Tell HN: I was laid off from my job and I feel better than ever
I've been working at a company for a long time. It's grown from a startup into a big corporate company. I've managed to find my way inside the company, creating unique roles for myself and working on smaller growth initiatives. I've enjoyed the environment less and less as time has gone by, but I still felt there were valuable things I could do inside the company, especially with my knowledge as an early employee. Plus, they paid me well, the culture was mostly good, etc.
I recently got laid of which initially felt like a slap in the face. Once I caught my breath and started looking at options at other companies, I've realized how much more excited I am about joining a new small company than I am about anything I could have done at my old company.
I tried really hard to make myself happy the best I could inside that company, but it feels like a fresh of breath air realizing that my potential opportunities are much broader than that one company. It almost feels like Stockholm syndrome or something.
Anyway, I know I'm privileged to get laid off and be able to easily find a new job, but I just wanted to share in case anyone else is feeling the same way I was: trapped inside a company that I liked less and less over time.
Being the victim of a layoff can feel very liberating if you have the financial means to support yourself and your family during a transition to a new gig. It can be very stressful if you have been living paycheck to paycheck.
I have never considered someone 'privileged' who has earned their position through hard work and dedication. It sounds like you could easily find a new job because you have developed skills that other companies find valuable, not because someone just handed you something on a silver platter.
I don't disagree with that statement, but I also want to be conscious of saying "this is actually a blessing for me" while I have other laid of coworkers panicking about their futures.
Yup you feel better since you have a lot of options and find yourself in demand. Definitely feels good to be wanted, looks like you got forced out of those golden handcuffs and will still be making good money. Good for you!!!
That's awesome! My company seems to be in death throes right now, though I suspect no one will know for sure until the day of layoffs (which could be tomorrow, who knows?) so maybe I will join you soon!
Good luck on your journey.
> It almost feels like Stockholm syndrome or something.
Any big company is something of a cult / religion / reality distortion field, where all the officially sanctioned ideas from the top are repeated endlessly, and other outside ideas are forbidden, without regard to any objective truths. "Not invented here", company "values" and "principles" and "missions", and internal tools and "secret sauce" are all manifestations of this.
Getting back out into the real world, where different ideas and disagreement is allowed is very refreshing.
Some friends at Facebook have expressed conflicted feelings around the ongoing threat of layoffs – they sort of want to leave the company for something smaller, but they have an incentive to stay because they may get severance if their function is cut next month
I feel very similarly at Amazon. I wish I could volunteer for being laid off. I could use 3 months (with severance) without any work to try curing my burnout.
You can I've known a few co-workers who have. They had another job already lined up so when the boss came looking for heads to chop they volunteered. They got a very nice severance, a short vacation and a new gig and the boss was happy he didn't have to pick someone to fire.
I guess the issue with allowing voluntary departures is that you could lose numbers of engineers in vital functions. Also I imagine there tends to be a bias towards your most confident engineers leaving since they know they'll have the highest likelihood of easily finding a new role?
Getting laid off has given me time to play around with langchain. What good timing.
It really can feel like a weight is lifted.
What the new compensation like in the new company versus the old one?
you already found a new gig?
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