LAYOFFS Are Here - Are You Next?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ค. 2024
- In this video I share the algorithm businesses use to layoff a part of their work staff, and what you can do to maximize keeping your job.
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00:00 Introduction
01:24 The Hedgehog and The Fox
02:41 Down-cycles
04:06 The Algorithm
05:58 Being a Hedgehog
06:58 Layoffs within a team
08:01 How Not to get laid off
09:30 What I Did During the Great Recession
10:36 Conclusion - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 68 | คู่เอก "พระจันทร์ฉาย vs โจนาธาน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/F3IM3w-XchI/mqdefault.jpg)
Couple things to add. First, very few teams will be all safe or all cut. The vast majority of leaders/teams will be asked to make some contribution to reducing cost. The amount of cost to reduce will vary from team to team. Second, companies frequently do not jump directly to layoffs of employees. If there are a significant amount of contractors, they are usually the first to be impacted. Then companies will sometimes offer early retirement or voluntary job reduction. This isn't universal, but I have seen it many times in larger orgs.
I've definitely binged this channel and go back to re-sync on highlights. Thank you so much, Steve!
This channel is a bloody goldmine!
Thank you for making those videos.
Thank you for taking the time to make and share this content!
I initially followed because of how concise you are, but I’ve really loved your additions with editing/visuals like the sound effects, charts, etc. Thanks again!
I appreciate that you go beyond your working hours to share this valuable information. Thank you so much for being transparent about everything.
"Just take off your shoes before coming into the house...." that is such a good phrase that encompasses the type of situational awareness, common courtesy, and and a general "please have and show respect for others" type of mentality that can sometimes be forgotten or lacking.
I love devs like you that help fix recurring issues that us operations people run into. Its such important and impactful work to the client, but I feel a lot of devs act like they are above it. I bet people love having you on the team
Thank you so much Steve! Love your content
Just what I needed to see, thanks!
Just got laid off and honestly I'm believing it might be a blessing in disguise. The amount of support and recruiters at better companies flocking at my LinkedIn profile is nothing short of wholesome. I live in Brazil and a lot of opportunities at companies abroad that pay well even for remote work is a lot, and it was something I dreamt of. Hoping to be employed again at a much better place at least for a while by focusing at being a hedgehog. Thanks a lot for this video, great as always.
Sorry about the layoff. I like your positive attitude. Hope that a great opportunity comes on your way soon. If you don’t mind, could you please share the name of a company you were laid off from? Just curious because my team has contractors from brazil
@@mfiaz7719 Thank you for your kind words! I was laid off from a bus charter platform called Buser last week. Kinda like a Brazilian Flixbus (although they are already here lol). I think the only services abroad we used there were for the website/app infrastructure.
How much are the recruiters offering and for what kinds of positions? @k-yo
@@obesechicken13 Senior front-end engineer roles. Monthly base salary ranges I'm seeing:
In Brazil: 10k BRL - 16K BRL (1.9k USD - 3.4k USD)
Abroad: 4k USD - 6k USD for remote work from Brazil
@@k-yo may I ask for how many years of experience? Is it a React.js role?
Your content is always 10/10, solid, clear, no fluff. And they contain unexampled opinions that are predictive.
I was a company for about 10 yrs. ( Medical field) The same year new management came in, I was diagnosed with cancer. Had surgery and treatment and went back to work after 3 months. The following year I was let go, as I was going back to check if the cancer was gone. Fortunately, I had saved 6 months of emergency funds. You just never know what life is going to throw at you
Came back to this months later. Just wanted to say great advice. I followed this for the last ~3 months. I survived a big layoff. I'm doing what I can to hang in there. Thank you for the great content.
I hope all of you reading this make it through these times. 🙏
Your videos are superbly made and are very high quality. It's honestly impressive. You work hard and it shows in your videos which makes people (myself included) that much more willing to take your advice. Hope you have a good week and holiday season uncle Steve
I'm new to this channel and have noted how amazing the quality of his videos are. I hope he gets the subs and views he deserves as he provides such great information all around.
I really enjoy your channel @A Life Engineered, its a truly rare flavor of advice in this day and age. You represent a fairly rare perspective to me and for that I find the ideas you share to be more interesting.
If I am to be 100% honest, I somewhat subconsciously classify your standpoint as boring, safe, and sheepish. (sheepish in the sense you're not trailblazing in an obvious way). But when I think about your perspective and career strategies critically, it is quite clear that a great deal of clear judgement, discipline and skill are needed in order to successfully execute on your strategies / philosophies.
Anyway, just thought I would share my view of your channel at this early stage, I really appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective in a digestible way, its certainly enriched my own thoughts and philosophies already.
Solid advice thank you. One suggestion I have for the videos is to use more contrasting colors like for the leaf node example. People who are colorblind can't easily make out the different colors.
Really appreciate the content you put out! This is really useful!
Great stuff - thanks for this one. Good wake up call.
My extra advice would be: keep and eye on the market and be ready to become a Fox when the time is right.
I was fortunate I kept my job in 2008 when 2/3 of my company got laid off. However I ended up spending 7 years in the same job, with poor career prospects and a cumulative raise of 10%.
In hindsight I should have left much earlier, but I stayed a Hedgehog way too long.
