I appreciate all the replies and still get shocked by how rapid a discussion can get derailed and how people become so confrontational so fast!
I’m not going to weigh in on the remote vs in person working arrangements too much because I feel like it’s a fruitless effort in an online forum for myself. But for me personally, I WANT to work remote, or at least have the option to on occasion because I’ve found massive amounts of benefits. I wouldn’t mind going into an office and collaborating, or most likely just showing face and being friendly.
I say that I’m open or looking for remote work is because there a lot of jobs and companies based outside of the central Texas region. Since I am going to be located there, I can’t take a job in Atlanta if I’m not able to do that job remotely from Texas.
If I don’t find a remote career then I will find work local to me.
As far as all those saying go hunt and worry about it later, I hear you and I understand the sentiment. But, my personality is not going to allow me to. I’m not the sole bread winner in my family, my wife and split those duties rather equally. I’m not comfortable taking off for a couple weeks knowing that my income is gone but bills are still being required to be paid. Basically, as it’s going once my employment is wrapped up we’ll be taking our daughter out of child care in order to save some money and I’ll be a stay at home dad until I find new employment. One day I will take my daughter on a 2 week turkey hunting trip but she’s 3 right now so we’re going to stick to short trips from the house for now and not an intense travel trip. So, unfortunately at this time I won’t go on an expensive, long trek across the country with so much unknown.
I will apply for unemployment once I’m eligible because as those have said I have paid into it for over a decade. But I’m not completely sure what that income is going to look like yet so I am holding off on spending money until I know what the income is going to be.
Also, I will say this, I don’t consider myself to be entitled (or at least irrationally so), I just know what I want, what is possible, and what is most likely. Just trying to do what I can to be happy, make my family happy, and provide the best life possible for them.