The Reboot Era
Layoffs. Burnout. Reinvention. Welcome to the messy middle of career change — and the community that's not afraid to talk about it.
Hosted by Dray Jankowski, a former tech program manager laid off in 2025, The Reboot Era is part unfiltered storytelling, part emotional support group, and part career comeback plan. Through weekly solo episodes and candid guest interviews, we explore what it really means to rebuild your life — professionally, emotionally, and financially.
We’re not here to sell you hope. We’re here to tell the truth — with humor, heart, and a little chaos.
Each episode dives into one of our seven pillars:
• Layoffs & Unemployment
• Motivation & Momentum
• Strategy & Income
• Redirection & Reinvention
• Mental Health & Renewal
• Closure & Reflection
• Identity & Calling
If you’ve ever screamed into a throw pillow after reading a rejection email — this is your place.
🎧 New episodes every week.
💬 Got a story of your own? Come tell it. This isn’t just my era — it’s ours!
The Reboot Era
From Microsoft Layoff to CEO: The Human Side of Reinvention
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In July 2025, 9,000 employees were laid off in a single day.
Quentin Cobb was one of them.
After 17 years in the gaming industry — working across studios owned by Sony, Bethesda, and Microsoft — Quentin suddenly found himself asking the same question thousands of professionals face:
“What now?”
Instead of returning to another AAA studio, he decided to build something of his own.
In this episode, Quentin shares the raw, emotional, and practical realities of:
- Navigating your first layoff
- Detaching identity from job titles
- Competing in a brutal remote job market
- Starting a company with friends
- Hard creative conversations
- Founder burnout (and the December breaking point)
- The importance of support systems
- Why networking is about relationships — not requests
- And how to prepare for layoffs before they happen
This isn’t a highlight reel startup story.
It’s honest. It’s emotional. And it’s deeply human.
If you’ve ever been laid off, feared a layoff, or wondered whether you could build something on your own — this episode is for you.
Connect with Quentin on LinkedIn:
👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/quentin-cobb/
💼 Partner: Jobhire.ai — Apply to jobs while you sleep. 30% off with code DRAY30 → jobhire.ai/job-matcher/?imutm=dray (you must use that link)
👉 Follow on TikTok
👉 Subscribe on YouTube
👉 Connect on LinkedIn
👉 Buy me a coffee or leave a tip to support the show 💸
🎧 All links: https://linktr.ee/draycation
Thanks for supporting The Reboot Era — every follow, share, and tip helps me keep making content for anyone navigating layoffs, pivots, and everything in between.
Everything shared on this podcast is based on personal experience and opinion. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, no content should be considered professional, legal, or career advice. Any mention of companies, products, or individuals is done in a personal capacity and does not represent the views or endorsements of those organizations or people. If a sponsorship or paid partnership is ever included, it will be clearly disclosed during the episode.
