I lost my job, got divorced, and had to move within weeks. I found purpose in building a layoff support tool.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Amanda Snyder Cathey, a senior product designer in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who built a free layoff support tool.

Her identity and background have been verified.

This story has been edited for length and clarity.

The day after finalizing my divorce in February, I got laid off from a senior product design role at a real estate tech company.

A few weeks later, my landlord told me I had to quickly move out because the house I was renting had a septic issue.

I knew getting laid off was a possibility.

We had several layoffs during the five years I was at my last company.

The oldest is starting college in the fall, so I had to reapply for financial aid at every school she wanted to get into since my income had changed drastically.

I was laid off once before, but I quickly found another job, so I never applied for unemployment benefits.

I knew I’d need more runway this time because it’s a very different job market now.

When you lose your job, you’re in a fog.

I didn’t want to be a deer in the headlights, so I took some time off just to get myself together and figure out what to do next.

One night, I was brainstorming with a friend about things I could build with AI, because in every job interview I’ve had, I’ve been asked about how I use it.

At the same time, I saw a problem based on my experience finding the resources I needed most.

I also noticed all these people on LinkedIn talking about layoffs and how they were struggling.

Building a layoff support tool seemed like the perfect use case.

So what I did was I created a one-stop shop where people can search by state for information on accessing unemployment benefits, health insurance, health coverage, food assistance, and other essential resources.

I made sure to include mental health resources because getting laid off is a real blow to your self-confidence.

The tool, called RIF Surfer, lives on a website that also has a checklist of steps to follow after a layoff, plus information I found surprising and helpful after mine.

For example, I didn’t know that you could still qualify for unemployment benefits even after receiving a severance package, or that I could qualify for Medicaid.

So, it’s a lot of me trying to demystify some of these things.

I’m a designer, not an engineer, but I built RIF Surfer in one week by vibe coding with Claude.

I was inspired by the gov.uk website, which has a benefits finder.

I wanted to keep my site very basic and straightforward.

I found it fairly easy, like being an art director, which I’m familiar with, because as a designer, it comes with the territory.

I just thought of Claude as a cognitive partner.

The tool and website it’s on didn’t cost anything to make beyond my Claude subscription and some additional usage fees.

One night, I hit my usage limit and paid around $50 so I could keep working because I was really into it.

My plan is to keep RIF Surfer free for users.

I think where it could be monetized would be outplacement firms or enterprise.

Companies could white-label it and tailor the information for the folks they lay off.

For now, though, I just want it to be a free community resource — a soft landing and a way for folks to bounce back.

We’ve all got to learn how to surf this wave.

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