Honestly, it just reminds me of 2000-2002 or so... Seemed to hit the coastal cities before here in Phoenix, but it got bad here right after 9/11 and I had trouble finding any work for close to a year. I was able to start working again for half what I was making before almost a year later... I'd done a handful of projects, but nothing solid at the time.
I spent most of my free time reading and learning as much as I could. I learned C# offline from "The Complete Reference" and the beta command line compiler as I didn't even have consistent internet access.
It was a rough, severely depressing time in my life. It absolutely sucks. Right now, I'm working under a contract role that I like, but zero benefits, which is a problem financially/medically. And the job market is rough (already took a 35% pay cut) just to keep working.
All I can suggest is stick to it, stay busy as much as you can and focus on work-adjacent hobby projects as much as you can. As others have pointed out, maybe try your hand at writing. There's always room for good technical writing out there, though it doesn't always pay the best, it can help your career and can be good for supplemental income.
I spent most of my free time reading and learning as much as I could. I learned C# offline from "The Complete Reference" and the beta command line compiler as I didn't even have consistent internet access.
It was a rough, severely depressing time in my life. It absolutely sucks. Right now, I'm working under a contract role that I like, but zero benefits, which is a problem financially/medically. And the job market is rough (already took a 35% pay cut) just to keep working.
All I can suggest is stick to it, stay busy as much as you can and focus on work-adjacent hobby projects as much as you can. As others have pointed out, maybe try your hand at writing. There's always room for good technical writing out there, though it doesn't always pay the best, it can help your career and can be good for supplemental income.