Hacker News story: Ask HN: MIT grad, junior dev layoffs – watching my daughter lose faith in merit

Ask HN: MIT grad, junior dev layoffs – watching my daughter lose faith in merit
My daughter followed the playbook everyone here recommends. MIT. Programming olympiads. Strong internships. No shortcuts. She was hired as a junior developer and laid off in February. Since then, I’ve watched her confidence collapse in real time. She isolates herself. She barely talks. She spends most days in her room applying, waiting, and getting silence. I recently saw her crying alone, trying not to be noticed. That’s when it hit me how deeply this has affected her. This layoff didn’t just remove a paycheck. It removed her belief that effort correlates with outcomes. Every rejection reinforces the idea that none of what she did mattered. It’s Christmas and we aren’t celebrating. No decorations. No pretending things are okay. I’m completely shattered as a parent, mostly because I don’t have answers. I told her for years that merit would protect her. It didn’t. So I’m asking this community directly. Is this just timing and bad luck, or is the ladder actually broken for juniors right now. How long does this phase last in reality, not theory. And what actually helps someone recover emotionally when their first real job ends like this. I’d appreciate honest answers, not platitudes. 13 comments on Hacker News.
My daughter followed the playbook everyone here recommends. MIT. Programming olympiads. Strong internships. No shortcuts. She was hired as a junior developer and laid off in February. Since then, I’ve watched her confidence collapse in real time. She isolates herself. She barely talks. She spends most days in her room applying, waiting, and getting silence. I recently saw her crying alone, trying not to be noticed. That’s when it hit me how deeply this has affected her. This layoff didn’t just remove a paycheck. It removed her belief that effort correlates with outcomes. Every rejection reinforces the idea that none of what she did mattered. It’s Christmas and we aren’t celebrating. No decorations. No pretending things are okay. I’m completely shattered as a parent, mostly because I don’t have answers. I told her for years that merit would protect her. It didn’t. So I’m asking this community directly. Is this just timing and bad luck, or is the ladder actually broken for juniors right now. How long does this phase last in reality, not theory. And what actually helps someone recover emotionally when their first real job ends like this. I’d appreciate honest answers, not platitudes.