I am mid level software dev. After seeing so many layoffs, my mind is filled with fear. I couldn't spend my time with family. People say AI replaces people not using AI. But it is not true, it will replace people using AI eventually, I think. People in my situation, what you are actually doing to overcome this, are you taking any actions to orevent any future catastrophes.

I have been through 6 rounds of layoffs in my career over 23 years. Seen all kinds of automation replacing people. But I have also seen those systems get hit by some many unptedictable events that people get called back in to stabilize things. And there is a delay between the two.

So I learnt what happens to individuals is different from what happens to the system. Its like realizing the army you fight for might loose the war but individual soldiers still survive and live a decent life because issues keep popping up.

So I usually dont get over involved with all the external and internal news about the system. I just focus on things I can do which means start job hunting, networking, keep good relationships alive, helping others also usually ends up with them helping you down the road, keep looking for projects etc etc.

If you get too sucked into what everyone else is saying and doing that can become a trap.