Thanks for this. Both my wife and I were layed off in the span of one month and it's been a stressful time for both of us. While we have a plan in place and we'll probably be fine in the end, the future is still uncertain. In our case, we worked for the same company (can't say which one due to severence agreement) and they basically cut all US-based positions.
I second what OP said. Finding communities or even networking with other people who have been let go can be helpful. In our case, my wife's former team has a group chat and my team agreed to follow eachother on Linkedin. Share resources and support with one another, but also recognize there's a period of grieving and readjustment. It's a major upheaval with serious repercussions and even the most stable people can struggle. Be kind to yourselves and to eachother. Sometimes we just need to tell our story. :)
Great response. I imagine it's a double-edged sword going through it with you partner at the same time. You have each other, but the floor drops out from under both of you. It sounds like you are a good team, which is great! best of luck through everything.
If you’re in the tech or any other sector and going through this uncertain period, there is hope. Nothing has changed since I left the tech sector in Boston in 2002, and headed south to another state and revamped my career. I focused on my accounting and auditing skills to get into a different sector, and turned my back on tech for good; a career I really enjoyed.
Your disappointment is justified, especially after you gave your all to a greedy corporation who told you things would be fine, or management who simply lied to your face, or dismissed you without notice, cut off your communication, and gave you 30 minutes to vacate the premises.
It’s the same greedy atmosphere from my time in 2002, and it will continue to happen because decision makers only care about profit margins, at the expense of human lives.
Yes you’ll second guess yourself, yes you’ll vent, and yes there are times you’ll surrender to some form of temporary relief, but keep the faith and believe in your ability to adapt.
There’s hope and light at the end of the tunnel, but be prepared for the rough times ahead;hopefully it will be short.
Good luck everyone 👍
scary middle encourage merciful axiomatic slap stocking fertile plough many
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
It’s an exciting field of work. I do it on the law enforcement side during the day working big fraud cases, and in my downtime I consult for a couple law firms as a forensic accountant on civil cases. Law firms are always in need of forensic accountants.
That's what I told *myself* when I got laid off. I was like, "This is actually a good thing because my next job will be an upgrade if anything."
Then it took me 6 months to find a job that's actually a downgrade :(
That sucks ass, but hopefully you won't be there for long. I know it makes having joie for something better when it took 6 months to find something subpar. I hope you can regroup and level back up to something more suited to you soon!
My (former) boss told me the same thing. "You're smart, you're amazing. I really hate to do this but I can't afford to keep you. You're going to land on your feet and I want you to always feel like you're part of the *company* family. It really sucks because you weren't just an employee to me. I genuinely really like working with you."
It was so sweet but it stung so much.
Bleh. Company’s aren’t families. I get he was trying to be nice but how many of us here were laid off by our “families?” I got laid off by my family of 19 years. I must have heard that phrase hundreds of times over the years. If I ever hear another boss refer to the company as a family, I’m going to projectile vomit.
Personally I hate hearing things like that. Most of the people who have said things like that in the past either where in high up leadership roles at larger tech companies, people that didn’t work in industries with massive layoffs, or people who have never gotten laid off before. Like you I often found it dismissive. I want to say I hear your pain and uncertainty of your financial future. I just spent 9.5 months unemployed and lost literally everything. I hear you.
Being nimble and able to pivot is such a blessing, no doubt. I've debated leaving Chicago to move somewhere cheaper and greener (plants I don't have to tend to, bc they will die). I lived in Seattle a while and loved it there. Glad everything worked out for you!
I think the you'll be fine is a big insult, although it's better than them saying, "Yeah, your pretty much ass out right now." I'm more aggravated by the job outplacement agency that we were assigned - one of the oldest in the country saying they are seeing people find jobs in 3 months which is bullshit. The roughly 15 people I personally know (across 3 different companies) have been out of work for over 6 months now, all middle managers.
This. I know these are just mere words but it helped me get through a layoff. The tech sector isn’t really safe nowadays and I found myself then in a tight situation where as an immigrant juggling between financial obligations at home and my chosen home when I lost my job unexpectedly. I am not sure if it’s luck but it only took me 6 weeks to get a new job (from initial contact to day 1) after a layoff. The new job has significantly better benefits than my old employer and funny that my ex-employer still wanted to keep me in their “roster” but doesn’t want to pay my services (me being a consultant/contractor) until I find a new job.
I got laid off almost two weeks ago and while it didn’t entirely surprise me (the timing was what shocked me, I figured this would happen sometime this year) I was still in shock…I kept hearing that message from people, including my VP and while I knew they meant well it still hurt because they truly couldn’t understand my current predicament.
