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Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

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Re: Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

#21

Post by brantonb »

trhway wrote: post #5

this is why i don't move out of Bay Area - me and my acquaintances have been through lay offs here at various years, during the booms and busts, and nobody had any significant issues promptly finding a new job (with a salary increase usually :). Compare that to, for example, the next best thing in US tech - when AMZN says come to Seattle i always imagine being laid off from it few years down the road (with a non-comp…

I left Microsoft a couple years ago, with no desire to work at Amazon. I had no problem finding interesting companies in Seattle for interviews. Facebook, Google, Apple, and Twitter are all here. Not to mention a bunch of startups that are generally run by people with experience at those larger companies.

Re: Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

#22

Post by magic_beans »

logicx24 wrote: post #13
zeveb wrote: post #3

I'm not certain what he expects: lifetime risk-free employment? Yeah, there's stress involved with risk. But the risk one has as an upper-middle-class American is tech is nothing compared to the risks that others alive today face, and less than nothing compared to the risks that others in the past have faced. Nothing last forever. Not a job — not even one's life. Make the most of it while you can.

Author here. Not sure why you're being downvoted, I completely I agree with this. The fact that even upper middle class doesn't guarantee any real security was a huge wake-up call for me, and I can't imagine what it's like for everyone else.

I think this is a fallacy of immigrant parenting. While I was growing up, my mother's mantra was always: "Go to college, get a good job, you will make money and everything will be perfect for you."

In her mind, success could ONLY come from a) college and b) a good job (doctor, engineer).

But here's the thing -- white collar jobs are just as subject to cost-cutting and instability as any other job. And perhaps, in the end, a "perfect" job in which you work yourself to death for a paycheck is hardly a happy or rewarding way to live.

Open your mind. Life is insecurity. Be open to change and you will thrive.

Re: Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

#23

Post by nsp »

magic_beans wrote: post #18

I can't help but wince when I read this. This guy got laid off from his very first job. He is young -- in his twenties -- and has no family to support. He likely got some sort of bonus/severance. He's not the LEAST bit in any sort of dire straits... Did he need to get laid off to realize that a) no job is forever and b) doing all "the right things" won't ALWAYS lead to success. I figured those were common sense.

Not that it helps, but he didn’t get laid off - just saw coworkers getting laid off.

Re: Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

#24

Post by ForHackernews »

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #16
rubicon33 wrote: post #10

> Fewer and fewer careers offer a stable path to the financial and personal security that underwrote the Baby Boomers’ “American Dream.” Technology is the one career that has an optimistic future, isn’t beholden by regulation and credential inflation, and actually attempts to create some sort of meritocracy, and so, those that are fortunate enough to be in it want to preserve the one island of paradise left. This rea…

Tech has a natural moat in that only a small portion of the population is smart and driven enough to do well in it, so I expect decent paying jobs for the foreseeable future. And while some of high profile startups might have unviable business models, most of the established companies actually have pretty good metrics, so I don't seem them as being in danger of going out of business unless some legislation comes alon…

There's a lot of people on this rock. Even if only a "small portion of the population" can do the work, that means there are tens of millions (literally) around the world who could do your job as well or better than you.

You are the lucky beneficiary of restrictive immigration and employment policies.

Re: Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

#25

Post by jeffreyrogers »

trhway wrote: post #5

this is why i don't move out of Bay Area - me and my acquaintances have been through lay offs here at various years, during the booms and busts, and nobody had any significant issues promptly finding a new job (with a salary increase usually :). Compare that to, for example, the next best thing in US tech - when AMZN says come to Seattle i always imagine being laid off from it few years down the road (with a non-comp…

Amazon has non-competes?

Re: Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

#26

Post by mseebach »

redundo_twa wrote: post #6
refurb wrote: post #2

Having been laid off due to downsizing, I think everyone should go through it at least once. Sure, the first time will leave you panic stricken, but you'll come out the other side with a lot more clarity about the employee-employer relationship. You are disposable. Even the CEO is disposable (as I've seen many times). Once you realize that, you'll stop the BS about loyalty to your company. It's a business arrangement…

Throwaway account because I'm currently in the middle of being laid off ("redundancy" in UK). I thought I always had that somewhat-cynical outlook by default, coming from a leftist family; but still, the unfairness of this process (first time for me in 20 years of work) boils my blood. Metrics massaged to target this and that, backstabbing, disrespecting people who built the company... all that will forever scar the…

Can you elaborate on the idea that companies should spin off departments? On the face of it, I don't see how that could work, but I probably don't understand your idea fully.

Re: Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

#27

Post by dgacmu »

magic_beans wrote: post #18

I can't help but wince when I read this. This guy got laid off from his very first job. He is young -- in his twenties -- and has no family to support. He likely got some sort of bonus/severance. He's not the LEAST bit in any sort of dire straits... Did he need to get laid off to realize that a) no job is forever and b) doing all "the right things" won't ALWAYS lead to success. I figured those were common sense.

No - survived a round of layoffs...

Re: Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

#28

Post by pascalxus »

redundo_twa wrote: post #6
refurb wrote: post #2

Having been laid off due to downsizing, I think everyone should go through it at least once. Sure, the first time will leave you panic stricken, but you'll come out the other side with a lot more clarity about the employee-employer relationship. You are disposable. Even the CEO is disposable (as I've seen many times). Once you realize that, you'll stop the BS about loyalty to your company. It's a business arrangement…

Throwaway account because I'm currently in the middle of being laid off ("redundancy" in UK). I thought I always had that somewhat-cynical outlook by default, coming from a leftist family; but still, the unfairness of this process (first time for me in 20 years of work) boils my blood. Metrics massaged to target this and that, backstabbing, disrespecting people who built the company... all that will forever scar the…

if this only happens once in 20 years to you, then you've been quite lucky or have done quite well. In the tech industry, companies have lay offs on average about once per year: every year your there, you roll the dice.

It's not just troubled books. Many have lay off quotas they need to fill: jack walsh style of management. It's just how modern day capitalism works.

There is however, one upside. All that laying off means they'll have to do a lot of re-hiring to replace all the employees they laid off.

Re: Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

#29

Post by squozzer »

Not sure if any job or career exists that is impervious to some kind of replacement / oversupply. Maybe doctors, but the barrier to entry is almost stratospheric.

Ultimately, to paraphrase Machiavelli, our ability to thrive rests on our own prowess. I only wish such statements were immediately useful instead of requiring lots of introspection, filed-testing, etc.

Re: Getting Laid Off in Tech: The Myth of Upper Middle Class Security

#30

Post by replicatorblog »

I'd be curious to ask the author,

+ Have many of your laid off peers had trouble finding work, post-layoff?

+ Do you think you'd have a difficult time finding another job if you were laid off?

Most people in tech, who are willing to live in one of a half dozen specific cities, have job security prior generations could only have dreamed of. Tech skills are far more portable than a skilled line worker at Ford's River Rouge plant in the 1960s, where job-hopping was nearly impossible due to union senority regulations.

I work at a VC firm and every company struggles with hiring enough talented people. I don't know many, really any, people who are moderately skilled and unable to find work in this environment. That could change if there's a big macro swing.

That's not to say the broader criticism of job security is wrong. I have plenty of 50+ family members that are struggling on the finish line to retirement. Other people in my circle never had a fair shot at the start, but I don't know that there's ever been a better time to be a member of the professional class, even at a mid-skill level.

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