
  • When we lose contact with a colleague for a while, it’s not something that happens maliciously. It just happens. Factors like having a family, relocating, and working at another company have an impact.
  • Nick reiterates the impetus is on us to make the time to do things like this. We often allow the tasks of the day or week to prevent us from it.

10:14 – Marketplace Analysis and Skills Gaps

• As Jason looked for a new role, what kinds of skills gaps did he notice, and did he try to fill any of those during his job search process?
  • Jason says he did spot some gaps. We tend to get comfortable working with a specific focus in a specific space and lose sight of what is happening in the marketplace.
  • Some of the most desired skills from employers according to Jason were AI and containers / Kubernetes.
    • “This is a whole other discussion, but what I’ve seen is that AI is going to help companies adopt containers.” – Jason Gass
    • When cloud became popular years ago, you saw use of the term everywhere, and we wondered if it would stick. Jason says AI is in that same category today.
    • After going through a number of job descriptions during his search, Jason started to notice specific skill sets being repeated. He ended up making a list of those on his whiteboard to either begin pursuing immediately or once he landed a new role.
    • “Two things happened. One, it might apply to my current role. It might help me move into the next role or product set or a promotion. Two, it helps me stay relevant in the marketplace for the future.” – Jason Gass, sharing a perspective on skill sets repeated in job applications
• Was Jason open to pursuing other types of roles as part of his search, or did he focus only on sales engineering since that’s what he had been doing?
  • Jason talked to some people about becoming a sales rep and even took some interviews for this type of role. It’s something he has thought about for a while, and it could be a future career avenue.
    • “It was something totally different. It also meant that I was going to be looking for some mentorship…. There’s going to be some aspects that I haven’t done yet.” – Jason Gass, on considering roles as a sales rep / salesperson
  • Jason also considered roles outside of the tech industry. With Jason’s love for cooking and barbeque, he thought about doing sales in the barbeque industry.
    • Jason did reach out to some contacts about pursuing this route, but he would have been forced to relocate to take this kind of role (which was not an option).
    • As part of this exercise, Jason found out about some expansion projects happening in his area related to this industry and asked to get connected with the local folks. This allows time to build network connections with local representatives well before Jason would want to make a move.
    • “Can you introduce me to the local folk, the local people, so I can start building up those relationships? So…when I’m ready to maybe transition out of tech, I’ve already made, once again, really good networking connections.” – Jason Gass

13:44 – Things That Brought Peace of Mind

• In addition to building strong network connections, what were some of the other things Jason did in advance of the layoff that gave him peace of mind?
  • Jason and his wife have consistently reduced their debt as much as possible since getting married.
  • “The hardest part, I think, when someone gets laid off is…how am I going to pay the bills?” – Jason Gass
  • Jason and his wife had a 6-month emergency fund.
    • For most people, the largest bill is a mortgage or rent followed by car payments and other expenses like utilities, food, etc.
  • Jason has been working toward paying off his house.
    • Many people are totally against paying off your house early, and Jason understands this (i.e. some other investment could yield a higher return than paying off the house early).
    • In 2008 during the financial crisis, Jason lived in Florida, which was one of the hardest hit areas. He saw many people lose their homes.
    • “I tell people that gives me options. It lowers my risk because if I got laid off again and my house is paid off, so what? I have a large enough emergency fund to keep the lights on, food on the table, the bills paid…. I don’t have car payments. I don’t have a massive mortgage to pay anymore. It gives me options where I can take a different role in a different industry at less salary, or I can take a risk and change into a sales rep job….” – Jason Gass, on paying off the house
  • Jason says he and his wife also looked at expenses when they sensed layoffs might be coming.
    • They started by looking at which expenses they could cut which would not really impact them.
    • They cut back on streaming services. Jason was spending his time looking for a new job, studying / reading, and attending network events…not watching television.
    • One other example was gym membership. A new gym opened close to home, and Jason and his wife switched their membership to the new gym to save a significant amount of money.
    • Jason tells us he and his wife ate out a lot due to time constraints with both of them working, but he started cooking more often because he was home during the job search.
    • “That worked out really well because you still need to find avenues to break away. You can’t apply for a job 8 hours a day. You literally run out of jobs. So, you still need avenues. I love to cook anyways, so we just went back to doing what I always loved. But it still saved a few bucks.” – Jason Gass
  • Remember the vacation Jason mentioned earlier?
    • The vacation was for Jason and his wife’s wedding anniversary, and the tickets had already been purchased and were nonrefundable.
    • Was it irresponsible to go on vacation after being laid off? Jason struggled with this a little bit.
    • Jason and his wife decided to go ahead and take the trip, but they switched their hotel away from Disneyland property to minimize costs.
    • Taking that short trip allowed some decompression time, and as Jason mentioned, he received a call while on his vacation and had an interview the very next week.
    • John highlights that there were some sunk costs in this scenario, and Jason adjusted what he could to reduce the cost.
    • When it comes to an emergency fund, we can always wish we had more. John reminds us that having something is better than nothing. We should factor in debts that need to be paid off like our mortgage / rent, auto loans, and anything else into the calculations of monthly expenses which need to be covered by an emergency fund. If you have 6 months of money, for example, you want it to be 6 months of covering everything.
• Jason says when he did get laid off, he and his wife were financially prepared. While this did bring some relief, being laid off is still a “gut punch.”
  • “Let’s face it. The interviewing process is miserable…. You could spend weeks. Some of these places I interviewed with took 6 weeks, 8 weeks….” – Jason Gass
  • With so many people to speak with during an interview process (a recruiter, a hiring manager, possibly a panel of people, etc.), it takes more time than people might think. Jason says he applied for some jobs on LinkedIn and got a rejection message 6 months later.
  • The peace of mind from having his finances in order allowed Jason to focus on the job search process.
  • Jason’s wife was also still working, so that helped. He also did some consulting work to bring in extra money.

