Do not sell anxiety, discuss things objectively, and hope to help friends in need.
Many people feel that there are no signs before layoffs, but that's not true.
There are many signs of layoffs in the company, and I will set some pitfalls and warnings in another article about the layoff signals I encountered. When you encounter these signals, your intuition tells you that you need to consider finding the next alternative solution immediately.
Because when any one or more of these signals appear, it means that layoffs are in progress and usually occur within 3 to 6 months.
Position in the Company#
The position in the company that was laid off was Tech Lead.
Although this position does not necessarily mean that you can obtain more effective information than other colleagues, it usually allows for better communication channels with superiors.
However, unfortunately, the communication channels in this company are very problematic.
Because the deputy general manager in charge of the related development department transitioned from PHP to Java, he is not very clear about many aspects of Java, so he relies heavily on an architect.
However, most people in the company believe that the requirements of this architect are wrong and very foolish.
For example, the requirement that the code must be placed on one line, resulting in many lines of code with even more than 1000 characters.
All developers are very confused about this requirement and have repeatedly pointed out that this requirement is unreasonable and foolish. Our team is the most intense and resistant to this requirement (possibly because of me, I don't want to compromise in obvious wrong places; I can compromise, but I need a convincing reason).
However, this so-called architect uses the power of PR merging to constantly make our team members make modifications.
Before the Layoffs#
It is precisely because of the position in the company and the conflict with the architect mentioned above.
Six months ago, I had already told my colleagues in the team to prepare for the next step, and those who needed to interview should do so without delay.
During this process, my leader also talked to me once. The leader meant that he strongly agreed with our requirements regarding code PR and thought that these requirements were all nonsense.
However, the deputy general manager in charge of development believed that our team was currently the worst among all teams.
At that time, I may not have seriously understood the meaning of this sentence. Our team went from the best among all teams to the worst in just 2 weeks (one sprint).
After this conversation, I became more convinced that I should provide information for my team members to find another company. I allowed them to interview other companies midway.
Unfortunately, due to my own procrastination, I had prepared my resume, but I hadn't had time to submit it before the day of the actual layoff.
Profound lessons and experiences learned:
If the company's operations or management make you feel uncomfortable and you have already started thinking about finding another job, you must prepare as soon as possible, implement it immediately, and do not procrastinate.
This is why I marked immediately in bold above.
Layoff Process#
The layoff process is very simple and quick, and it is carried out without any prior knowledge.
On Thursday, the company's senior management announced that all meetings for the day were canceled, and the company-wide meeting scheduled for 11 o'clock was moved up to 9 o'clock.
Because many people were not prepared, many people did not attend.
Later, it was learned that 9 o'clock was the start of the layoff announcement, and the layoff rate was 40%.
Then each department found their laid-off employees for a meeting, which usually started with a Zoom group meeting, where a lot of nonsense was said, such as this being an unavoidable decision, and other miscellaneous things.
Of course, at this time, do you still need or expect the company to give you any reasonable reasons?
Then the P&C personnel spoke, and basically each person had 15 minutes for an individual Zoom meeting.
During these 15 minutes, the main thing was to read the documents. Whether or not to turn on the camera during the two meetings was optional.
Whether you want to turn it on or not, it doesn't matter, because everyone above is not paying attention anyway. I was too lazy to turn it on because I don't even know the person I'm talking to.
The second meeting was with P&C, and the main purpose of this meeting was to talk about the benefits and such after being laid off. Personally, I was more concerned about compensation.
As for the 401K and the funds inside, they can be transferred on your own, and there is nothing they need to say. I learned that the compensation was 6 weeks' salary, which is not much but acceptable.
The person in charge of the layoffs asked if there was anything else to ask, and I simply answered "All Set" and then said "have a nice day". After all, they are just the ones doing the specific work, and there is nothing they can explain.
After the Layoffs#
After the layoffs, it feels like all the laid-off colleagues I know are at a loss.
After the 15-minute P&C meeting, the computers and email accounts were basically disabled immediately. The company seems to say that you can keep the computer, but the data on it will be remotely cleared.
The things left in the company will be packed and sent to your home by someone.
My desk in the company belongs to the type of desk for departing employees. Simply put, there is only one monitor that does not belong to me on it, and there is also a box of disinfectant wipes brought from elsewhere in the company. There is nothing I need in the company.
Many people think that disabling accounts is a bit unkind, but from a technical perspective, it is nothing special because all the management is done through LDAP. You just need to disable your account on LDAP, nothing fancy.
At noon, the laid-off colleagues exchanged phone numbers with each other. I felt a bit ridiculous being on the layoff list. Another colleague who had been working at the company for 7 years was also on the list (he wrote and established all the PHP infrastructure).
Although I had some friction with this colleague at the beginning, this Indian colleague is really good, and we all think he is good and are willing to work with him.
Many people, including me, feel that this colleague is not worth it, and we think it's ridiculous.
Unfortunately, the company's choice is some flattery and nonsense, such as that weird architect.
Not long after, the laid-off colleagues created a group and added me to it. It mainly consists of colleagues from our team, and everyone hopes to share some interview experiences and opportunities, and occasionally vent.
In the evening, I suddenly received a LinkedIn friend request from another colleague who was not included in the layoff. But he was also demoted. He was originally a Senior Developer and Team Leader, but he was promoted to an architect, and now he is not even a team leader.
He told me that if I need help, he will try his best to help, and he also gave me some of his former recruiter accounts to push to me.
I am very grateful to them. Although I have gone through this experience, I have also gained some friends. Although it is difficult to make friends in the American workplace, it is not completely impossible.
Without the entanglement of interests, it is easier to speak the truth.