I got hired in my first tech role in 2019, and since then I feel so frustrated that the job markets always seem so topsy-turvy. We're either in a hiring freeze, frenzied hiring, or mass layoffs. None of these are good for meaningful lateral career growth. Hiring freezes mean you're stuck, frenzied hiring means you might get hired but not thoughtfully, and mass layoffs even though I wasn't affected are scary.
Karl Marx was hoping to put an end to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_cycle
Maynard Keynes figured out how to tame it somewhat (now we have a "great recession" instead of a "great depression") It helps a lot that we don't have a gold standard because back then we had the "Panic of 18xx" and "Panic of 19xx" every few years... But we have inflation instead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_Unit...
Sad to say, but - if you really want a "normal" job market, then look for a job repairing municipal water mains. At ~no time has past couple centuries has there been a "normal" job market in whatever was the latest / greatest / fast-changing technology.