20:38 – Reaching Closure and Openness to New Opportunities

• How do you know when you’ve reached closure after going through a situation like a layoff?
  • The first couple of weeks are difficult. Jason says you go through depression, disappointment, and anger.
  • “I thought I was really prepared…. Then like I said, a few days later it kind of came crashing back on me.” – Jason Gass
  • Jason thinks closure came when he got a job offer. But there’s more.
    • “I was so diligent at finding my next job. I had that pipeline. I had those job interviews happening. When I knew I was interviewing constantly…I knew something would pop. I knew…I would land something. I would get an offer.” – Jason Gass
    • Knowing he had so many activities like interviews lined up helped him forget about what happened to start this entire process.
    • “And in the end, it was a relief. I wasn’t 100% happy where I was at, so this kind of forced me into another direction…. It pushed me to the next level. It really got me out of my comfort zone. The hardest part was all the new technology that I found that I wasn’t staying on top of.” – Jason Gass
  • From a lessons learned standpoint, Jason tells us he still needs to focus on all the things he wrote on his whiteboard (the skill sets). Many of those skills apply to his current role, and focusing on them will keep him valuable in the marketplace.
    • Nick refers to this as the double check mark.
  • What’s Jason’s take on continually taking interviews when we already have a job?
    • Jason says this is a double-edged sword. Interviewing for too many jobs is unsustainable.
    • “This is where your networking comes into play. You’re not going to find your next job, I don’t think, by just going randomly on some company website and filling out a form. It’s who you know.” – Jason Gass
    • As we network with others, we will hear about openings, and people may even ask us if we’re interested in a role. When someone seeks you out about an open role, even if you are happy where you are now, it’s worth having a conversation.
    • “Maybe it’s a great opportunity that you didn’t know about, and it might move you outside your comfort zone into the next level, or…what I learned through this whole process is that you make a great connection. And maybe it’s not the right time right now, but who knows what 6, 8, 12 months down the road…something might happen. You might end up getting laid off….‘Hey, I remember us talking about that position. It wasn’t the right time. I’m now looking. Do you have anything open? Have you heard anything?’” – Jason Gass, on considering new opportunities
    • Jason stresses the importance of knowing our worth in the job marketplace and staying on top of the skill sets in demand. Assuming you do this, you can analyze whether you are happy in your current role or if it’s time to look for opportunities elsewhere.
    • John says we should consider the opinions of others in those relationships we’ve nurtured and be willing to have a discussion if someone thinks we would be a good fit for a job.
    • “You should be always open for a phone call. I think it’s worth listening to someone to hear what they have to say. And if they thought enough of you and think…you would be a good fit, I think that’s very valuable. Because they obviously have a good, high opinion of you.” – Jason Gass
    • John says one way of keeping our eye on the marketplace is looking at these job descriptions to see the skill sets in demand and the compensation range (where it’s listed) to help us make decisions. We can also look at sites like Glassdoor to get an idea of industry compensation.
    • Jason tells us keeping an eye on the marketplace is relevant to our current role and can help in conversations with our manager. If we see specific skill sets in the marketplace and work to get them, perhaps this could result in higher pay or the opportunity to move into a different role.
    • “Just because you know what the market is on the outside and the skill sets they are looking for doesn’t mean you can’t take it internally and have a candid conversation and see if you can better yourself within the company.” – Jason Gass

