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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?

#51

Post by ErrantX »

mpeg wrote: post #40
ErrantX wrote: post #34

The small family firm I worked at folded after the owner remortgaged his house. I was told on the Friday and had my last pay check on the monday. (Sad story, I felt for them) After contracting for a bit and running through my savings I was days away from losing my house when I was offered a great job writing software earning twice as much. 2 years later I was offered a dream job and doubled my salary again. Today I a…

I'm pretty curious how much you're currently making, I've never worked in the UK finance sector but I understand the salaries are just higher.

Drop me a line; happy to share. I think its relatively market rate for the uk.

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

#53

Post by madengr »

ido wrote: post #17
sizzzzlerz wrote: post #2

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.

I not in SV, but an EE working same place for 24 years. Been through 2 rounds of layoffs, stack ranking, etc. Still here. The older I get the less I give a crap. I have zero debt (no mortgage) and 6 figure college savings for 2x kids. I’m really just here for the health insurance and technical challenge. Maybe I’ll get lucky with the next round of layoffs and get a buyout, then start a job-shop or consulting business.

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

#54

Post by durron »

Yep, close to half my company was laid off at the beginning of the summer. It was hard, it had been clear the company didn’t have the revenue to keep running but we were constantly assured the current round of funding would close. Then it didn’t and a lot of us were gone

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

#55

Post by benjaminwootton »

A number of years ago, I joined a bank for a 6 month contract position.

3 or 4 weeks in just after I had sorted all of my login details and worked out what I needed to do, they announced they were completely pulling out of the business unit I was in and that thousands of people would be made redundant. This was a huge shock to the market.

Within a few weeks, entire floors had closed down, but surprisingly I didn't get the tap on the shoulder and asked to leave. By complete luck, it turned out I had landed on one highly profitable strategic programme within the business unit where they had commitments they couldn't easily unwind. I therefore stayed in a team of 4 who were the last men standing out of thousands, even though I was completely new to the organisation.

I felt kinda bad as I could have moved to a new contract relatively easily, whilst some people lost their livelihoods. Alas, I completed the contract then moved on.

It shows it's not necessarily a reflection on you as an individual when these things happen.

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

#56

Post by remotecool »

I was laid off once when the small company I worked for spent too many resources suing companies violating their patent and ended up running out of money.

It was a blessing in disguise. I started my decade long career of remote work after this and tripled my salary as a result.

I often take year long/project based contracts and need to find new work every year or so. It got me used to selling my self and going through the interview process, and I now am not as devastated when I need to find new work.

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

#58

Post by meheleventyone »

I work in games sooooo...

First job was at a small games startup making J2ME games. Folded after six months. Got paid what I was owed.

Then I worked at Realtime Worlds which folded after the launch of APB. Company crashed and burnt leaving me out of pocket.

Worked for CCP Games and went through many rounds of layoffs over the years I was there. I get jittery about unannounced all hands thanks to this. Was never laid off but left after getting a better offer.

Joined Autodesk who were pretty excellent as an employer in comparison to any games job previously. There was a big reorg at the start of the new year after I had joined and a lot of satellite teams were let go. We stayed on due to a big project. Laid off during my last week of paternity leave when the project was canned. They handled it very well and I ended up with three months of gardening leave which suited me fine spending time with my family.

Since then I’ve worked for two more companies and haven’t been laid off thankfully. For the most part I think I’ve bounced back pretty well. I’ve always had a new job within a couple of weeks of being laid off which obviously helps make you feel secure. I definitely am super anxious about the possibility though and having seen so many friends and colleagues lose their jobs hate any thing that smells like it’s in the offing.

As a positive I’ve seen too many good people get laid off to think it’s any indicator of lack of skill or desirability.

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

#59

Post by themarkn »

I was laid off as part of the last financial crash in Ireland. I’d been working as an administrator at a well known mortgage broker business at the time. We were told the housing bubble wasn’t going to affect our jobs because we did so much other business. In retrospect most of that other business was mortgage-adjacent. Insurance etc. Anyway the boss calls us all in one by one and explains things. I see other people coming out looking shook but it’s my first job out of college so I’m still totally surprised to be told I won’t have a job next week.

I had some help from other people who worked there offering to get me started at another mortgage company, but also had a friend who worked a 20-hour week assisting somebody with a disability, and was looking for his own replacement. At the time this work paid well in Ireland, it was 20 euro an hour, easily the equivalent of a full time entry level job in some other industry. I took that job, lived with one of my college roommates nearby, worked my 20 hour weeks, wrote plays and poems, and played shows with my band, it was great.

I was lucky to be laid off and have that amazing experience. It turned out to influence everything else I did in life, including working for 7 years with folks with disabilities in one way or another, and when switching to full time web development, having a good eye for accessibility.

I was on my way to getting some qualifications and become a financial advisor back in 2009 at that company that laid me off. It’s just what they expected of junior employees. After a certain point I might have fallen into just doing that as my career after sinking some time into learning non-transferable financial skills.

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