• Emily Pitcher got a job at Meta straight out of college but was laid off in 2023.
• Despite exceeding expectations and receiving other accolades, she couldn't find a regular job.
• She took her unemployment as an opportunity to develop a game and launch her business.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Emily Pitcher, a 25-year-old content creator and game developer from Los Angeles. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I was valedictorian of my high school and graduated from college with honors. I've always valued excellence, so it was such a treat when, just out of college in 2021, I landed a contract job at Meta that turned into a full-time, six-figure job as a content designer around the start of 2022.

I worked on every major surface of Instagram, including profiles, explore, search, and home. I got to work on features that were used by so many people.

My first annual performance rating was "exceeds expectations" on all markers, and I was given a raise. I thought I was doing really well at the company. Then two months later, in April of 2023, I was laid off.

For the first time, I realized that hard work doesn't always reap rewards. Finding full-time work felt impossible, but struggling to find a job pushed me to give my passion project a shot.

I planned to work in Big Tech for a while, but layoffs happened across the entire industry

I was laid off via a generic email as part of a series of mass layoffs. The message cited that Meta had changing business needs, and my role was no longer needed. I was devastated.

My true passion has always been indie video games, but I planned to stick around in Big Tech for several years before starting my own studio. I thought I had done really well at a big company like Meta. When I got laid off, it messed with my worldview.

I started applying to more tech jobs, and after four months of unemployment, I landed a contract role at Yahoo as a content designer, which kept me afloat. That job ended a few months later, and I was back to being unemployed.

There were so many Big Tech layoffs happening at the time.

I was on Forbes 30 under 30 and still couldn't find a job

I had been making some money from content creation promoting my indie game, Gold Lining, which I'd been developing with some friends since college.

In the midst of my unemployment, I was included in Forbes 30 under 30 for my work on the game.

It felt like such a jarring discrepancy. On one hand, I received this esteemed achievement and was being told I was a part of the next generation of changers in the game industry. On the other hand, I was crying alone in my bedroom because I couldn't even land a regular job. It felt very dystopian.

I thought maybe being on Forbes 30 under 30 would help me get a job, but it didn't. Nobody cared.

I started a hobby project to help me cope with my failures

Around this time, I started hating the game I was developing with my friends. We were receiving rejection after rejection from investors, and I found myself trying to appease them at the expense of my own better judgment. I wanted to get back to making games I loved.

I decided to start a hobby project as a way to cope with the anxiety of my two colossal failures — unemployment and a failing game. My honest hope was just to reignite my spark for game development.

I stepped away from Gold Lining in July 2024, and that same month, I came up with the idea to develop Lily's World XD, a psychological horror game where players investigate a young girl's computer.

I made a little Instagram video promoting its development, which got over 2 million views. Now, I fully finance myself through content creation about my journey building Lily's World XD.

Working for myself has been challenging, but I'm taking this time to give my dreams a shot

I feel so lucky that I'm able to pursue my passion at such a young age, but I still have anxiety every day that it's all going to stop working out because content creation is so futile.

I'm still learning how to manage the anxiety and overwhelm of being my own boss. When I was working at Meta, I'd turn my work brain off after work. Now, I lay in bed at night, still thinking about a bug in my game or stressing about a video that isn't performing well.

It can be tough, but leaning on my network of fellow game developers and content creators for support has been extremely helpful. I'm taking this as my chance to give my dreams a shot, and I won't hold back.

If you were laid off from your dream job and would like to tell your story, please email the editor, Manseen Logan, at [email protected].

• My parents recently moved to a retirement community, and my daughter is moving home after college.
• As a member of the "sandwich generation," I'm making sure to prioritize myself, too.
• I'm embracing travel, writing, and fitness while planning for an adventurous retirement.

At 56, I'm a member of the "sandwich generation," the aptly named in-between time when family ties are both fleeting and consuming. My parents recently moved into a retirement community and in a few months, my daughter will graduate from college and move home with me as she looks for a job. My familial responsibilities are in full swing as I define my own middle age, which looks nothing like I'd expected.

It started with my divorce

The midlife demise of my 20-year marriage sent me reeling to reconstruct a life I'd thought was already built. I'm now a working single mom and, though my child is grown, she still relies on me financially (and, more than she deigns to admit, emotionally).

It's a heady time — one of anticipatory grief and deep gratitude, mucking through nostalgia for bygone eras, while looking ahead to a solitary future. Watching my daughter make her way in the world as my mom's chapters come to a close is a poignant reminder to fulfill the dreams that still lie before me.

I'm important, too

I often felt like I was held captive by the day-to-day tasks on my own calendar, as well as my duties supporting my parents and child. Now more than ever, I'm prioritizing activities that bring me joy.

For the past couple of years, I've enrolled in travel writing classes (both virtual and in-person), traveling for workshops in Nepal, Mexico, San Francisco, and Paris. I love bringing my trips to life through stories. Though writing has been something I've always enjoyed, I'm now honing my craft. The deep friendships I've made in my writing community have been an unexpected bonus.

I'm also learning to paint. I've never considered myself an artist, but the tactile meditation of brush on paper has brought unexpected joy as I paint the landscapes and buildings I've seen on my travels.

I've developed a passion for shelling (my mom calls it an obsession and she's not wrong). My parents live on the west coast of Florida, a few miles from the water, and I visit frequently. Each morning, I head off before sunrise, reaching the beach as the sun's early rays turn the sky to cotton candy. I've learned all the names — lightning whelk, Florida fighting conch and, my favorite, the banded tulip. My collection sits in jars and bowls in my New Jersey home, reminding me of my visits with my parents.

I'm also studying French, brushing up on the language I learned in high school and college. While not yet fluent, I can read signs and menus and engage in basic conversation with French-speakers on my travels. I plan to add Spanish classes, next.

I'm thinking big for myself

With retirement looming, I have plans for longer, more adventurous travel such as camping in Africa, spending a month in India, hiking Spain's Camino de Santiago. There's nothing like lugging water, clutching the supports in lurching rickshaws, and trudging on ancient cobblestones to remind me of the need for physical strength and balance. In her career, my mom was a gym teacher who biked, ran and played tennis in her spare time. Now, she has difficulty walking. Seeing her decline reminds me to maintain the strength required to lift my suitcase into the overhead compartment. To combat this, I try to grab a quick 20 minutes on the treadmill and a 10-minute arm workout after a long day at the office.

This life stage looks nothing like I'd imagined it would, yet I'm thriving as I savor time with my parents and my daughter, while still making time for myself and my future. Striking a balance that meets everyone's needs, my sandwich years are turning out to be the best years of my life.