Why Being Laid Off is a one of the Greatest Nexus Events of your Career
It still sucks though...
It was a normal Monday Morning. It would certainly not be a Normal Monday Afternoon.
I woke up at 7:30am like I normally do, got dressed like I normally do and ate a quick breakfast like I normally do.
However what I didn’t know at the time as I was finishing up my Breakfast and getting ready to grab my laptop bag and drive to work was that morning would end up changing the course of my Career forever.
As I pulled into the parking lot, as I did ever weekday morning going to work, I got out and noticed there weren’t as many cars in the lot as there normally were, it was a little strange.
I walked to my desk passing a lot of empty seats that were normally filled at this time. Maybe they were all in a staff meeting I wasn’t told about?
As I got my computer, I turned it on and started looking at my emails. One email in particular caught my eye.
There was an invite to a Special Staff Meeting titled “The Way Forward”. What? The Way Forward? From what? What happened?! I started thinking a Million different reason what the meaning of this meeting was. I started to panic.
My Boss came down from his Office shortly after and came directly over to talk to me. He looked very downtrodden as he walked towards me.
“So, uh, I need you and the team know about what happened this morning
We had to make some cuts at the Company across all Divisions.
Your Team got hit the hardest. I’m so sorry.”
What do you mean the “Hardest”, I said. Who got fired?
He would go on to say not only had I lost half my Helpdesk team, people who were my friends and coworkers, I had been working with them for years, but they also let go my Co-Team Lead, I was now the only Team Lead left. I had survived a massive layoff. I guess I felt a little better than those who had gotten the axe, but I didn’t feel a little bit better. I felt no relief that day.
The Morale, The Culture, The Drive of my Company was never the same again from that day on. In fact, it led to the Company changing Leadership multiple times, the Founder exiting with multiple entailed legal battles and leaving the company with a bunch of debt that they would never financially recover from. Eventually what was left of the barebones company was sold off and the name of the company was never spoken of again. I left way before that happened, luckily.
An incredible feeling of guilt might manifest to those who stay on after a round of layoffs. Granted, you still might have it better than those who lost their livelihood, but you don’t feel better for that, it sucks, for everyone involved. It did for me, especially when I realized my Workload just doubled, I likely would not be getting any raises for awhile and to top it all off, I was being overworked before all this happened anyways. I worked very hard to be a good Team Lead, and apparently I had “Won Out” somehow? I didn’t feel like a winner, I felt like a loser, who’s consolation prize was just more work in a now sadder, lonelier environment.
From that point on I began looking for another job. I had noticed the burnout creeping in, the working environment was tainted with sadness and depression, we had lost our way as a company and our leadership were trying desperately to save a sinking ship. I knew it was only a matter of time before that mentality started reaching our customers, and they would be moving on as well.
The writing was on the wall, and it’s terribly important that YOU try to feel and predict when it might be time to leave and listen to that voice, before the layoffs start happening and you find yourself losing control of your career destiny as it were. If you don’t have something to fall back on now, you should defintely start building your 5–9 Empire. Start a Newsletter, like this one! Or a Paid Community, or a YouTube Channel! The possibilities now are endless, and the only one that will ever care enough to make a difference in the lives of others is you…certainly it won’t be your company you’ve worked the same job at for 5 years without even a raise.
If you do end up getting Laid off sometime in your life, know that you will be better off for it. I can personally attest to that, as two jobs later my whole department was laid when they sold the company off.
No one can ever be truly ready for a Nexus event like that, but that doesn’t mean you can be totally unprepared. Especially if you’re reading this now, always be prepared by realizing that your Company in the end won’t protect you, it’s interests are purely monetary and transactional, and they will NEVER include your feelings and truly share your core beliefs in that decisions. If how you cope with that is always having a side hustle or something to fall back on, I’d totally recommend being prepared with that. I didn’t, and I suffered for that, a lot more than I should have.
After 20+ Years of Working in Tech, I believe that it’s more important to work for a Company that aligns with your values and interests than it does with “What” you actually do at the company. Your Identity may be “System Administrator”, but if you work at a Company that is very Technology Averse, you’re NOT going to be able to do your job well, nor would you want to. All of your work will be underappreciated by everyone, and you will turn bitter because of it. Align your Values with your Workplace, and if you can’t, start you’re own thing! You deserve Happiness and Success and anything else you ever wanted for yourself!