Layoffs are Not the End

It was a rough week to be a technology professional. Layoffs hit the industry hard, and the biggest casualty was Meta which ended the careers of eleven thousand employees for its failed bet on the Metaverse and overenthusiastic hiring during the pandemic. I watched the news with a strange pang of memory. My career contains plenty of firings, layoffs, and assorted catastrophes. I know what it is like to not have a job anymore. This week, I feel it is necessary to talk about layoffs and how to muddle through the process of starting over. 

The first thing you should understand about being laid off is that it is not a personal failure. It was a failure of the company to manage it's business and workforce. People who work in professional fields are told from high school that their success is their responsibility. The sad truth is success in a corporate environment is not merit-related but relationship based. Having good mentors, visible success in front of senior leadership, and looking like a leader are often more important than being good at your job or having actual leadership skills. To this day, I am still amazed people are in charge of millions of dollars and the careers of dozens with the emotional understanding and leadership skills of a fraternity member you find urinating in your hedges each week after a home football game.  

Someone I respect in this business once said, "Do your job and if they have a problem with that, let them fire you." It was a bit of wisdom I have carried with me for my entire career. I say this because plenty of business decisions happen without consideration of merit. Thus, layoffs are another example of poor leadership and planning creating problems for others. It is upsetting because one day, you have a job, and the next, it is gone, and you feel guilty, wondering if something could have saved your job. The truth is nothing you could have done would have held your position. Someone put together a spreadsheet showing the cost savings of a reduction in payroll; then, it was up to executives and managers not affiliated with the people doing the work to decide who stayed and who would go. It is not personal, just a cell in a spreadsheet and a business decision. An employee delivering value to the company with a family to support is cast aside like a broken office chair. 

The impersonal nature of layoffs is what is so demeaning about the process. It stings and creates a grieving process that will take a few weeks. One moment you were a valuable employee helping the team, and the next, you were packing your desk and being escorted out of the building. I experienced a workforce reduction numerous times in my career and have found a better job with better pay each time. Career instability will take a toll on your personal life because nothing undermines a romantic relationship like unemployment. Still, the good news is that with the right partner, a layoff is a temporary setback, not a life-ending event. 

The technology business is tiny, and word travels fast in this community. Already support groups are popping up to help people caught up in the layoffs at Meta and Twitter. Recruiters are working the phone, attempting to place skilled engineers with new jobs. Executives at companies are looking to snatch up talent who can provide value immediately for the business. Finally, technology workers are in great demand because there is still too much work and insufficient skilled people. 

As a survivor of layoffs, I understand the disappointment and heartbreak which comes with being let go. Technology is a harsh world. This week was especially rough, but it will improve, and each of us will be better for the experience. 

Until next time.