It was ridiculous. Newspaper classifieds were still kind of a thing at the time, and I vividly recall section 110 (computer jobs) disappearing entirely for over a year. During the bleakest period the few local businesses that were hiring were asking for insane skill combinations, a decade or more of prior experience, and offering the kind of wages you'd expect working in fast food. The tech support call center I was working at at the time had dudes with advanced degrees and many years of industry experience working 2nd shift just to have some cash coming in. Local news outlets were running stories about senior network admins and programmers with advanced degrees leaving the industry entirely to start up landscaping businesses and the like. It got pretty grim.