Lay offs. Are you ready?

#career #layoffs #programming

Lay offs are everywhere in Tech these days. You should act NOW.

Twitter has cut 50% of its workforce in November, Facebook announced 13% cuts about the same time. Microsoft has announced it's going to cut 10000 jobs.

Losing a job can be devastating but it doesn't have to be. Below is 6 step strategy which I think can save one's life.

👉Step one:
Work on the emergency fund. It's advisable to have at least 3 months of salary in a safe place - just in case. At times like this I would probably suggest changing the target to 6 amounts of your monthly expenses

👉Step two:
If you can - decrease your expenses. Sell this unused car you have, stop subscriptions you don't use, consider home made lunch over Deliveroo. And now totally is not a good time for credit application unless it's a matter of life and death.

👉Step three:
It is never hurt to have your CV up to date. Update it now, and if people suggest you roles to consider - don't refuse them straight away. You might be looking for a new role sooner than you expect

👉Step four:
Have plan B. List 3-5 companies, including your ex-employers which you could go to if you have to. Try to come up with a list of companies you might want to stick around with.

👉Step five:
Have plan C. If you cannot find new work in 2-3 months - what kind of temporary work you may have? Maybe there's something you always wanted to do but could not because it wasn't profitable enough? Job which isn't paid very well for usually is better than no job at all, especially when you have family and bills to foot.

👉Step six:
Prepare for tech interviews. Do Leetcode challenges or participate in mock interviews on my YouTube channel or even just go through real interviews. Make sure you can crack it when and if you have to!

💬Bonus tip:
Don't even consider changing jobs now. Laying off long-term employee is usually significantly more difficult than ending a probation or revoking an offer altogether. Just check your LinkedIn - it's full of stories about that.

Hope this helps and even more so - hope none of this will be necessary.

🪀Follow me for more career and development advice in tech.

Top comments (7)

ventolin • Jan 19 '23

You missed the most important: JOIN A UNION

Alex Pushkarev • Jan 21 '23

not sure how it's going to help? and I don't know if there're any unions for developers. It's not like developers are going to strike for bigger pays...

ventolin • Jan 21 '23

Of course there are unions for developers. Aren't developers workers or what? Developers are not going to strike as long as they are confortable and docile.

Alex Pushkarev • Jan 21 '23

and how they can help with lay offs?

ventolin • Jan 21 '23 • Edited

Some Collective Bargaining Agreements don't allow layoffs even when the employer claims that it doesn't have enough money to pay everyone on payroll. Other CBAs require the employer to maintain enough work for union members, for example, by preventing the employer from laying off union workers and replacing them with non-union workers. Similarly, many CBAs bar employers from laying off union workers and subcontracting out their jobs. Some CBAs give workers the option of being laid off, reducing their hours, working part time, or getting retrained. If your CBA has such a clause, your employer can't make you choose the best or least expensive option for the company. For example, you can choose to be retrained, even if reducing your hours would cost the company less.

From lawyers.com Union Employees: Are You Protected From Layoffs?