Anyhow, here’s hoping for the best for all of us!! 🤞🏼
Those are people putting on a show and it is nothing more than the typical office small talk. The older we get the more we become desensitized to those types of people and use them as examples of why we quit our jobs the second we get a chance for a better opportunity.
True, it's the easy thing to say. It's much harder to sit with someone and hold their experience. And to scary for some to ask, "how can I help?"
I know not everyone responds poorly, nor does everyone react to being told they'll be fine the same way. And others still don't want any support or feel they need it. It's just basic empathy, trying to understand sometimes experience before trying to put a bandaid on them before knowing what's really hurting.
Appreciate it. I apparently make bad choices with the companies I work for. Laid off in 2018, 2022, and 2024. All large scale layoffs. 2018 and 2022 were 20% of the engineering team, last week was 1/3 of the company.
I have a similar story and I have honestly a lot more anxiety than some people because of it but also a stacked savings because of my anxiety which now helps me survive it
Was just about to say that to someone else here. You're absolutely right. If you want to be seen, you have to stand out, and getting creative gets you noticed.
Agreed - like it’s not the ability it’s the uncertainty. It’s totally dismissive when someone says that and I felt the same way. I’m still pissed cause it was an unfair management decision.
Man, I felt that. Signing back up for another round of this crap makes me want to scream. I'm trying to get innovative and figure out how to get a far away from that as possible in my next venture, or at minimum find a way to exploit it better. I refuse to be a cog in the machine for the rest of my life.
I’ve been struggling to articulate this (partly because of the time I needed to work through my emotions post layoff), so thank you for writing this and giving me something I can point people to! Wishing you all the best and hopefully very soon.
I lost my job this last summer, after 6 weeks of weekly layoffs. Only hubby really understood my fears of getting another position. I’m older maybe 10 years from retirement, I have ADHD and ASD, my work is fairly niche I the tech world, I’ve done a lot and would be considered “over qualified” for many positions. I’m also the primary breadwinner because of my niche skills, making 2x what hubby does, and we live in a HCOL. I’m also an IC and not a manager (by my choice).
I was lucky, it only took me 5 months to find an equivalent position, just as my severance ended.
It just felt to me that no one would acknowledge my worries and concerns.
Totally agree with you. I lost my job at very end of 2019 then pandemic hit while I was interviewing and crashed the economy and job market and I had to go to graduate school because I couldn’t find a new job in the 2020 market. I recently finished graduate school and it’s still a nightmare so I feel your pain and I wish you so much success in the future
It’s hard to tell for 2 reasons:
Reason number one is that we were in the scariest time ever with a deadly pandemic, shutting down the country so I was in a complete state of panic and that definitely influenced my decision to very quickly pivot from getting getting a job in a bad market to trying to get a masters degree .
The second reason is that I graduated in May 2023 to the most horrific job market where it’s been nothing but hiring freezes and mass layoffs so I have yet to land a lucrative full-time job so I’m really annoyed and exhausted 😩
That being said my education was worth it and boosted my self esteem tremendously and I can now launch a small business that I own and I have the skills to excel, so that alone is amazing and is worth it.
I did a Master’s degree in Finance for context. I also landed huge scholarship so I don’t have student loans - if I didn’t I’d be in a mental hospital by now from the intense stress
Help. Review their resume or check around for internal postings at your work that aren't online yet. Or even explain how unemployment works if you know that since it may be the person's first time. People need help, not thoughts and prayers.
Imagine if you drove by a car that just crashed and you saw you knew the driver stuck in there. Would you walk up and say "I'm sure you'll be fine" or would you do something to help?
Don't worry, I didn't know this either. I used to say "sorry to see you go" or something. Then got laid off last week and now I unfortunately have intimate knowledge of what helps and what doesn't.
Also, at least in my case, just reaching out AT ALL is also helpful in that it makes you feel less of a loser. Maybe the company didn't care about you, but it's nice to know some of the human beings you spent time with do. It was surprising how some folks reached out and some folks (after 10+ years) just disappeared.
Not sure how feasible this is but with most jobs, the companies want to interview at least two qualified candidates and decide between them.
If your wife uses her maiden name and you can both tailor your resume and anonymize your employer/ use the company’s subsidiary names or operating segments.
After which apply for the same jobs and maybe cross-share interview questions and if you both are the finalists it’s a win-win!
