Why do layoffs suck? What happens after a layoff ?

.. you’re more than just an SDE at Amazon .. you’re a human!

“.. you’re more than just an SDE at Amazon .. you’re a human!”

Layoffs are brutal, let's address that first. There is no way layoffs can be easy.

1. My personal story — Brief
2. Why do layoffs happen?
3. Why layoffs are tough?
4. How to mitigate the effects?
5. What happens a year after layoff?
6. Conclusion

My personal story — Brief

I was a TPM at Expedia. I had a great experience as a Data Engineer and a Software Developer at Expedia. Within 9months of becoming a TPM, I was laid off.

It sucks because…

1. With 9 months of experience, I don’t have much experience as a TPM to go into the market and demand a good salary
2. and I cannot go back to a Data engineer role again as I lost touch with it as its already been 9months.
3. I moved from the US to India and I don't want to start as a novice TPM and start with a basic novice salary in Indian rupees

What I did?

I did my own startup, and went from there. That’s a different journey that is not relevant to this blog.

But let’s look at ..

Layoffs are tough !

Why do layoffs happen?

1. over hiring: some companies might have overhired because the leadership is too optimistic about the growth. or the competitors are growing aggressively, so leadership places bets on ideas that wouldn’t pay. in the long run these teams may be laid off.
2. leadership changes: the NEW leadership thinks that they don't need a particular off-shore team anymore as it adds more complexity to the operations of the overall team. For example, if a team is spread across India and the US locations, the new leadership might want to get rid of its India counterpart as it's too complex and cost-bearing to operate in 2 timezones. (happened to me)
3. company strategy changes: company thinks that a product-X is a failure or doesn't make sense anymore…