i got fired from series A startup

I am currently working as a senior engineer at a startup (yoe 6+). Initially things were good , but from the last few months The workplace turned toxic and all the nasty things started happening around me. The burn out was deteriorating mental and physical health, so i lost my patience and resigned. Making this ama , so that I can help someone who is going through the same situation.

I used to work at a product-based company, joined as a fresher worked for 2 years, it was a perfect job, in the sense that there was little to no work related stress, decent pay, and all the perks you get at a typical big product company as an SDE. I decided to move out of my comfort zone and joined a bootstrapped startup. It sounded stupid when I left but I just wanted to experiment with working in a high-paced environment. 3 months in and I am very frustrated there is no sense of urgency even in a highly competitive space, all 3 co-founders are busy fundraising and rarely talk to us except for standups(which are also skipped regularly) most other team members(a total of 11) work like govt employees, no hunger, passion or curiosity. I joined because I love the problem they are solving and I am genuinely passionate about the industry and problem space but I don't even see 10% of the same passion in any of my other teammates they come in at 10 and leave by 4. Sorry for the long rant but need genuine advice, will things change after the fundraise and as an employee how do I raise my issues with company culture with co-founders without sounding too bossy and pissing off my other teammates.

I started as a fresher at a big service-based company, faced a lot of politics, and was learning nothing. I realized I needed to leave it ASAP. I left it after 8 months, then was jobless for 2 months. After 2 months joined an early-stage startup, and was satisfied with my learning for a while, but in the backend team, there were only two people me and the CTO. And my dynamics with him didn't go very well. There was no culture as well, weekdays and weekends were the same. I was still fine with it but the guy (CTO) became very toxic and creepy. In 2 months, I started interviewing and I got into a mid-sized series B startup that had a good culture. I had to switch tech stack and it was more overwhelming than I thought initially. I tried to do good but I got laid off after working there for 10 months. All the way along I increased my package to a decent level. Now I feel super demotivated and underconfident and it's been 6 months since and I haven't taken up a job. With an increasing gap, I feel I have fucked up my career. In these 6 months, I have tried exploring different career options but haven't been able to crack any or have been indecisive and I feel I should just take up a job.

I am seeing a lot of layoff related posts everywhere from news articles to LinkedIn.. Is the Job market really that bad now? Or just the media is projecting that way? If it's really bad, which department you think is the most affected? How's layoffs specifically in India? Or is it layoffs in US but more hiring in India due to cost cutting? Are layoffs in technology/engineering dept as in for developers or some other departments? Your thoughts please..

took the plunge, started up last year. burned all savings, couldn't raise any capital. tried multiple things, nothing took off. decided to shut down in june. shutting down was harder than starting up, finished things up by october. been looking for jobs since, with no luck. had kick-ass jobs prior to this. no clue what is happening now. really want to give starting up another shot but have lost all motivation. so lost. no idea what to do.

I'm already 7 months in & I'm slowly starting to give up now. The positive affirmations, the "your time will come" crap is just not working anymore. Financially, I'm a mess. Living in constant stress & anxiety, parents don't believe in me, can't go out & have a drink with my friends since i have deliberately been out of contact with them. What has helped you go through such situations?

I recently worked at a startup and it was terrible. To be honest, I still worked at one of the better ones but it just sucked. Some of the clear downsides I see - Survival mode leads to chaos. You can be treated anyway and asked to leave whenever even though you left big opportunities to be here - Brand loss to find next job (Big problem) - Trying to make you feel unworthy(Doesn't bother me but I have seen people lose self confidence) - Loss of opportunity to build real skills like building sustainable teams for the long run I think over all working at a startup especially early teams is a losing proposition. Do it only if - - you know the founders/team well - you know the industry and market well and it is a bet you personally believe in - you are secure enough in life that if you go back to your job, you will easily get employed For middle class kids, startups are the worst bets one can take.

Did you face any consequences later in your career because of the karma?

Hi everyone, I was working for a startup for about 1.5 years and I was doing quite well. then my mind thought of exploring other industries so I quit my job and started looking for jobs in other industries and landed on one after 3 months of quitting. And that company was not open to learning or engaging anything apart from my JD and I was not happy as I was working only for an hour of the day (basically I was doing nothing). It was frustrating as I was paying 200 for auto everyday for doing nothing so I left that job and started looking for jobs and this next company was supposed to be a game changer in my career but it was toxic I told my manager how I feel about it and he convinced me that I'll be working only with him. But that one day everything crossed the limit. And I left that job in 4 months. Now, why can't I say this directly in my interviews?? Why do I have to lie about why I switched jobs. I can't say directly "no learning opportunities or no growth or toxic environment in previous companies". This is so frustrating, I've applied for more than 200 companies in the last 2 months and I've nothing. 🤕 Can someone help me with great excuses for career gaps which I can use for interviews?