The REAL reason Engineers get Laid Off

Absolute heater

You could be the best cook in a restaurant on a ship, but if that ship is sinking you are still going down.

They are the same people who say "just work hard and you will get a raise".

I was hired by a company and forced to sign a non-compete. I spent 6 months at this org trying to get projects done and every single tool or platform I recommended for implementation was declined. I sat on my hands for 6 months and was eventually just laid off because "we over hired and have to do a strategic restructuring" It isn't about how competent you are at your job, these organizations have no fucking idea what they want or need. They expect you to come in and revitalize their entire environment without giving you a budget or a director / manager who has any clarity into what the organization can use to make their lives easier. It has nothing to do with attitude or job performance, these orgs are fucking clueless.

Getting laid off or fired is like being dumped in a relationship. Best thing to do is take stock of any lessons learnable, not take it too seriously and immediately put the past behind you and move on.

I've been laid off 3 times in my 20 year career and if only it was skills/attitude. These companies now use layoffs to fix their financial messes like over hiring, poor revenue/growth, or just bad decisions from the top that didn't work. God forbid they take a pay cut, forego a bonus, do anything possible to keep the people relying on them working.

I've been a software engineer for around 7 years, and I've been laid off 3 times. It's traumatic, and it always makes me feel like I'm not good enough, despite the companies making it clear in capital letters that it wasn't performance-related or related to anything else but social stuff. All 3 were due to social interactions not panting out. I refuse to work from an office now solely because of this; it's always SOCIAL stuff that ruins it for everybody. Gossip, finger-pointing, people forming inner groups within teams and leaving you out, etc. I have learned that you need to be smiling and radiating good vibes during work hours, you NEED to build rapport and ask people about their weekends and holidays, you also need to make up stories of your own to talk about and never ever talk about your personal life in detail, you cannot disclose that you're a professional IPSC shooter, or that you skate, ride motorcycles or whatever, there will always be people that hate those things and will hate you for having those hobbies, simple as.

I’ve laid off a ton of people… and have been laid off myself a few times… The best way around this is to have options always available to jump on to, never assume anything is stable.

Regarding performance reviews: that's precisely the reason I was caught in a layoff. When I received a negative review, I was sure it was unjust, but I felt so drained and burned out at the time that I didn't dispute it. The lesson I learned was that I should have realized it was time to quit the company myself and look for another opportunity.

Employees are called "resources", for a reason. Employers strongly believe, that all resources should be replaceable.

The nature of software dev roles in companies is you're always working on projects that will make you redundant. Be that dashboards, automation, and now AI - there's no real way around it because that is what the company is making you work on.

As an employee, you cannot make yourself immune from lay-offs. It has nothing to do with your performance nor your dynamics with your team and other teams. It is a business decision done by the board and implemented top down. I'm a former company director, it has nothing to do with the employees, just plain business decision.

I have never been laid off but I have consistently seen the best workers laid off around me almost every single time: - The senior engineer with more than 500 patents that probably made the company a billion dollars with these, laid off. - The senior engineer that happens to be the smartest person in the building by far in my opinion laid off. - The hardest working developer who pulls 70-80 hours a week, laid off. - The smart guy who always contributes to novel solutions, laid off because he was making more money than others in the team!. - The average developer that does his work, laid off. - And so many more, I have only seen one person be fired for bad performance. I used to be on the top of performance but completely lost my faith in leadership, in every place I have worked and will stick to just doing the bare minimum, often there is no incentive for performance in this industry and performing well to earn more puts a target on your head for the next layoff. A trend is the person earning the most in the team is often is the next in the chopping block.

That's why I left this insecure software engineering profession after 10 years. I was one of the best coders with consistently excellent performance reviews but when I got laid off my third job in this industry ( I voluntarily left the previous positions to progress my career) I saw that simply being good or even superior in your work, is not going to cut it when it comes to business owners/corporations finding cheaper options ( usually overseas). I decided to go into real engineering and became a civil engineer and never looked back. No lay offs, global work options. Rewarded for work and secure career.

It's a naive comment. The company doesn't need a reason to let anyone go. Usually (IMO) if your in the wrong place at the wrong time you're likely to be "downsized" out of the job. It's nothing personal, just business.

Excellent advice. I just came across your channel via the YouTube algorithm. I'm 69, been in the IT arena for 44 years; still going strong but do want to slow down in a couple of years. My best to you going forward. I have liked and subscribed to your channel.

Layoffs are very random. There are a lot of factors that go into choosing who to lay off, and job performance is only one of them.

My dad is like this. He thinks anyone who gets laid off is an under performer cause he's never been laid off. He's a boomer, so I don't even try to argue with him.

I was laid off twice and nearly fired twice. Out of all situations it’s never been directly related to performance. There’s more nuance to employment than just doing the job. There’s soft skills, the rapport with management, company margins, overpaying someone, and unfortunately the project you work on. You can’t choose which projects you work on once brought on board.

Being laid off is usually a wrong place wrong time issue. You can try to move to safer teams, but it's never a guarantee.