You Got the Severance Package. Now What?
The window right after a tech layoff is uncomfortable and valuable at the same time. Most people rush through it to get back to something that looks like what they had. A smaller group uses it differently.
The email comes on a Tuesday. By Wednesday you have a severance agreement in your inbox and a to-do list in your head: update the resume, reach out to recruiters, check who's hiring.
That list isn't wrong. But it's the obvious list — the one everyone follows. And the people who follow it generally end up in the same place they started: employed at a large company, trading hours and output for a salary and benefits, with the same structural exposure to the next round of cuts.
A smaller group of people uses the severance window differently.
What the severance window actually is
Severance is income continuation — typically four to twelve weeks of salary — that buys you time. Most people treat it as a countdown to find a new job. A smaller group treats it as a funded runway to figure out whether they want a new job, or something else.
The question "something else" raises is the hard one: what would I actually build if I had time and a little cushion?
For engineers, data scientists, and AI specialists — the people most affected by recent rounds of tech layoffs — "something else" increasingly looks like independent AI services.
Why now is an unusually good time
Three things are true simultaneously that haven't all been true before:
First, the tools to deliver AI services independently have matured dramatically. What required a team two years ago can now be built by one person with the right skills.
Second, demand from small and mid-sized businesses is accelerating. Every business owner who has read about AI in the last year is asking themselves whether they should be doing something with it. Many of them are ready to pay someone to answer that question practically.
Third, the supply of capable independent AI practitioners hasn't caught up with demand. The market is not yet crowded at the quality level.
The practical starting point
Pick one thing you know how to build. Write two paragraphs about who it helps and what problem it solves. Put it somewhere people can find it.
That's the whole move. The first inquiry clarifies your offering. The first project sets your rate. The first referral starts the pipeline.
JustListAI is a free directory where AI professionals list their services — no commission, no monthly fee, no minimum commitment. If you have the severance window and the skills, a listing costs nothing and takes five minutes.
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