TOOLS
Free Tools for Laid-Off Software Engineers
A small library of free, no-signup tools for SWEs in transition — resume ATS checker, layoff runway calculator, interview readiness quiz. Built by people who've run the job search recently.
Free Tools for Laid-Off Software Engineers
Most “free career tools” on the internet are lead magnets. You hand over your email, get a generic PDF, and spend the next six months unsubscribing from sales drips. That’s not what this page is.
The tools linked below are free because they’re the narrow, high-leverage moments in a SWE job search where a focused 60-second check changes how you spend the next month. We don’t gate them. We don’t need your email to run them. If you end up using GitReady’s full workflow later, great — but the tools stand on their own.
Why we built each one
Every tool here started as a question a laid-off engineer asked us that a Google search couldn’t answer:
- “Is my resume actually getting through ATS, or am I being screened out before a human sees it?” → ATS Resume Checker
- “How long can I actually afford to be out of work, once I account for COBRA and taxes on my severance?” → Layoff Runway Calculator
- “I’ve been prepping for two months — am I ready to interview at Stripe, or do I still need another six weeks?” → Interview Readiness Quiz
Each one is a signal for us (on what SWEs actually need help with) and a signal for them (on what’s actually broken in their search). Most people overestimate one of these three dimensions and underestimate another. A ten-minute tool is often the cheapest way to find out which.
Free vs signed-in
The free tools give you a single, honest answer. The signed-in product does more: it remembers your results, tracks changes over a 30-day plan, runs AI mock interviews scored against a rubric, and stitches resume + GitHub + LinkedIn into one Hire-Me Score. The split is on purpose. A one-shot check should never need an account. Ongoing prep benefits from state.
When to use which tool
Use the ATS checker the moment you think your resume might be the bottleneck (applied to 40+ roles, zero responses). Use the runway calculator in week 1, while severance decisions are still open. Use the readiness quiz when you’re mid-prep and unsure whether to schedule onsites yet.
The generic-tool trap
A resume checker that doesn’t know what O(log n) means in a bullet point, or a budget calculator that doesn’t know how severance is taxed as supplemental wages — those tools will give you plausible-sounding advice that’s subtly wrong. SWE-specific tools are narrower on purpose. Narrow is the whole point.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need to sign up to use these tools?
- No. The free tools on this page run without an account. Signing up gets you the full Hire-Me Score, a 30-day personalized prep plan, and AI mock interviews — but the free tools are genuinely free, no email gate, no dark pattern.
- How are these different from generic career tools?
- Every tool here is calibrated for software engineers specifically. The ATS checker knows what a parseable SWE resume looks like. The runway calculator accounts for COBRA and severance tax withholding. The readiness quiz weights DSA, system design, behavioral, and stamina the way a real SWE loop does — not generic 'confidence' scores.
- Will you add more tools?
- Yes — the tools we ship are the ones SWEs in our Discord actually ask for. If you hit a wall in your search that a small focused tool could solve, tell us. The roadmap is reader-driven.