As soon as something swaps hands from the person or people who built it because they understood the problem it solved to people who only see it as an engine for profit it begins to die, and we've set up systems to make the death long and agonizing while the MBAs bleed it dry.
Your track record is not a black mark, it's just a busy market out there. You have to pitch it just right to get it. Mangle the Tech Product Manager skills with your dev stuff. Interviews are tough and practice beforehand.
Ignore what your friends make because that will sour your mood.
Fortunately, my friends who are better off are very supportive - in some of these interviews I can't help but think I sound desperate or maybe just annoying.
Thanks for your kind words
Rock bottom is a complete dismantling of your life. Failed relationships (romantic, friendly, professional, etc), lost job, bills piling up, apartment a disaster, inability to build a mental model that can cope with your current situation.
It looks more like you're in a relative minimum. From what I understand about psychology a healthy balanced life generally follows a pattern of building yourself up to a relative maximum, getting something completely wrong that challenges the framework you've built to orient yourself in the world, hitting a relative minimum, and learning to build yourself back up to a new relative maximum.
Consider the alternative, where there are no relative minimums. That would imply you either know everything, in which case your trajectory would be completely flat or ascending indefinitely. Well, that certainly can't be the case because not even the most brilliant people in history knew everything.
There is no advice or shortcut we can give that your therapist hasn't given you. These things take time. There is something about life that you've gotten wrong. This is your opportunity to learn what it is, fix it, build a new mental model, and prepare yourself to not make the same mistakes again.
You're in the fortunate position to have a lot of opportunity. More people are in the dysfunctional family history boat than you think. Sounds like you've done well, despite that.
Keep going.
I've realized this is kind of what my mental model has lead to, the worst part is I don't really know how to fix it or change. Fortunately I have years of living expenses if needed, have insurance and a number of close friends. However, WFH has gotten me to a point where it's a struggle to even do a few leetcode problems a day, work on contracting or even make a youtube video. Insurance doesn't cover mental healthcare and it never really helped before.
Been applying to jobs for about five weeks and other than a few interviews nothing has kicked back. Either no response or flat out denied, contemplating just re-learning a bunch of leetcode stuff I hate. All of my friends make north of $200k and I've just been floundering.
Future does not seem bright - clearly my track record is a black mark of some kind.
Hope things get better for you my friend.