Beautiful!++ Thanks for writing this.

In my somewhat limited $work experience, after having been through a few layoff rounds (and now forced vacations & salary cut), I've often asked myself whether we could change our "fate" the next time the chopping block, so to speak, comes around.

My current opinion is that management really labels the individual professional, like a stamp on the forehead, with the most resounding technical skill which distinguishes that individual. There's not much the individual can do if that skill is deemed obsolete, despite showing great aptitude to change/learn/adapt to a new technical skill. If it's layoff time, and there's someone else with a forehead stamp that's in demand but yours is obsolete, well... let's just say it'd probably be worth more of your time to scrub the stamp off your forehead first than it is to jump into textbooks learning up the new in-demand skill.

I'm very likely to be wrong here since this is a gross generalization. Anyone with similar experience, contradicting takes, etc.?