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Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?

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11–20 of 174 posts

Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?

#11
I wasn't laid off, but I have been fired before. It was the best thing to ever happen to me -- I got time to work on my passion, programming, broke into the industry and got out of a job I knew I hated a month in. It lead me down a path were I got to work for companies on the global 500, and fortune 100 list, as well as a ycombinator startup.

That said, not everyone is so lucky and I definitely struggled during the unemployment phase.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?

#12

I 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.

I agree. A resume is not supposed to be so much a confessional as a brag sheet. If you are not proud of it, consider removing it. But be sure you have a cover story for the interview. e.g. "it was a job where so much went wrong. I learned a lot from it, like what I do and don't want to do, and that is definitely something I do not want to do again." Safe statements whose accuracy can easily be defended.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?

#13
I worked in startups for the first 10 years of my career. For a while, I was laid off every christmas. The first time, I freaked out pretty hard, but I found a job within a week of coming back from New Year's. Complete that cycle four or five times and you get used to it.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?

#14

I’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 actual…

I was going to make a very similar point. It's not only the fact of a layoff that impacts those who remain, but it's also how it is done. I think this can change company culture much more negatively than is widely considered as the case.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?

#15

I 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…

> I can't help but think prospective employers shy away from me assuming my short-lived C-level role ended by termination

I understand that if they're not enthusiastic about the rest of your resume in the first place, they might not bother checking your references, but generally, isn't that why one provides references? So the prospective employer can check your story?

Or perhaps ask for a letter of recommendation (though it's probably a bit too late for that now, I'm just thinking of the general case)? Not sure if that is a thing for C-level jobs.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?

#17

I’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 actual…

I want to state how amazing it is that you could have a 40 years career as an engineer in SV while working in only 3 companies (I assume you are in your early 60s).

I'm 36 and the longest I ever stayed in a single job was 4 years.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?

#18
I lost my job in January because the company closed the office in my country, haven't written a single line of code since then, looking for motivation to start again but I feel like an absolute failure and don't know what to do now. The fact that I stopped coding 10 months ago and wasn't even a good developer, to begin with, isn't helping. I guess I need therapy.

Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?

#19

I 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.

removing what? the entire CTO position? or just the bullet point that said it was due to downsizing?

Re: Ask HN: How many of you have been impacted by a layoff?

#20

I’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 actual…

I've never been laid off either, but experienced half a dozen or so. Some included the very founders of the business. One person crying, "I love it here. This is my family. You don't even have to pay me, just let me stay. I'll work for free." They didn't let him stay though. :(

This was a hard time: https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archiv...

> Why Is He Still Smiling? Bill Gross blew through $800 million in 8 months (and he's got nothing to show for it).

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