Originally Posted by DaFace:
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. :-)
Originally Posted by DaFace:
My age is the meaning of life.
Originally Posted by ChiTown:
Unless you started posting here in HS, I'm gonna guess early 40's
This will end up being a favor. Just be sure to balance taking advantage of the essentially paid, extended, vacation with seeking out the next gig. Give yourself multiple options.
Perhaps the career and space enthusiast gods are nudging you to attend a Starship launch during your downtime? :-) [Reply]
Sorry to hear about this DaFace but I have little doubt that you will land feet first....
Use all your contacts/peers....you'll be surprised at what and who they may know..
I had varied luck with Headhunters....some were great and helped me a great deal but others just wanted another name in their "rolodex" be it real or virtual.
BTW....4 months severance isn't out of the norm these days...companies just see it as the cost of avoiding grievances/nuisance suits. What was an eye catcher for me was the paid insurance....that is gold. [Reply]