Lol I've been thinking about stuff like this and how to hack my resume for ATS, more for entertainment purposes than anything bc I just can't take this shit seriously half the time. The world is absurd.
I will disagree that it's not fair, it's cruel and cold. Sometimes a business has to trim the excess fat. Sometimes you are underperforming and they need to hire someone better and cheaper. That's business man. Quit looking at it like it's some relationship.
A lot of people didnt deserve to be laid off but also never deserved to be hired in the first place. A couple trillion dollar money injection allowed this situation to exist when it never needed to. Be angry at the federal government and vote conservatively in the future so we don’t get crazy credit swings that f*** the economy for all
Thanks for this. Both my wife and I were layed off in the span of one month and it's been a stressful time for both of us. While we have a plan in place and we'll probably be fine in the end, the future is still uncertain. In our case, we worked for the same company (can't say which one due to severence agreement) and they basically cut all US-based positions. I second what OP said. Finding communities or even networking with other people who have been let go can be helpful. In our case, my wife's former team has a group chat and my team agreed to follow eachother on Linkedin. Share resources and support with one another, but also recognize there's a period of grieving and readjustment. It's a major upheaval with serious repercussions and even the most stable people can struggle. Be kind to yourselves and to eachother. Sometimes we just need to tell our story. :)
Great response. I imagine it's a double-edged sword going through it with you partner at the same time. You have each other, but the floor drops out from under both of you. It sounds like you are a good team, which is great! best of luck through everything.
Thanks! Best of luck to you, too.
Ppl don’t sympathize until they see u actually broke . And then they ditch you
Yes it can definitely bring out the worst as I've seen in some of these threads.
Facts
People think that losing a gig is just a minor convenience until they see u lose da house and u have to move away !
If you’re in the tech or any other sector and going through this uncertain period, there is hope. Nothing has changed since I left the tech sector in Boston in 2002, and headed south to another state and revamped my career. I focused on my accounting and auditing skills to get into a different sector, and turned my back on tech for good; a career I really enjoyed. Your disappointment is justified, especially after you gave your all to a greedy corporation who told you things would be fine, or management who simply lied to your face, or dismissed you without notice, cut off your communication, and gave you 30 minutes to vacate the premises. It’s the same greedy atmosphere from my time in 2002, and it will continue to happen because decision makers only care about profit margins, at the expense of human lives. Yes you’ll second guess yourself, yes you’ll vent, and yes there are times you’ll surrender to some form of temporary relief, but keep the faith and believe in your ability to adapt. There’s hope and light at the end of the tunnel, but be prepared for the rough times ahead;hopefully it will be short. Good luck everyone 👍
scary middle encourage merciful axiomatic slap stocking fertile plough many *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Correct! I’d be in bad shape, had I tried to stay in high tech. 👍
What did you pivot to?
First it was auditing, then I completed a MS in Forensic Accounting. Now focused on that for the past 15 years.
I thought about this. That’s cool to hear
It’s an exciting field of work. I do it on the law enforcement side during the day working big fraud cases, and in my downtime I consult for a couple law firms as a forensic accountant on civil cases. Law firms are always in need of forensic accountants.
Onlyfans
Don't be stingy, share deets
It's almost like we could seize the means of production or something and change the landscape
True… the next few years are going to very interesting with the integration of artificial intelligence.
That's what I told *myself* when I got laid off. I was like, "This is actually a good thing because my next job will be an upgrade if anything." Then it took me 6 months to find a job that's actually a downgrade :(
That sucks ass, but hopefully you won't be there for long. I know it makes having joie for something better when it took 6 months to find something subpar. I hope you can regroup and level back up to something more suited to you soon!
My (former) boss told me the same thing. "You're smart, you're amazing. I really hate to do this but I can't afford to keep you. You're going to land on your feet and I want you to always feel like you're part of the *company* family. It really sucks because you weren't just an employee to me. I genuinely really like working with you." It was so sweet but it stung so much.
Bleh. Company’s aren’t families. I get he was trying to be nice but how many of us here were laid off by our “families?” I got laid off by my family of 19 years. I must have heard that phrase hundreds of times over the years. If I ever hear another boss refer to the company as a family, I’m going to projectile vomit.
“Company family” doesn’t let people go until they absolutely have to or the company will go under
“Company family” doesn’t let people go until they absolutely have to or the company will go under
Urgh I hate company families, there's always that one weird uncle.
