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Life Lessons From Big Tech Workers Who Got Laid Off
Life Lessons From Big Tech Workers Who Got Laid Off
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0:00
Dear Joseph, this letter confirms that
0:02
your employment [music]
0:03
with Google LLC will be ending.
0:05
>> You have been selected for involuntary
0:07
[music] separation from your employment
0:10
with Intel Corporation.
0:11
>> And from that point we'll no longer be
0:13
expected to work for Meta.
0:15
>> Sincerely, Human Resources, Microsoft
0:18
Corporation.
0:20
>> I did expect a layoff. I did not expect
0:23
to be impacted by the layoff.
0:25
>> Getting laid off definitely will show
0:28
you where you went wrong with your
0:31
finances. [music]
0:32
>> Being laid off affected my confidence
0:35
and my sense of self-worth.
0:36
>> I believe that tech industry is going to
0:39
go through a lot of turbulence.
0:41
>> Part of the reason why I chose big tech
0:43
was for career stability. It doesn't
0:45
feel [music] like it anymore.
0:47
>> I thought I would have a job by now.
0:49
I definitely am worried for the future.
0:52
>> I've applied to over 8,000 jobs only to
0:56
be told that oh, we hired someone
0:58
internally.
0:59
>> The job market has changed because it's
1:01
filled with highly skilled people who
1:03
have just been laid off. It's not
1:05
normal.
1:05
>> I mean, it's so corporate, right? Dear
1:08
Joseph, nobody calls me Joseph.
1:16
>> I was a documentation engineer at Meta
1:20
for nearly 5 years and I was making
1:24
180K.
1:27
I taught myself how to code by going to
1:30
DC Public Library and also studying on
1:32
YouTube. So, when I actually got my
1:36
offer letter at Meta, I was like, "Wow,
1:39
I really made it. I really did it."
1:42
>> I worked for 3 and 1/2 years at Google.
1:45
It was my first job out of college.
1:48
I was a software engineer at Google
1:50
making over 200K a year.
1:53
Meetings might start early. Meetings
1:55
might end late. But I didn't really need
1:58
much outside of the office. My long-term
2:01
plan was to work there until I retire
2:04
and climb the corporate ladder.
2:08
>> I was a product manager at Microsoft. I
2:11
worked there for 23 years and my base
2:14
pay [music] was $250,000.
2:16
Work's always been really important to
2:17
me. I liked what I did. I liked
2:20
explaining it to people. I was proud of
2:22
my [music] work. Most Americans probably
2:24
put a lot of emphasis on their value in
2:28
context [music]
2:29
of the work they do and the things they
2:31
accomplish. I don't think that's
2:32
healthy, but it was definitely a reality
2:34
for me. Here's my badge.
2:37
That was a huge part of my identity.
2:40
>> You can't work for a company for 23
2:43
years and not feel
2:45
that they're
2:47
part of your DNA in some shape or form.
2:50
I was a developer advocate at Intel
2:52
Corporation. I was making $180,000 a
2:54
year and I was laid off in July 2025.
3:02
>> The day I got laid off, I woke up in the
3:04
morning and the first thing I saw was
3:07
that I missed a 9:00 a.m. meeting with
3:11
my bosses bosses boss. I immediately
3:15
sort of had this like, oh crap, I think
3:17
I know what this is. And I was like, oh.
3:21
>> [laughter]
3:22
>> Um, that's not good.
3:23
>> My children, I was dropping them off at
3:25
school and I got the email on my work
3:29
phone that I no longer had a job. I felt
3:33
numb.
3:33
>> It was through a one-on-one meeting with
3:35
my manager and HR.
3:38
>> The entire business unit was shut down.
3:41
So,
3:42
what I remember was sort of feeling
3:46
numb.
3:47
>> I had made it through so many of the the
3:50
previous layoffs, so I thought that I
3:53
was safe.
3:54
Which is
3:57
crazy because like no who's really safe?
4:00
And having a hour to say goodbye, you
4:03
know, you feel like a number.
4:05
>> It's horrible. Honestly, that's
4:07
literally probably one of the worst
4:08
things about this is the feeling that I
4:11
gave all this time
4:14
and they just don't care.
4:16
>> All of the the ideas that I have in my
4:19
career like
4:24
it was
4:26
everything went dark.
4:31
>> In this last year, we could see that. We
4:33
could see the wheel slowly coming off
4:36
and and you know,
4:38
I understand that unpleasant things
4:40
needed to happen to correct the ship.
4:45
>> Cuz it happened so quickly, I got
4:47
overwhelmed by it.
4:50
I was really struggling with depression
4:53
and it's hard to wrap your head around
4:54
it all, right? Like where is it coming
4:56
from? What's it about? Like why do I
4:58
feel this way? It probably took me about
5:01
9 months
5:03
to come to terms with it.
5:06
>> I felt lonely and isolated uh during the
5:10
layoff period, so I adopted a dog.
5:13
>> [laughter]
5:13
>> Sit.
