A buddy from college hit me up last night out of nowhere. Dude was a senior product manager at Google. Pulled $320k+ TC no problem. House in Austin, three young kids, wife who stepped back from her career to handle the family chaos. Got cut in the latest restructure wave. Now he's watching the savings bleed out at $5,800+ a month just to keep the lights on and the kids fed. Mortgage, daycare for the toddler, school supplies, two car notes, health insurance COBRA kicking in soon. He crunched the numbers stone-cold: maybe four months before it's game over. He was always the loud one in the group—bragging about the stock grants, the remote flex, how Big Tech was bulletproof forever. Last night on the call he was quiet. Shaky. Admitted he's waking up at 3 a.m. staring at the ceiling thinking about what happens when the account hits zero. He's blasting applications. 250+ out the door. A couple recruiter DMs that fizzle. Screens that end with "we'll be in touch" and then silence. The market is ice-cold and every job posting gets 500+ applicants overnight. He said flat-out: "We thought we had it figured out. House, kids' college funds starting, vacations planned. Now I'm refreshing job boards at midnight wondering if we'll have to move in with my in-laws." You never think it'll be you. Until the access gets revoked, the calendar turns into a ghost town, and the mortgage statement shows up anyway. If you're still collecting fat TC at a FAANG or big tech shop thinking the golden handcuffs and network will always catch you… wake the fuck up. The runway disappears faster than you expect. DMs open if you're in the same spiral or watching someone you know crack under it. No judgment. Just real talk.