"So I really have two questions. What would you do in my situation (would you stay in a smaller city?), and if you could start over in web development, what would you focus on?"
2 years ago I got laid off from a job I was at for almost 8 years. File for unemployment and make sure that's set. Clean up your resume and LinkedIn then enjoy some time off. For me, it was early July so it was nice to sit outside on the patio for a while. I freelanced through the summer, made a bit of money here and there - We survived until the following March when I found a job.
I don't think there is any starting over in development. Why through away any # of years of experience? If you can find a job using your existing skill set - awesome! If not - well, you've got 6 months to find a new language.
My primary language has always been PHP. I used it at the job I got laid off from as well as the 2 jobs I found after unemployment. Side projects are causing me to learn new languages / frameworks and I'm working on a big site in AngularJS myself. Will AngularJS open any doors for me? No idea - but it's another skill that'll go on my resume / LinkedIn for sure.
My current job and last job found me via LinkedIn - as much as most people I think like to hate it, it does have it's value. Spend some time there and see what you find.
File for unemployment, yes. Clean up your resume and LinkedIn, fine.
Enjoy some time off? Not so much.
If I understand correctly, he (she?) said that he only had a 3 month runway of money. In that situation, finding a job had better be your full-time job.
I mean, look, take a day off. Take two days. Take even a week. Breathe. Look around. Do a couple things you've wanted to do and haven't had time for.
But don't take a month off. You don't have that kind of time. After your bit of down time, work at hunting for a job as seriously as you would work at a full time job.
I was in a very similar situation about 6 months ago, but with even less of a runway (sidenote, lesson learned there). While taking a whole month as R&R time is not really adviseable (plus 12 new next big JS frameworks will come out in that time, right??), I will say that taking a week or even a few days as a brief pause is not a bad idea. I needed a few days to get my head on straight and to push through the less productive emotions that are inevitable in that situation. Though it sounds like the OP is already a lot less angry than I was.
One thing that I think is interesting is how some people have said, "file for unemployment, then enjoy some time off." That sentence right there really pisses me off, when each week some portion of my paycheck is being taken by the government. Unemployment should be a safety net and not a beachside hammock. Take all the time off you want, but I don't think the rest of us should pay for it. This is a topic for another day, but we should remember who's money we're spending when we are 'recharging' at taxpayer expense. If every unemployed person delayed their job search by two weeks, think of how much money is not being spent helping people that actually need it. The HN community is generally a rather ethical bunch -- so imagine the conversations that are happening in other areas of society. Let's remember this conversation when we file our tax returns this April.
2 years ago I got laid off from a job I was at for almost 8 years. File for unemployment and make sure that's set. Clean up your resume and LinkedIn then enjoy some time off. For me, it was early July so it was nice to sit outside on the patio for a while. I freelanced through the summer, made a bit of money here and there - We survived until the following March when I found a job.
I don't think there is any starting over in development. Why through away any # of years of experience? If you can find a job using your existing skill set - awesome! If not - well, you've got 6 months to find a new language.
My primary language has always been PHP. I used it at the job I got laid off from as well as the 2 jobs I found after unemployment. Side projects are causing me to learn new languages / frameworks and I'm working on a big site in AngularJS myself. Will AngularJS open any doors for me? No idea - but it's another skill that'll go on my resume / LinkedIn for sure.
My current job and last job found me via LinkedIn - as much as most people I think like to hate it, it does have it's value. Spend some time there and see what you find.