I burned out as a manager at Microsoft — then got laid off. Nearly 3 years later, I'm still looking for work.

Tech Insider : Business, Style
Karena Plepel
Karena Plepel

Karena Plepel

You might want to forget some of the most popular career advice

Tech Insider : Business, Politics
A man at a Dallas job fair
Job seeker Don McNeill speaks to a recruiter during a job fair in Dallas, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026.

LM Otero/Associated Press

I've applied to over 500 jobs in the 11 months since my layoff. I lost hot water and started a GoFundMe.

Tech Insider : Business
Valerie Lockhart
Valerie Lockhart

Valerie Lockhart

I got a job at Amazon, but kept interviewing at other MAANG companies. Here's why I left for Google.

Tech Insider : Business
Ganesh Karthik Sankar
Ganesh Karthik Sankar

Ganesh Karthik Sankar

I moved to Seattle to help me land a job at Amazon. Now I live a 7-minute walk from the office — and it's given me a career edge.

Tech Insider : Business, Environment, Travel
Sarthak Gupta
Sarthak Gupta

Sarthak Gupta

I was laid off in my 60s and can't find a job after 11 months. I wish I could retire, but I can't afford it.

Tech Insider : Business
Robin Daniel
Robin Peppers Daniels pivoted to substitute teaching after Wells Fargo laid her off.

Robin Daniel

I landed a job by cold emailing the CEO. Nothing else worked for me.

Tech Insider : Business
Cathy Xie, black and white headshot image.
Marketing professional Cathy Xie cold emailed the CEO of the job she wanted with the subject line: "My landlord inspired this email."

Photo courtesy of Cathy Xie

It's a terrible time to quit your job. These 7 Big Tech workers share why they did it anyway.

Tech Insider : Economy, Business, Style
Kruthika Jayatheertha (left), David Chong (center), and Joslyn Orgill (right)
Kruthika Jayatheertha (left), David Chong (center), and Joslyn Orgill (right) quit their Big Tech roles without another job lined up.

Kruthika Jayatheertha (left), David Chong (center), and Joslyn Orgill (right)

You could burn through $50,000 covering an unemployment stint in today's market

Tech Insider : Economy, Business, Style
Joanelle Cobos (left), Clair Todd (right)
Joanelle Cobos (left) and Clair Todd (right) prepared financially for layoffs but faced a challenging job market.

Joanelle Cobos (left), Clair Todd (right)

I quit my $192K Microsoft job and moved to Canada — then almost everything I owned was stolen. I'm learning to rebuild from scratch.

Tech Insider : Technology, Business
David Chong
David Chong

David Chong

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