Work as a programmer in North America and be laid off in 2023

Organize | Dialogue's Algorithm House

Share the feeling of a North American programmer after being laid off in 2023. His position in the laid off company is Tech Lead (a technical key role that leads a team to complete a specific job or task). I feel that the article is very good. Share it with everyone. Welcome to leave a message to discuss~

Don't sell anxiety, discuss the matter as it stands, and hope to help friends in need.

Many people think that there is no sign before layoffs, but this is really not the case.

There are many signs of layoffs in the process of layoffs. I will set up some minefields and warnings for some layoff signals I encountered in another article. When you encounter these signals above, your intuition will tell you Need to think about finding the next alternative right now.

Because when any one or more of these signals appear at the same time, it means that layoffs are in progress, which usually occurs in about 3 to 6 months .

1. Position in the company

The position at the laid-off company is Tech Lead .

Although this position does not mean that you can obtain more effective information for other colleagues, it may usually allow you to have better communication channels with your superiors.

However, it is very unfortunate that the communication channels of this company are very problematic.

Because the deputy responsible for the relevant development part always switches from PHP to Java , and he is not very clear about many situations in Java, so he relies heavily on an architect.

However, most people in the company think that the architect's request is wrong and very stupid.

For example, it is required that the code must be placed on one line, resulting in many lines of code even exceeding 1000 characters.

All developers do not understand this request very much, and it is unreasonable and stupid to make this request many times. Our group is the most responsive to this request and the most resistant (it may also be because of me, I do not want to be in the Concession where it is clearly wrong; I can concede, but I need to give a convincing reason).

However, this so-called architect used the power of PR mergers to keep our team members making changes.

2. Before layoffs

It is precisely because of the position in the company and the direct conflict with the architect mentioned above.

6 months ago, I told my colleagues in the group that I was going to prepare for the next step. If you should interview, you should do the interview, don't delay.

During this intermediate process, my leader even talked to me once. What the leader means is that he very much agrees with our code PR requirements, and feels that these requirements are bullshit.

However, the vice president in charge of development thinks that our group is now the worst among all the groups.

Maybe I didn't seriously understand the meaning of this sentence at the time. It only took 2 weeks (one Sprint) for our group to become the worst among all the groups.

After this conversation, I am even more convinced that my team members will find information about the next company, and I will let go of their interviews with other companies midway.

Unfortunately, my own damn procrastination, I prepared my own resume, but before I had time to submit it, I waited for the day when the actual layoffs came.

Great lessons and lessons learned:

If the operation or management of the company makes you feel uncomfortable, and you already have the idea of looking for another home, you must prepare as soon as possible and implement it immediately without delay.

That's why I marked the black horse above.

3. Layoff process

The downsizing process is very simple, quick and happens without any knowledge.

On Thursday, the company's top executives reminded that all meetings were canceled today, and the company-wide meeting that should have been held at 11 o'clock was brought forward to 9 o'clock.

Because many people were not prepared, many people did not participate.

It was later learned that 9:00 was the start of the announcement of layoffs, and it was later known that the layoff rate was 40%.

Then various departments hold a meeting with their laid-off employees. This meeting is usually a Zoom group meeting first , and a bunch of nonsense is said. It is a last resort decision, what a mess.

Of course, what reasonable reasons do you need or expect the company to give you at this time?

Then the P&C staff spoke, basically each person had 15 minutes to Zoom alone.

This 15 minutes is mainly for reading documents. As for whether to turn on the camera during the two meetings, it is optional.

You can open it if you want, or you don’t want to, anyway, everyone above is absent-minded. I'm too lazy to open it, because you don't even know the person you're talking to.

The second meeting is P&C . This meeting is mainly to talk to you about some benefits and what you can have after being laid off. Personally, I am more concerned about compensation.

As for the 401K and the funds in it can be transferred by themselves, there is nothing they need to say. I learned that the compensation is 6 weeks' salary, which is not too much but acceptable.

The person in charge of layoffs said, what else needs to be asked, I simply answered All Set and have a nice day. After all, they are just people who do specific things, and if you ask them, you can't find out why, so what's the matter.

4. After layoffs

After layoffs, I felt that all the laid-off colleagues I knew were dumbfounded.

After the 15-minute P&C meeting, basically the computer and mailbox can't be used immediately. The company seems to say that the computer can be kept by itself, but the data on it will be cleaned up remotely.

The things left in the company will be packed and sent home.

My desk in the company is a resignation desk. To put it simply, there is only one monitor that does not belong to me, and a box of disinfectant wipes from other places. There is nothing I need in the company. thing.

Many people think that disabling accounts by companies is a little too impersonal. In fact, it is nothing at all technically, because all management is LDAP, and it is fine to disable your accounts directly on LDAP, which is nothing unusual.

At noon, the laid-off colleagues all left their mobile phone numbers with each other. I felt that everyone felt a little ridiculous because I was on the layoff list. In addition, the even more ridiculous colleague has worked in this company for 7 years and is also on the list (all PHP infrastructures are written and established by him).

Although there was some friction with this colleague at the beginning, this Indian colleague is really good. We all think he is very good and are willing to work with him.

Many people, including me. They all felt unworthy of this colleague, and also thought it was ridiculous.

The choice of Naihe Company is some people who flatter and talk nonsense every day , such as that weird architect.

Not long after, the laid-off colleagues created a group, and then pulled me into it. It was mainly colleagues in our group. Everyone hoped to share some interview experience and opportunities, and occasionally complain.

In the evening, I suddenly received a LinkedIn friend invitation from another colleague who was not included in the layoffs.

But he was also demoted. He was originally a Sr developer and team leader, but was later promoted to an architect, and now he is not even a team leader.

He told me that if he needed help, he would try his best to help, and he also pushed some of his former recruiter accounts to me.

I am also very grateful to them. Although I have experienced it, I have also gained some friends. Although it is difficult to gain friends in the American workplace, it is not completely like this.

Without the entanglement of interests, it is easier to tell the truth.

Work as a programmer in North America and be laid off in 2023

Guess you like