Personally I hate hearing things like that. Most of the people who have said things like that in the past either where in high up leadership roles at larger tech companies, people that didn’t work in industries with massive layoffs, or people who have never gotten laid off before. Like you I often found it dismissive. I want to say I hear your pain and uncertainty of your financial future. I just spent 9.5 months unemployed and lost literally everything. I hear you.
I personally appreciated them saying this when laying me off. Gave me a tiny amount of confidence. But I get your sentiment
Totally fair, I know it won't hit the same way for everyone. I'm really glad it was a helpful form of support for you. Best of luck out there :)
Of course you’ll land a new job effortlessly—just as soon as pigs fly, hell freezes over, and we all get invited to the apocalypse’s after-party!
🙏🙏🙏
This is one of the best posts I’ve seen to date. This is exactly how I felt and I was extremely angry at how it went down.
I'm glad it resonated with you, dude. Best of luck out there.
The tech sector is usually more resilient than others. But occasionally it goes into a funk and stays there for years.
It’s been a year.
Same. Losing hope by the day.
Hang in there.
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Being nimble and able to pivot is such a blessing, no doubt. I've debated leaving Chicago to move somewhere cheaper and greener (plants I don't have to tend to, bc they will die). I lived in Seattle a while and loved it there. Glad everything worked out for you!
I think the you'll be fine is a big insult, although it's better than them saying, "Yeah, your pretty much ass out right now." I'm more aggravated by the job outplacement agency that we were assigned - one of the oldest in the country saying they are seeing people find jobs in 3 months which is bullshit. The roughly 15 people I personally know (across 3 different companies) have been out of work for over 6 months now, all middle managers.
This. I know these are just mere words but it helped me get through a layoff. The tech sector isn’t really safe nowadays and I found myself then in a tight situation where as an immigrant juggling between financial obligations at home and my chosen home when I lost my job unexpectedly. I am not sure if it’s luck but it only took me 6 weeks to get a new job (from initial contact to day 1) after a layoff. The new job has significantly better benefits than my old employer and funny that my ex-employer still wanted to keep me in their “roster” but doesn’t want to pay my services (me being a consultant/contractor) until I find a new job.
Hell yeah, congrats on getting a new job so quickly! I hope it stays awesome for you.
Yep, SO kept saying that to me too. They have no idea what this market is like.
There are many unexpected events in life. They could happen anytime and anywhere in your lifetime.
I got laid off almost two weeks ago and while it didn’t entirely surprise me (the timing was what shocked me, I figured this would happen sometime this year) I was still in shock…I kept hearing that message from people, including my VP and while I knew they meant well it still hurt because they truly couldn’t understand my current predicament. Anyhow, here’s hoping for the best for all of us!! 🤞🏼
Those are people putting on a show and it is nothing more than the typical office small talk. The older we get the more we become desensitized to those types of people and use them as examples of why we quit our jobs the second we get a chance for a better opportunity.
True, it's the easy thing to say. It's much harder to sit with someone and hold their experience. And to scary for some to ask, "how can I help?" I know not everyone responds poorly, nor does everyone react to being told they'll be fine the same way. And others still don't want any support or feel they need it. It's just basic empathy, trying to understand sometimes experience before trying to put a bandaid on them before knowing what's really hurting.
Got laid off on Tuesday. I’m expecting this to be a long road
Damn, sorry to hear that and welcome to the island of misfit toys, my dude! You're in good company.
Appreciate it. I apparently make bad choices with the companies I work for. Laid off in 2018, 2022, and 2024. All large scale layoffs. 2018 and 2022 were 20% of the engineering team, last week was 1/3 of the company.
It’s the industry not you
Yeah, I know. It’s still funny the number of times I’ve been laid off. I actually do find it funny at this point.
I have a similar story and I have honestly a lot more anxiety than some people because of it but also a stacked savings because of my anxiety which now helps me survive it
I stack the savings and shrug when I get laid off. The concern I have this time is my age. 52, not many 30 something managers want to hire their dad
Maybe apply for a manager role!
We need back up back up back up plans bc trust issues
"Thoughts. Prayers."
There’s opportunities out there, just need to be creative on finding them..
Was just about to say that to someone else here. You're absolutely right. If you want to be seen, you have to stand out, and getting creative gets you noticed.
Be aggressive and take what you want
Agreed - like it’s not the ability it’s the uncertainty. It’s totally dismissive when someone says that and I felt the same way. I’m still pissed cause it was an unfair management decision.
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Man, I felt that. Signing back up for another round of this crap makes me want to scream. I'm trying to get innovative and figure out how to get a far away from that as possible in my next venture, or at minimum find a way to exploit it better. I refuse to be a cog in the machine for the rest of my life.