5:16
Good boy. He has been what I needed
5:20
because I'm forced to actually go
5:24
outside and walk him.
5:29
>> The day I handed in my
5:32
um badge, I took a selfie
5:35
and and then I posted it on LinkedIn.
5:37
>> [laughter]
5:39
>> I think that's like a LinkedIn thing to
5:41
do. Show your badge and say it's over
5:43
for now and looking for new challenges.
5:46
Which ironically, that photo was uh the
5:50
most
5:51
popular LinkedIn post I've ever made.
5:53
>> [snorts]
5:57
>> My first reaction after the meeting was
5:59
just pure shock. And then from there, my
6:02
mind went to, "Okay, now what is the
6:04
best thing I can do to start preparing
6:06
myself to get
6:08
a new job."
6:14
>> I just didn't anticipate being
6:18
unemployed for
6:20
over a year.
6:21
>> I've been unemployed for 3 months now,
6:23
and honestly, when I was initially laid
6:25
off, I thought that I would have a job
6:28
by now.
6:28
>> I expected getting a job in maybe 6
6:32
months. Well, it's been a year. How do I
6:34
explain it? I can't explain it.
6:36
>> So far, I have applied to about 30 jobs.
6:39
>> I did look around for jobs. I I just
6:43
really wasn't very excited about
6:45
anything.
6:46
>> I'm sort of losing my patience.
6:48
>> I've applied to over 8,000
6:51
uh jobs.
6:52
>> 8,000 applications?
6:54
>> 8,000 applications.
6:56
>> And a lot of those jobs, they may not
6:58
actually exist.
7:00
>> I have heard back from not even one of
7:03
them, I believe.
7:04
>> I think I've maybe gotten 10
7:06
final round interviews.
7:08
>> And then you hear nothing. You they they
7:10
ghosted you.
7:11
>> Only to be told that, "Oh, we hired
7:13
someone internally."
7:15
>> Is it me? Is it them? What's What's
7:17
happening?
7:18
>> It kind of feels like a humiliation
7:20
ritual.
7:21
>> You do get a sense of loss of
7:23
confidence.
7:24
>> I applied to work
7:26
cashier at at Target, and I was denied
7:28
because I've been in tech for 15 years.
7:31
I don't have any retail experience.
7:38
>> You know, I'm 57, and you know, it is a
7:41
crowded market. It's filled with young
7:43
folks just coming into the job market.
7:46
It's filled with highly skilled people
7:48
who have just been laid off. There's a
7:49
lot of them out there. And so, how do
7:51
you how do you differentiate yourself
7:54
from them?
7:56
>> Because the job market is so competitive
7:59
right now,
8:00
>> [music]
8:00
>> you need to do something to set yourself
8:02
apart. You can't just submit for a job
8:05
these days. You can't just [music]
8:06
submit a resume and, you know, cross
8:09
your fingers.
8:10
>> To do job search in this market, you
8:11
have to call attention to yourself. And
8:13
that means you need to sell yourself
8:16
more on social media.
8:18
If you're an extrovert, that's great. If
8:21
you're an introvert, that's a that's
8:24
much harder to do.
8:25
>> I'm not comfortable with always being on
8:28
camera. And um
8:31
so, Substack is a way for me to be
8:34
introverted, but also extroverted in a
8:37
way. Whatever your your superpower is,
8:41
you showcase it.
8:44
>> One thing I focus now more with the
8:45
[music] free time I have is content
8:47
creation. And the core of that is really
8:50
just building [music] something for
8:52
myself that no one can take away. Today
8:55
is the first day since I got [music]
8:57
laid off, and it just feels weird. No
8:59
morning meetings, no chat messages, no
9:01
stand-up to attend.
9:05
It is really important for people to
9:07
have more than one source of income
9:10
since I started building my own brand,
9:12
and I posted my layoff story, I have
9:14
been reached out by a lot of recruiters
9:17
and even non-tech job opportunities.
9:20
Because [music] when you build a
9:21
personal brand on social media, you're
9:23
also learning marketing.
9:30
>> Getting laid off definitely will show
9:33
you
9:35
where you went wrong with your finances.
9:40
I am going to relocate [music]
9:44
to Charlotte, North Carolina because DC
9:47
rent is way too much for me.
9:52
>> The mortgage payment is something that
9:55
drains on us.
9:57
We We do think about maybe selling this
9:59
house or putting it for rent.
10:00
Everything's on the table, right? Uh
10:03
moving is on the table.
10:06
>> Once the severance was gone, I had to
10:08
use up the savings that I was building.
10:11
I had to sell stocks. I had to depend on
10:14
my mom and dad
10:16
>> [music]
10:16
>> for their support, which was really
10:18
hard.
10:19
>> It has definitely impacted the future
10:22
plans I had, which eventually was
10:24
hopefully to buy a house, to be able to
10:27
buy my parents a house, to help them
10:29
retire.
10:30
>> I changed my spending habits to align
10:33
more with my lack of income.
10:35
You go out less, you cook more at home,
10:38
you close out Netflix accounts or
10:41
something like that, right? Things that
10:43
are more
10:45
entertainment
10:47
versus essentials.
