I'm not being laid off. Well, I will be in a few months, but also the opposite; I'm a freelancer currently working for a major bank, and they will soon run into the limit of how long they're allowed to hire me according to their rules, so they announced my contract will end in the summer. But if I'm open to it, I could get a permanent position there. It's unrelated to the pandemic, though.
I need to consider whether to take them up on that. I like the freedom of freelancing, and it will undoubtedly be an effective pay cut, but I do really enjoy the project I'm working on, and other teams within the same department are also working on interesting things I'd like to get into, like Machine Learning. And some job security might be nice if the pandemic hurts the job market. So in a way the pandemic may force me out of my current freelancing business. I'm totally aware I'm in a very comfortable position compared to many others, though.
I need to consider whether to take them up on that. I like the freedom of freelancing, and it will undoubtedly be an effective pay cut, but I do really enjoy the project I'm working on, and other teams within the same department are also working on interesting things I'd like to get into, like Machine Learning. And some job security might be nice if the pandemic hurts the job market. So in a way the pandemic may force me out of my current freelancing business. I'm totally aware I'm in a very comfortable position compared to many others, though.