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Microsoft laid me off after 15 years of service. Life after Microsoft?

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Re: Microsoft laid me off after 15 years of service. Life after Microsoft?

#121

Post by Chinjut »

runamok wrote: post #82
throwaway1dh9 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from Europe (Germany). Worried about insurance for your kid? Can't happen here, the government will deal with that. Losing your job? Get paid for one or two years by your work insurance. After that you fall back to a free basic income (for as long as you need). And still this system is generally not exploited: People work hard here. And it's not just unemployment. There are people begging for money on HN regularl…

A lot of people didn't like ACA because we would have preferred single payer. Many others felt we would just be sending much more money to the for profit insurance companies who were already treating us horribly and making record profits. We also have heard many stories of people having to wait months if not years for non-emergency treatment. Such as getting an MRI for an injured knee in Canada for instance. As a ver…

This business about having to wait months for treatment is always an odd objection to me. Here in the U.S., under our existing system, I have many times had to wait months to see a specialist or begin a particular course of (non-emergency) medical treatment. It's hardly as though our current system somehow gets rid of the problem of waiting for appointments.

Re: Microsoft laid me off after 15 years of service. Life after Microsoft?

#122

Post by Chinjut »

mistermann wrote: post #86
dfxm12 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to Forbes, Americans' GDP per hour worked is better than that of the Germans, and the Americans are happier while doing it: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/10/30/the-pursui... This also shows Americans work more than the Germans and this doesn't say anything about how hard people are working, but don't forget the old adage: Don't work harder, don't smarter!

Agreed, but productivity per hour worked and moral willingness to abuse social programs are two different issues.

What does it mean to abuse a program of universal healthcare?

Re: Microsoft laid me off after 15 years of service. Life after Microsoft?

#123

Post by fencepost »

akg_67 wrote: post #97
fencepost wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dental is harder, and (at least in my dentist's opinion) private dental insurance just isn't worth it. I can see the merits of that, because you're less likely to have a catastrophic dental emergency that can bankrupt you. A lot of dental insurance also seems to only cover 50% of the more expensive items. It may be worth looking at how much you're paying each month in premiums and comparing that to the annual out-of-…

My dentist actually mentioned that she can't charge less than what she bills to insurance company (at least on the books). It appears that if a dentist is part of an insurance network, by agreement with insurance company, s/he can't charge less to patient who don't have insurance. I have a dentist friend whose practice doesn't accept any insurance so he is free to set his rates and charge his patient. After COBRA fin…

Find out if that's can't charge less than billed or can't charge less than insurance pays. There's often a substantial difference.

Re: Microsoft laid me off after 15 years of service. Life after Microsoft?

#124

Post by wsc981 »

Tactic wrote: post #98
socrates1998 wrote: post #47

It sounds rough, but if you are not invaluable to your company, then you are always at risk. And almost no one is invaluable at such a large company. There is no more "lifer" jobs.

Nobody is invaluable at a company. Period. And especially in the tech industry. Code is just code. It doesn't take a magical power to read it.

Unless of course you'd take some extra measures to increase your job security: https://www.thc.org/root/phun/unmaintain.html

Re: Microsoft laid me off after 15 years of service. Life after Microsoft?

#125

Post by kamaal »

SheepSlapper wrote: post #67
omnibrain wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's the case if he is one of 17k others.

Not to mention the fact that he worked there for 15 years . Successful companies don't make a habit of holding onto bad employees for that long :)

That's just one way of looking at it. An acquaintance of mine who is also a HR guy once told me its in a person's best interest to keep hopping companies every ~3 years at least.

Working at one company for a long time can be interpreted in many different ways. More like a person, who isn't excited about looking for new opportunities. Or a person who is just lazy to not make a move etc etc. Also if you stay at a company for a very long time, unless the company gives you a generous raise every year your salary will be way behind market standards. And if you are OK with your work being valued so little for so long, it only means two things either you just agree that your work or contributions aren't very important to be paid enough, or you are just lazy. And both are negative indicators.

Its pointless to show loyalty that spans across 1.5 decades to a mega corporation where the boss two layers above probably doesn't even know your name, let alone the work you do. No wonder they don't blink twice before letting go some one. As much talented you might be, and how many algorithms you've memorized or how many nano seconds faster you can make a program run.

I fail to understand why anybody would stay so long, its like setting yourself up for a big meltdown sooner or later.

Re: Microsoft laid me off after 15 years of service. Life after Microsoft?

#126

Post by kamaal »

Ecio78 wrote: post #100
TheMagicHorsey wrote: post #66

I feel bad for the guy, but Microsoft really does need to reinvent itself, and the deadweight of a huge Windows-focused testing-QA bureaucracy wasn't going to help that mission. After 15 years at MS, this guy is probably unemployable anywhere else unless he is open to learning new things and retraining. Big company people often just learn how to operate in a big company environment, and forget how to do real work.

After 15 years at MS, this guy is probably unemployable anywhere else unless he is open to learning new things and retraining. I've not seen the video so I don't know what he was really doing in Microsoft, but you know that there are other places where Microsoft software is used outside Microsoft, right? I don't get whz he should be unemployable anywhere else..

>>I don't get whz he should be unemployable anywhere else..

Your ability to get work done has nothing to do with getting a job.

Getting a job depends on clearing interviews. These days that means live coding over shared sessions, all kind of crazy math and puzzle questions, getting grilled over esoteric corners of CS, and your regular tests of algorithm wizardry.

If you haven't interviewed in 1.5 decades. Its very likely you are going to go through hell before you find something you like.

Re: Microsoft laid me off after 15 years of service. Life after Microsoft?

#127

Post by bmelton »

nknighthb wrote: post #46
bmelton wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to contribute to the ACA vs. non-ACA arguments further, but ACA plans for my wife, daughter and myself are more than double that in Maryland. I don't know what the differences would be if I were earning $0 per year, especially as the relevant question (on the form I filled out) was something like "How much do you anticipate earning this year?" which is a question I have no idea how I would answer if I were curren…

> I don't know what the differences would be if I were earning $0 per year Your premiums would be $0. You would be immediately enrolled in medicaid.

That is the correct answer. Danke.

Re: Microsoft laid me off after 15 years of service. Life after Microsoft?

#128

Post by throwaway12312 »

throwaway12312 wrote: post #87

Ageism is overblown to the point of being a myth. I'm 34 as well, my resume is not really that impressive, and yet I've had interviews with Google, Samsung and Amazon (+ some name-brand statups) in the past 6 months. Sure, I didn't land any of them, but I wasn't far off. If you're getting interviews, they want to hire you.

Caveat: Ageism is probably a real thing in small startups, to their own detriment.

"Let's hire 23-year-old Stanley who can't program for shit because he's got a strong hairline and wears a hoodie and Converse! Fuck that old guy with 10 years of direct experience!"

Re: Microsoft laid me off after 15 years of service. Life after Microsoft?

#129

Post by mistermann »

Chinjut wrote: post #122
mistermann wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, but productivity per hour worked and moral willingness to abuse social programs are two different issues.

What does it mean to abuse a program of universal healthcare?

The original quote was:

"Get paid for one or two years by your work insurance. After that you fall back to a free basic income (for as long as you need). And still this system is generally not exploited: People work hard here."

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