I haven't addressed my unemployment experience much outside of my previous blog "Survival Guide for Unemployed Designers," but a few months into a new full-time role, I've finally found the words.

The job market asks a lot of people. Beyond skills and experience, companies want dedication, passion, and total buy-in - and I get it to a point. If I were hiring, I'd want the most skilled and committed person too. But there's a fine line between that and forgetting that employment is, at its core, transactional. We all know the saying: if money weren't a factor, most people would either quit or do something entirely different.

That reality hits harder when a layoff comes out of nowhere - especially from a company that called itself a family. That word makes an already difficult situation feel like a betrayal. I got blindsided at the end of 2024, and figuring out what to do with that took time.

Fast forward to today: new job, new company, new state. No referrals, no prior connections - I went in completely fresh. My manager is kind, my coworkers are respectful, the work-life balance is real. Things are genuinely going well. And yet I still catch myself overanalyzing a slow reply, a cancelled meeting, an unexpected calendar invite. It's noise, and I know it's noise - but it's remarkable how much rewiring it takes to let go of a bad experience. I can now see why some employers prefer less experienced hires - someone carrying unprocessed workplace trauma, without the self-awareness to recognize it, can become genuinely difficult to work with.

So I'd describe this chapter as rebuilding trust in my employer. I'm being intentional - under-promising and over-delivering, addressing things head-on, leaving no questions unspoken, and detaching my ego from my output. I'm there to add value and build real relationships, not to reshape my personality hoping people will like me.

I'm genuinely enjoying this season. And feeling this way now only makes me more excited for what comes next.

Thanks for reading - feel free to connect if any of this resonates.

-DK