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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

#71

Post by throw2016 »

There is always a lack of empathy in these discussions. If the world looks different depending on the situation you personally find yourself in it can't lead to any productive discussion.

A lot of decisions that can impact the lives of many are often made for short term self interest of a few. And upper management who make these decisions or run companies to the ground keep floating from one high paid job to another.

The 2 senior most execs of Well Fargo for instance responsible for the fraud and a $1 billion dollar fine get a golden parachute of around $250 million between them. Who is going to pay for this? Customers or job cuts? And this is not an exception. There seem to be a huge dissonance between idealized values and reality in upper segments of society.

Ultimately as a society you commit to a set of values. These values are reinforced by politics, media and your own experiences. Maybe you have a great life and you don't question them, maybe you are born privileged and your perspectives and life experiences are by definition different. But as educated adults its your job to understand and define your society. You make the bed and you have to lie in it.

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

#72

Post by taurath »

vinceguidry wrote: post #17

The author of the article is misinformed about the true landscape of wealth and income inequality. The middle class is ultimately defined by the ability and need to build your own safety net. The upper middle class is able to do this with plenty of wealth to spare for luxuries like private schooling for their kids, income security is provided by their network. Just tap your network and find another job. The upper mid…

Both the middle class and upper middle class can and frequently do operate with no "real" safety net, especially before age 40. Those people sending their kids to private school and have a nice house can and are leveraged like crazy, and can't afford a big layoff, economic downturn, or huge emergency medical bills.

Upper middle class delineation to me isn't about security, its about being able to scrounge better quality things. Sure, there's money put away in a 401k, investments etc.

> The upper middle class is unconcerned with skills and only concerned with leeching off of the upper class.

I've seen in broken down before as separate ladders according to social class - Lower class, Working class, Upper Middle class, and Elite class, with different values and principles for each. Is the successful county plumber who owns several businesses upper class, despite blue collar values? There's a delineation here between economic and social classes.

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

#73

Post by outworlder »

It's good that they realized that doing your job does not guarantee anything. Going far and beyond you job description also doesn't guarantee anything, although you may increase your changes of survival. There are probably diminishing returns here. Networking inside the company, if it is big enough, will also increase the chances of survival, as you may be able to jump ship to another group, or even get some advance warning.

Still, the best insurance is to stash money for rainy days and have the resumé up-to-date. As soon as the weather starts to turn (which you can detect in many, but not all cases), jump ship. Company has zero loyalty to employees, so theirs should not be much higher than zero either if they want to be fair.

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

#74

Post by lucio »

gojomo wrote: post #52

Author is 22 years old, and was not laid off. But, because some peers were – from Snap, a boom-times high-flyer – he's now facing a crisis-of-confidence, first in himself, and then in what feelings of security might be available from reaching "[t]he upper middle-class, the professional class, that venerable example of American wealth and mobility". Well, of course working for a single hot company at 22 doesn't mean y…

excellent comment

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

#75

Post by jpao79 »

Rich Dad Poor Dad has some interesting concepts. The book actually is really poorly written (and a bit scammy) but these video synopsis actually do a decent job of describing the concepts of passive income and differentiating between employee, self employed, business manager and investor:

- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qdtzLMrb8zQ

- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bC1ScfCny38

I like to think in a small way if you own any stocks/bonds, you are in a sense hiring employees (indirectly at arms length of course).

If you are buying SNAP, you are giving Evan Spiegel, the employee, his own business unit and promoting him. If you are holding SNAP and not buying more, then that's like putting Evan Spiegel on a PIP. If you are selling it, its basically like firing Evan Spiegel for poor performance.

I'd recommend to the OP spending any remaining time after your side coding projects learning about businesses/cashflow. To just blindly hold S&P Index funds in your 401K is a bit a kin to hiring never doing an initial coding review and never doing an annual perf review on your employees.

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

#76

Post by fjsolwmv »

mysterydip wrote: post #7
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…

Agreed. I once got a call out of the blue that I was being laid off. I had always associated stability with success: as long as I was doing a good job, my job would be secure. That was not the case. It was purely a business decision for them, but I left dazed and wondering what to do. I had always planned job changes on my terms. But it was also freeing in that I now could find opportunities I would've missed. I'm mu…

Perhaps your last employers were dazed when you left.

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

#77

Post by mancerayder »

desireco42 wrote: post #67

I am one of those weirdos, that change jobs so often, I do contracting often enough, that I get fired quite often, or quit. I remember when one big corp I had long term contract decided to 'trim the fat' and laid us all. My neighbor felt bad and wanted to make lunch for me. I explained her that the same day, I went to another big corp (pretending to be startup) and got much higher rate I always wanted. That lasted a…

I went a similar route (contracting) but you seem to have more resilience. I recently went a couple of months in between contracts after a long-term one ended and started panicking after 2 months, jumping into something that wasn't ideal. It's feast or famine with contracting, which I'm still getting used to (hint: the feasts are easier to adapt to).

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

#78

Post by fjsolwmv »

pascalxus wrote: post #28
redundo_twa wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 m…

Laying off 5% every year means an average of 20 years between layoffs.

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

#79

Post by pm90 »

gojomo wrote: post #52

Author is 22 years old, and was not laid off. But, because some peers were – from Snap, a boom-times high-flyer – he's now facing a crisis-of-confidence, first in himself, and then in what feelings of security might be available from reaching "[t]he upper middle-class, the professional class, that venerable example of American wealth and mobility". Well, of course working for a single hot company at 22 doesn't mean y…

I kinda agree. The author does sound like he's basically still living in the school mentality: I do X amount of work and expect Y benefits, no matter what the economy or market is like. This seems to be his first experience with external factors almost getting to him which made him think that the world may not be so fair after all. Surprise, surprise...

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

#80

Post by charlesdm »

awat wrote: post #8

To comment on one of the sentiments in the last paragraph. I often find myself wondering about the people doing the bidding above them where they are the last one compensated on a middle-upper class level before the VP or CEO or whoever that makes the 100X worker salary. What motivates that person? I’m sure they are compensated very well but at an exponentially lower rate than the will they are serving.

Why? Because 1) if the person above you leaves, you might get his position, and 2) you might be able to move up, but in a different company.
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