Well, new life experience for me. I took a job at a startup in the ed tech field around 3 years ago. Yesterday, I found out that that time was coming to an end. Around 25% of employees were laid off (300ish out of 1200ish) including me and my entire team.
They're venture-capital funded, and while I wasn't entirely surprised that layoffs were coming given some pretty rough financial headwinds this year, I wasn't at all expecting them to just cut my entire function. Kind of surreal.
I knew that startups were notoriously shaky when it comes to stability, and though it sucks to see it come to an end so abruptly, I suppose it's nice to have made a lot of money off of a bunch of investors. The severance package is, honestly, kind of crazy (4 months pay + 6 months paid health insurance + my laptop + free online classes + a plethora of job placement services). Thanks, VC funds!
In the end, I don't regret anything, but it's a very weird feeling to be out of a job for the first time since I was probably 14. It's hard to know what to do with myself, though I figure my "job" becomes job hunting...next week.
No need for sympathy - I'm actually kind of excited to look for something new. I'll at least have plenty of time to try and fail to fix my shit over the summer. :-) [Reply]
I got laid off about 2 years ago to the day... I was devastated, wasn't sure what to do. Where to go, how i was going to pay the mortgage etc. I can say that it definitely worked out. Found a job that paid about 50% more than what I was previously making. And it strengthened the bond with my wife and I. It could have broken us, but she was a rock that never wavered with her support. We came out of it better and with a stronger marriage than i could have imagined, although it didn't feel like it while going through it.
Wishing the best of job searching upon you, sir. Good luck! [Reply]
Originally Posted by seamonster:
Sounds like you're smart so you can land on your feet, but I've heard that the job market in tech is in bad shape. A tech-hostile congress passed legislation in 2023 that now includes R&D (software development, it) as just part of profits. So it' can't be written off. So companies have had to lay off armies of tech workers. I'd be hitting the pavement pretty hard. China does the opposite (100% of R&D is tax free) and their tech scene is growing without bounds.
I wonder if DaFace can learn Chinese in four months via those free online classes. I guess we'll find out. [Reply]
I was laid off from my job in February that I was with for 6 months and they gave me a one month severance package. I was shocked since I was there for such a short amount of time.
Found a new job with better pay and benefits the next week. Got to enjoy a nice long month long vacation and now I'm way happier. [Reply]
Originally Posted by seamonster:
Sounds like you're smart so you can land on your feet, but I've heard that the job market in tech is in bad shape. A tech-hostile congress passed legislation in 2023 that now includes R&D (software development, it) as just part of profits. So it' can't be written off. So companies have had to lay off armies of tech workers. I'd be hitting the pavement pretty hard. China does the opposite (100% of R&D is tax free) and their tech scene is growing without bounds.
The good news is that I worked at a tech company, but I'm not a "tech worker" per se. I'm still not going to assume the job hunt will be easy, but I hopefully will at least not be applying to many jobs with a thousand applicants. [Reply]
If you are getting ready for work right now then you are probably not DaFace
"If you're getting ready for work right now then you're probably not Doug Collins" is probably the most savage intro to a story about Doug Collins getting fired. �� pic.twitter.com/T1u1PanVG1
