I'm curious to see how many of you have been impacted and how you bounced back? I'm building a project around this and would love to hear about your experience.
Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?
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Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?
#2I’ve been working as an EE for 40 years, for 3 companies who worked or work with the US intel community in S.V. and have never been laid off. That’s not to say I haven’t been impacted. All 3 companies experienced layoffs while I was with them and some very good friends and colleagues were let go. Those hurt, often quite badly. They leave you shaken and wondering why them, not you, and am I next. It’s not being actually laid off, but it is the next worst thing.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?
#3I was laid off once. I almost feel hesitant/guilty to share this because of how many silver linings it had for me, vs friends I've seen put in much more untenable positions after a layoff; I feel like I got off comparatively easy.
Early in my career I was working as a video game tester. This was effectively just to get my foot in the door to "any sort of tech job" (previously I had only been a Mover). One day, at the end of what seemed like a very normal workday, our entire group was told "our primary contract just got cancelled, we won't have work for you all tomorrow, we'll be in touch if we do but otherwise don't bother coming in."
In hindsight, if that happened to me today I'd probably have an aneurism on the spot, but, likely due to naivete, I just shrugged and thought to myself "well the commute was miserable, the job sucked, and I got a decent chunk of time out of them for the resume" and leaned hard into some connections I had at a local software consultancy; they ended up picking me up as a subcontractor and the rest is history.
There wasn't so much "bounce" for me because simply put, I wasn't far enough in my career to have anywhere real to fall to, and I think if I hadn't already been building connections with the intention of moving into Real Programming Work I would have probably felt quite a bit more panic.
I think the takeaway I'd make from this is that the impact of a layoff, and my ability to bounce back from it, would differ DRASTICALLY based on the surrounding context, but that network/contacts+relevant skills have become a core "must have" in my book of long-term-career-stability.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?
#4I've been laid-off a couple times (and in one case was on the verge of possibly being laid off, but thankfully found employment elsewhere before that had a chance of happening). I "bounced back" with a combination of persistence, patience, a decent support network, networking, unemployment benefits, and a hell of a lot of luck.
I will say that it absolutely sucks all around. The longer you go without finding a new job, the harder it becomes to get past the suspicious-looking gap in your employment history. Unemployment benefits only cover a portion of your previous pay, and they take awhile to start flowing in (if they're ever approved at all). It's easy to blame yourself (and I still do blame myself). You're left feeling like a complete failure.
I managed to squeeze by thanks to family and being able to take odd-jobs here and there to pay the bills. It's at least slightly easier to justify those gaps if you can claim that you were "freelancing" instead, so that's exactly what I did, in the meantime sending applications and résumés everywhere I could only to get rejections (or - worse - no response at all).
Even now, having had my current job for awhile now, it still weirds me out when I actually get praise. Every time I'm pulled into some one-on-one with my boss I get a sinking feeling of "welp, time's up, better polish off the ol' curriculum vitæ" only for those fears to be unfounded. I guess "impostor syndrome" is a thing, but my brain at this point is trained to believe that I actually am an impostor and am pretending to have impostor syndrome to rationalize my incompetence.
So I guess objectively-speaking I "bounced back", but it sure as hell doesn't feel that way.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?
#5[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?
#6I have been laid off a few times. Almost universally, it was in preparation of an acquisition (purchase of the company or the company's imminent purchase of another) wherein the standards and goals of the development teams were universally put into question. 35 engineers and another company it was 10 (me inclusive in each). It didn't affect me much as I have no loyalty to a specific company (even if I have vested equity) and have never lived in an area where work was scarce. I keep my skills fresh and develop new skills (side development is a must) and assume my job/project is not forever. I speak to this from time to time everywhere I go.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?
#7I was laid off from a CTO role in 2016. I was only at the company for 9 months but the President who hired me was let go by the board and myself and a few others were let go shortly after by the new President. I landed my next full-time job in the same industry a year later as a VP but between that I struggled a bit & even contracted as a developer working on a ReactJS web app.
I still have the CTO role on the front page of my resume but I can't help but think prospective employers shy away from me assuming my short-lived C-level role ended by termination even though it says "downsized".
Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?
#8I was laid off from a CTO role in 2016. I was only at the company for 9 months but the President who hired me was let go by the board and myself and a few others were let go shortly after by the new President. I landed my next full-time job in the same industry a year later as a VP but between that I struggled a bit & even contracted as a developer working on a ReactJS web app. I still have the CTO role on the front…
yeah, I'd think of removing that. It just looks bad. No one can tell if you are lying about it.
Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?
#9What kind of project can you build around a layoff? Is your company planning to have layoffs and you are trying to see how to make it least painful (for company or victim)?
Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?
#10I was laid off from a CTO role in 2016. I was only at the company for 9 months but the President who hired me was let go by the board and myself and a few others were let go shortly after by the new President. I landed my next full-time job in the same industry a year later as a VP but between that I struggled a bit & even contracted as a developer working on a ReactJS web app. I still have the CTO role on the front…
yeah, I'd think of removing that. It just looks bad. No one can tell if you are lying about it.
Yeah, a recruiter actually told me to add "downsized" but I see your point too.