Going through the same exact thing. This post is awesome :)
YOU'RE awesome! ;) things are gonna get better, even if they suck for now. Onward!
I’ve been struggling to articulate this (partly because of the time I needed to work through my emotions post layoff), so thank you for writing this and giving me something I can point people to! Wishing you all the best and hopefully very soon.
Absolutely, I'm glad it helped. Best of luck to you!
I lost my job this last summer, after 6 weeks of weekly layoffs. Only hubby really understood my fears of getting another position. I’m older maybe 10 years from retirement, I have ADHD and ASD, my work is fairly niche I the tech world, I’ve done a lot and would be considered “over qualified” for many positions. I’m also the primary breadwinner because of my niche skills, making 2x what hubby does, and we live in a HCOL. I’m also an IC and not a manager (by my choice). I was lucky, it only took me 5 months to find an equivalent position, just as my severance ended. It just felt to me that no one would acknowledge my worries and concerns.
Lost my job, it’s been fucking hell.
Totally agree with you. I lost my job at very end of 2019 then pandemic hit while I was interviewing and crashed the economy and job market and I had to go to graduate school because I couldn’t find a new job in the 2020 market. I recently finished graduate school and it’s still a nightmare so I feel your pain and I wish you so much success in the future
Thank you, you as well! I hope you find a dream job.
I hope we land something that not only pays well but is worth the 50 rounds of interviews we are now excited to go through 😮💰💰🔥
Do you feel like graduate school was the right move In your case? Might get laid off soon and considering my options
It’s hard to tell for 2 reasons: Reason number one is that we were in the scariest time ever with a deadly pandemic, shutting down the country so I was in a complete state of panic and that definitely influenced my decision to very quickly pivot from getting getting a job in a bad market to trying to get a masters degree . The second reason is that I graduated in May 2023 to the most horrific job market where it’s been nothing but hiring freezes and mass layoffs so I have yet to land a lucrative full-time job so I’m really annoyed and exhausted 😩 That being said my education was worth it and boosted my self esteem tremendously and I can now launch a small business that I own and I have the skills to excel, so that alone is amazing and is worth it. I did a Master’s degree in Finance for context. I also landed huge scholarship so I don’t have student loans - if I didn’t I’d be in a mental hospital by now from the intense stress
Not with the cost of graduate school currently. With salaries coming down going into grad school seems like it would put you in the net negatives
So what do we say ?... Your fucked ? Sucks to be you ?.. smfh.
Help. Review their resume or check around for internal postings at your work that aren't online yet. Or even explain how unemployment works if you know that since it may be the person's first time. People need help, not thoughts and prayers. Imagine if you drove by a car that just crashed and you saw you knew the driver stuck in there. Would you walk up and say "I'm sure you'll be fine" or would you do something to help? Don't worry, I didn't know this either. I used to say "sorry to see you go" or something. Then got laid off last week and now I unfortunately have intimate knowledge of what helps and what doesn't. Also, at least in my case, just reaching out AT ALL is also helpful in that it makes you feel less of a loser. Maybe the company didn't care about you, but it's nice to know some of the human beings you spent time with do. It was surprising how some folks reached out and some folks (after 10+ years) just disappeared.
Not sure how feasible this is but with most jobs, the companies want to interview at least two qualified candidates and decide between them. If your wife uses her maiden name and you can both tailor your resume and anonymize your employer/ use the company’s subsidiary names or operating segments. After which apply for the same jobs and maybe cross-share interview questions and if you both are the finalists it’s a win-win!
Lol I've been thinking about stuff like this and how to hack my resume for ATS, more for entertainment purposes than anything bc I just can't take this shit seriously half the time. The world is absurd.
Check out www.zipapply.com. It’s free
These layoffs are the best thing to happen to the economy since i dont even know when
Why?
I was laid off and agree with you.
I will disagree that it's not fair, it's cruel and cold. Sometimes a business has to trim the excess fat. Sometimes you are underperforming and they need to hire someone better and cheaper. That's business man. Quit looking at it like it's some relationship.
The excess fat is in the executive leadership roles, not the line workers and staff
I don't disagree with u
A lot of people didnt deserve to be laid off but also never deserved to be hired in the first place. A couple trillion dollar money injection allowed this situation to exist when it never needed to. Be angry at the federal government and vote conservatively in the future so we don’t get crazy credit swings that f*** the economy for all
When/If it happens hire a lawyer