26:00 – Parting Thoughts and Final Lessons Learned

• What are some of the final lessons learned or things Jason wishes he had done differently that we did not discuss?
  • One thing Jason highlighted is taking more time for the situation to land emotionally up front. John suggests giving ourselves a lot of space if we’re going through something like this for emotional reactions.
    • Jason says this is important for when we hear others have been laid off. Be conscious of this same thing before reaching out to people who have been impacted by a layoff. It might be best to wait a few days before contacting them.
    • Jason was glad he hit the ground running after being laid off, but he didn’t even take the weekend to pause. He spent it polishing his resume.
    • “I just went 150% into it, and for what? I could have really taken 3, 4, 5 days and allowed it to sink in.” – Jason Gass
    • Jason says exercise or some form of release is really important as you work through the emotions of this type of scenario to prevent taking out frustrations on others. Jason doesn’t feel like he took the time to do this in the beginning because of the fast start.
  • Other things Jason would have done differently include:
    • Jason realized after being laid off that he had not saved e-mail addresses and phone numbers of colleagues. He had to find this information by contacting people on LinkedIn in some cases, for example.
    • Part of staying up to date and keeping a pulse on the marketplace is keeping valuable certifications current. That means seeking new certifications that are valuable or renewing those that continue to be valuable. John mentions technology vendors often allow their employees to take certification exams for free (something to keep in mind if you work for one).
    • Jason keeps his own subscriptions to training platforms like A Cloud Guru (now part of Pluralsight) and KodeKloud. He recently invested in training through Coursera.
    • “Always keep learning. Always try to better yourself. And you don’t have to go out and get 20-30 certifications a year, but you can go out and knock out 1 or 2 a year. That’s more than feasible with all of our schedules. We can take one here or there.” – Jason Gass
    • John says this is about career resilience.
    • “This is something that I need to do for my personal resilience. You get paid for work, but you don’t get paid for career. And you’re career planning when you do that.” – John White
    • Jason says we can turn our learning into content we can post online. If you are studying for a certification, you can take the content and post it online to share what you learned that day. Consistently posting content keeps you in the algorithm so that you continue to pop up in people’s feeds. Someone may see content you’ve posted and think of you for a job opening.
• If you want to follow up on this discussion with Jason, reach out to him on LinkedIn.

Mentioned in the Outro

• In this week’s discussion, we spoke to Jason about the types of roles he was considering. This was not something he only thought about once the layoff happened. We need to consider the types of roles we might like to do as part of overall career planning.
  • Check out the Must Have List from our friends Liz Bronson and Kat Troyer at RealJobTalk to help think through this.
• Check out Episode 299 – Chronic Stress: Connecting the Dots between Layoffs and Burnout with Cait Donovan in which Cait highlights getting a handle on your expenses as a first step after being laid off to provide a sense of control.
• Here’s a great book recommendation from former guest Daniel Lemire – What to Do Next by Jeff Henderson
• Check out the Unicorns in the Breakroom 6-part series of episodes on job search and interviewing starting with Episode 11 – Job Hunting. They also have Episode 17 focused on survivor’s guilt and the impact of layoffs.
• Remember to check out following free resources:
  • Our Layoff Resources Page – a list of the most impactful conversations we’ve had on the show focused on the topic of layoffs.
  • The Career Uncertainty Action Guide with the 5 pillars of career resilience and AI prompts to help you work through overwhelm, financial planning, and a layoff scenario
• Do you know someone who has a layoff story that needs to be told to encourage others in the community? Send us an e-mail to make guest suggestions!

Contact the Hosts

• The hosts of Nerd Journey are John White and Nick Korte.
  • E-mail: [email protected]
  • DM us on Twitter/X @NerdJourney
  • Connect with John on LinkedIn or DM him on Twitter/X @vJourneyman
  • Connect with Nick on LinkedIn or DM him on Twitter/X @NetworkNerd_
  • Leave a Comment on Your Favorite Episode on YoutTube
• If you’ve been impacted by a layoff or need advice, check out our Layoff Resources Page.
• If uncertainty is getting to you, check out or Career Uncertainty Action Guide with a checklist of actions to take control during uncertain periods and AI prompts to help you think through topics like navigating a recent layoff, financial planning, or managing your mindset and being overwhelmed.