10:50
>> One thing I did when I joined Google was
10:52
actually planning a lot of my finances
10:55
around the potential of being laid off.
10:59
I kept a lot of my savings in cash, and
11:02
I also didn't fully max [music] out my
11:05
retirement just because when you're laid
11:07
off, you the last thing you would want
11:08
to worry about is like, "Oh, you know,
11:09
how can I withdraw from my 401k or
11:12
[music] something?"
11:12
>> It's super scary at first when you start
11:14
pulling money out. You're just like,
11:16
"Okay, here we go. How's this going to
11:18
go?"
11:18
>> The biggest money lesson is invest,
11:21
invest, [music]
11:22
invest.
11:25
If you're saving, [music] make sure that
11:27
it is a high-interest saving account so
11:30
that your money isn't just sitting
11:32
there, but also when you're purchasing,
11:35
keep in mind if I didn't have an income,
11:38
would I still be able to afford this? I
11:40
don't think that I planned for the what
11:42
ifs [music] and it cost me dearly.
11:46
>> I I would say the largest stressor for
11:49
finances [music] out right now is
11:50
probably health insurance.
11:51
>> In this country, without health care, it
11:54
it could drain your accounts quite
11:55
quickly. [music]
11:56
>> I've had medical provided by employer my
11:59
entire life. I never have thought about
12:01
[music] this before. We pay $2,600 a
12:05
month for a medical. So, that's a you
12:09
know, wake-up call [music] to reality
12:10
that a lot of Americans experience and
12:13
have experienced all their life.
12:15
>> I was quoted at like [music] 1,300
12:18
a month. I was definitely not expecting
12:21
for it to cost that much. So, I'm
12:23
currently [music]
12:24
electing to not have health insurance.
12:28
>> It isn't just
12:31
the person that's laid off that is
12:34
affected. It's the family. It's the
12:37
children.
12:41
>> When I got laid off, it kicked off a
12:44
full reevaluation
12:46
of where we were financially and what
12:49
our options were.
12:53
>> Probably for the first time in my life,
12:55
I worked with a financial counselor and
12:58
this like, can I afford to retire?
13:01
Like, what would that look like?
13:03
Then it opened up that opportunity to
13:05
say, "Okay, well, I really don't
13:08
want to go back to work.
13:10
I'm ready to be done."
13:21
>> I'm Ming Only Child from immigrant
13:23
parents.
13:25
So, my parents immigrated to America
13:27
when I was 7 and it was very important
13:30
for me to be able to find a stable
13:33
career because I wanted to be able to
13:35
help my parents out as well as build a
13:38
financial future for myself and my
13:40
future family
13:41
>> [music]
13:41
>> and computer science seemed like the
13:43
very obvious choice.
13:45
Now, you know, times are changing.
13:51
>> I was a tech optimist for sure
13:54
in the early days and I think that my
13:57
attitude has shifted greatly.
14:00
>> It was a badge of honor and it was job
14:04
stability and it was you know, all of
14:07
these amazing things.
14:09
Now, it just
14:12
it doesn't feel like it anymore.
14:14
>> The amount of institutional knowledge
14:16
that is being lost because of the
14:19
layoffs is staggering. If you save a
14:22
billion dollars by cutting a bunch of
14:24
people, you're taking that billion
14:25
dollars and building out AI
14:27
infrastructure.
14:29
So, they're choosing to build
14:30
infrastructure and maintain stock prices
14:34
over people.
14:36
>> I still want to go back into Big Tech
14:38
and my overall perspective of Big Tech
14:42
since I graduated has changed and part
14:45
of this period now is also me trying to
14:47
kind of figure out what other aspects of
14:50
my life do I want [music] to build and
14:52
do I want to make a larger part of my
14:54
life outside of my work.
14:56
>> These [music] are the top three AI tools
14:58
I use to save over 10 hours a week.
15:02
>> Since I got laid off, I'm really
15:04
learning like the opportunity to make
15:05
[music] choices about where I invest my
15:08
time and I'm realizing I've got to
15:11
rebuild that in other ways.
15:13
I have learned that there's a lot of
15:15
things I want to [music] do. Um things I
15:17
want to explore.
15:21
>> Sometimes when there's no movement,
15:24
you need [music] to make the movement.
15:25
So, I've started uh a consulting firm.
15:30
>> I started building what became my
15:33
startup company, [music]
15:35
Technidox. And so, it solved a a problem
15:38
of, you know, documentation, especially
15:40
in the age of AI. That really lit a fire
15:45
under me. Um
15:47
where, you know, the question mark
15:49
about, you know, what comes next, um
15:52
I think that Founder Journey was what
15:55
[music] came next.
15:56
>> The hardest thing
15:58
to do is make peace
16:00
with what happened. Should have closed
16:02
that door. It's just an [music] end of a
16:04
chapter, like a book.
16:06
The end, [snorts]
16:08
you move on to the next chapter.
16:13
>> [music]
16:30
[music]
