Tech worker layoffs looming - Advice Thread for 1st timers to Layoff Land

[BeamerBikes]

Saw this in a tweet 

"Tech workers who didn't live through the dot com crash, you have no idea what's coming. Prepare yourselves."

Opening up this up - what's some concrete advice you'd give your younger self to "prepare yourself"? 

[BeamerBikes]

I was in my early 20s and spent more than half of 2002 unemployed. Then in 2007 - 2010, I waited it out doing caregiving by choice. 

My advice 

1) Don't assume you're safe ever. 

2) Build an Emergency fund AND evaluate all spending before you NEED to cut back. 

3) if the office plants go missing, banker boxes show up in the hallways, budgets get hard frozen for even small things, those are signs somethings coming. 

4) Getting laid off in the first wave has its perks.  Sticking around to continue your job AND the folks who just got canned for the same pay is a bad deal. You don't have to go down with the ship either. 

5) if the company doesn't pull out of it, the retention and severance packages likely will get worst! 

6) Living through Termination Tuesday's and Fuck You Fridays is soul crushing. Yes, companies will gradually and regularly shed staff on the way down the drain. Watching Survivor is better than being a contestant. 

 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

Apply now for one of the 87,000 new IRS positions.  They probably won't pay as good as what you're making now, but the job is recession proof.  There's more to a job benefit than salary.  Look at job stability, pension, healthcare, paid time off.

My peers in university thought I was crazy to take a government engineering job in 2005, when I could have made double the salary at an entry level engineering position in the private sector.  By 2009, the tables had turned.  I still had my job and benefits, and they were searching for work.

[+ TooSchoolForCool]

1.  Don't take it personally esp. if it's a mass layoff.

2.  Definitely prepare by having 6 months expenses saved ahead of time.

3.  Apply for Unemployment Insurance immediately.  You paid into it so it's yours to take.

4.  Update your linked in and reach out to your network.  There is no shame in getting laid off.  Network, Network, Network.

5.  Make searching for a new job, your full time job.  Spend 8 hours a day doing it.  

6.  That said, use your new found flexibility and freedom to your advantage.  Sleep in a little if you want.  Go to the gym at lunch or early afternoon.  Make sure you are taking care of yourself.

7.  When you get your next offer (and you will!!), make sure to start at LEAST two weeks out.  

8.  ENJOY those two weeks!  You earned them!!

This is going to happen over and over in your career.  I've been laid off during every recession and have always bounced back.  

[+ Pensant]

Or start your own company, if possible. I spent the past 17 years of my working career running a small SAAS company, sold it for a very nice multiple, and retired early. I can’t imagine working for a dystopian tech giant today with all of their surveillance practices. 

[VictorXX]

That's one more reason we all need to have diverse streams of income

[pubic_assistance]

Start an OnlyFans with interesting content.

🐷

[+ Lucky]

On 11/4/2022 at 8:02 AM, Vegas_nw1982 said:

Apply now for one of the 87,000 new IRS positions.  They probably won't pay as good as what you're making now, but the job is recession proof.  There's more to a job benefit than salary.  Look at job stability, pension, healthcare, paid time off.

 

Wouldn't he have to have weapons training for those jobs?

[+ FrankR]

14 minutes ago, Lucky said:

Wouldn't he have to have weapons training for those jobs?

Depending on the role. I have seen IRS positions that do require carrying a weapon, but most do not. 

Edited November 14, 2022 by FrankR

[+ Charlie]

I learned my lesson early from my parents' experience during the Great Depression. He was a credit investigator, she was an accountant for a major insurance company. Both were jobs that couldn't be replaced by technology in those days.

[+ Lucky]

C

1 minute ago, FrankR said:

Depending on the role. I have seen IRS positions that do require carrying a weapon, but most do not. 

Certain parties say that the IRS is hiring 87,000 ARMED agents. Thus my inquiry.

[+ FrankR]

2 minutes ago, Lucky said:

C

Certain parties say that the IRS is hiring 87,000 ARMED agents. Thus my inquiry.

Dont believe everything you hear on FOX news! Fox did report that. Some roles state as their qualifying criteria “Be legally allowed to carry a firearm.”  

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

5 hours ago, Lucky said:

Wouldn't he have to have weapons training for those jobs?

Most jobs require some kind of training.  The employer probably has additional firearm training in addition to what the average citizen receives.

[BeamerBikes]

On 11/14/2022 at 10:12 AM, Lucky said:

C

Certain parties say that the IRS is hiring 87,000 ARMED agents. Thus my inquiry.

"Many people are saying... Believe me"  hahaha  let's keep the politics out of this thread. It has its own forum. 

Its a finance forum and the topic is recession advice for those, who haven't gone through any significant downturn.  

Another identifier - when they suddenly cancel all company travel around specific dates. Meaning they don't want to potentially strand someone away from home if they are about to turn off the company credit card. 

[TorontoDrew]

HR booking all the board rooms and boxes of tissue showing up everywhere is another sign.

I've been in IT for 30 years now and have been fortunate to avoid the layoffs as I have some niche skills.  

My advice. For right now is to think really hard about any offers you get if you still have a job.  You may be better off staying where you are.  That being said if I was a Twitter employee I'd take the new job even if I survived the mass layoff.

Edited November 18, 2022 by TorontoDrew

[BeamerBikes]

10 hours ago, TorontoDrew said:

if I was a Twitter employee I'd take the new job even if I survived the mass layoff.

As of 5pm Eastern today, a whole mess of them decided to say peace out Elon give me my 3 months of severance and good luck with your soon to be dead bird.  The alternative was signing up to go "extreme hardcore", which sounds like you're going to get worked to death.  Also, if you aren't cutting it, you might not get even the 3 months as a consolation prize for choosing "extreme hardcore".  

I agree. There's no shame in taking a spot on a lifeboat. Better to get in the lifeboat while you still have the energy/will to swim if need be. Rather than try to save a sinking ship you have no ownership stake left in. 

[+ JEC]

I've working in tech most of my career, in my early career I got laid off a few times.   When I got laid off I would focus on contract work first - this is the fastest way to resuming your paycheck.   Contract jobs do not typically require the same protracted process as hiring, conversely the industry is designed to get people placed quickly.  You can prepare by making sure your resume is up to date, and creating a list of contract firms in your area of specialty (and the area where you live/work).  You should also update your LinkedIn profile and focus on building your LinkedIn network. 

When/if you do get laid off, give yourself 1 week to clear your mind if you need it.  Then, make finding a job your full time job.  Set your alarm every morning, go to the gym and then start your day.  Try to sty on your normal "working routine" so it want be a shock when you go back to a normal work schedule.  Every time I got laid off, I had a contract gig lined up before my severance ran out.   Once in a contract gig, you can then focus on finding your next perm gig.

Interesting, now there are many remote work and digital nomad opportunities, this might also be a time to travel and work from exotic places, if you have the means and freedom to do that.

While being laid off can be stressful, it can also be a gift.

[TonyDown]

I've been in a good situation for a long time. 

The previous comment there is an advantage being among the first wave of layoffs fits my experience.  That company ended up shutting it's US location, but by then I was on a new direction. 

You never know where you'll end up.  Don't worry too much about it.  You'll get there.