Nerd Journey: Career Advice for the Technology Professional
John White | Nick Korte
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The Lost Art: Marketplace Heartbeat and Finding Closure after a Layoff with Jason Gass (2/2)
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 follo
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