> I was given the choice to be laid off and collect unemployment, or to sign a resignation letter and receive a 6 week severance (I chose the latter).
Wow, that is some awesome game theory right there. Basically you had to guess whether you'd be on unemployment long enough to make more money that way or through severance. Kinda sucks that they didn't let you do both though. After you leave unemployment costs them nothing (they already paid into it).
Recent years were a little different, because of the unemployment extensions, but I think that in most of the US, you'll earn substantially less than 50% of a programmer's salary on unemployment, possibly even less than 25% (http://www.savingtoinvest.com/2015-vs-2014-maximum-weekly-un...). Combined with a maximum time of 24 weeks, and I think severance wins out.
Wow, that is some awesome game theory right there. Basically you had to guess whether you'd be on unemployment long enough to make more money that way or through severance. Kinda sucks that they didn't let you do both though. After you leave unemployment costs them nothing (they already paid into it).