I had been taking maximum doses of Tylenol to deal with the headaches, and by the start of the week, I genuinely thought I had turned a corner. I tested negative with my take-home test and convinced myself that I was on the mend. Over the weekend, my fatigue symptoms did start to subside, but headaches and mental sluggishness persisted. I thought a week would be more than enough time to recover. Fearful of losing another opportunity, I agreed to an interview slot for the following week. One of the recruiters for my remaining applications reached out regarding a separate hiring manager who wanted to interview me. Toward the end of the week, I started to feel slightly better. Another recruiter reached out with the same dilemma - again, I declined the interview. I didn’t want to give another poor interview performance that could affect future opportunities, so I declined to interview. Later in the week, I was informed by a recruiter that they could not reschedule one of my interviews due to alternative candidates with exploding offers and that if I couldn’t interview at the initially scheduled time, they could no longer consider me for the position. Realizing I couldn’t possibly give my best performance in an interview (and a little shaken after my last performance), I informed my recruiters that I would have to reschedule interviews set for that week. It became impossible to concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time. I also began to have troubling mental issues – I couldn’t remember things I had just read, and I took longer and longer to complete basic tasks. The fatigue and headaches became debilitating, and I lost my sense of smell. The following week, my symptoms became worse. But my symptoms were seemingly mild, so I informed my manager and planned to keep working. I was shocked - I had been fully vaccinated, no one I had been in contact with had tested positive (to my knowledge), and I hadn’t traveled or been in a setting with increased risk exposure. Out of caution, I went to get a COVID test. The following day, I woke up feeling slightly fatigued, nauseated, and had a stuffed and runny nose. It was a poor interview, but I chalked it up to nerves and brushed it off. During an interview with a hiring manager in late July, I found myself struggling to find the right words while speaking and losing my train of thought. About two months ago, I was interviewing with five different companies, including Netflix, Snap, and Google (all non-technical roles). I was vaccinated with the Moderna shots in late March, followed mask guidance, and generally avoided large groups and indoor gatherings. Exercise daily and have no preexisting health conditions other than occasional allergies. My background - healthy adult, early-30s. TC:280k YOE: 5 ++++ No judgment about vaccinations in this post - just relaying my depressing experience with COVID-19 over the past month as a warning to anyone who thinks contracting COVID is similar to getting the flu. Do everything you can to avoid it, and do not assume “mild symptoms” means a mild effect on your health, well-being, and career. It can have persisting and debilitating effects on your mental abilities and completely derail your life, even for the young, healthy, and vaccinated.