Wow! 7 years you worked for the same job same company how you guys do it. I am not in tech but can't stay in any company more than a year maximum. Because, it gets boring and become routine and start stressing me.
I spent 10 years in one. I bounced with my 401(k) before they closed the company down. I warned the others but they did not believe me. As one of the directors said, when I subsequently went and worked for a Big Bank, "No one is guaranteed a job in America." I saw that as a sign, and when the layoffs arrived, I was ready. I threw my on farewell party and invited colleagues who hadn't gotten the layoff notice yet. I left and they followed less than a year later.
Thanks for the share. Nothing is carved in stone..we need to keep moving while we still can..sometimes near term unfortunate events (ie. layoffs) may lead to bigger breakthroughs in the future if one embraces it. Not easy...
This is an excellent point that I think many people don't realize. In today's world, especially in the tech industry, there's usually no real benefit to keeping the same job for more than a couple years, unless you're already in a top-tier position. I've been a software engineer for the past 7 years. I stayed at my first job for 2 years, during which time I received one 5% raise. I have since switched jobs 3 times and each jump was a significant boost in pay. My current salary is more than triple that of my first job.
Thanks Steve, tough video to make, but it certainly helps. Stressful times for sure. An economic downturn/depression helps no one.
Good advice and good analogy with the fox and the hedgehog - easy to remember and easy to understand.
Quality video. They keep improving every time.
Thanks as always for the insights. Logged into LinkedIn recently and saw a number of impacted connections seeking job opportunities. A good follow up might be next steps if you've been laid off.
Awesome content as always. This is the stuff I have been trying to tell my juniors during these times of fear, they feel it is a random game, but sadly it comes down to how much money to bring in with your actions.
Thank you for the quality advice
Almost 100k subs, early congrats uncle Steve!
Excellent video thank you
Good advice. I have seen this stuff throughout my career.
Came back to this video today, my company closed my entire office because the lease was up and told us we have 2 months to find another job. Thanks for the advice, Steve
Thank you for the great advice. I will keep it to heart and do my best in becoming a senior or staff-level IC in the next few years. Thank you for the genuine and impactful content
One feedback on the promotion aspect: while what you say is true for most situations, there are some who excel at expanding scope during a downturn. These...are the spikes of a hedgehog. The way they seek impact/scope changes: instead of trying to grab more ambitious projects, they now focus on making organizational changes that can better the organization's ability to survive. So while they may be distracted from their core work, their efforts are recognized. There are also instances where people are already performing at the next level who need to spend little bandwidth to get their current level work done anyway. These are nuanced situations where "not seeking a promotion" is not as applicable.
You're still a young pup. I can't wait to see what wisdom you acquired already in your short time on Earth.
Ok thanks for information
Thank you!
Thanks ALE 👏
Great video, thank you
best video on The Internet today.
Great video! I'd love to hear your perspective of how to make the best of being laid off. In my personal opinion, times of churn are the best to make career investments with opportunities for asymmetric upside (even if your gut is telling you to play it safe and take the first job that comes your way).
Love the thumbnail!! ❤ let’s get you to 100K!!😊
+1, can’t wait to see the well deserved checkmark show up
congrats on 100k subscribers :)
Well said and no doubt. We dominate don't be cocky in these times
This is easily one of my favorite tech channels to watch now.
Thanks!
thanks for all the insight into the industry, very helpful...now when's the tour of the whiskey shelf? I've gotta know what those society bottles are lol
Such a great video for the time right now! And I hope the people who got laid off find something quickly because it’s not necessarily performance based as we’ve learned recently.
The algorithm section was super funny, even if you didn't intend it that way. I loved the PE level geekiness.
Me last year: Phew...I guess the pandemic was the worst thing that could happen
Year 2023: 🙂
so just don't be lazy.
wow big brain stuff.
Got laid off. It’s sucks but I’m happy I don’t have to fix that annoying ass bug anymore
how does a person get laid off?
@@angelachanelhuang1651 When a company feels that they need to save more money to cut costs and they have too many people working to pay their salary. They will lay off hundreds to thousands of workers to cut costs.
Thanks Meta. I'm actually in a position where my manager has been discussing with me for the last few months that they are developing me for a higher role. So we'll see if that promotion comes to fruition. I'll be cautiously optimistic, but given the market conditions like you say, it is a tougher sell so I'll just be grateful to have the role I do. I have a friend who was let go from himself company not too long ago.
The impact won't last, code is everywhere nowadays. Unlike the 2001 tech bubble, code is essential now.
A modern car has 100 million lines of code. And anything that has code needs to be maintained or competition will take over.
Like for the video :)
"And the largest cost to a company is its people", except when a testing RDS cluster that hasn't been used in the past 18 months is costing more every month than the salary of an engineer.
then you be the engineer to eliminate it and add a bullet point to your name to save your job
Thank you Meta.
such a good video
I work as a contractor doing SWE and I'm kinda apprehensive about all of this, because my job is doing really well right now and I'm about to ask for a raise
For folks outside of big tech, this isn't how it goes. Smaller companies don't have as much personnel bloat as big tech, so, if you're laid off there, your performance likely had nothing to do with it. It's just you as a listed salary (and benefit costs) line item on a spreadsheet, and a detached person in finance running numbers. Unlike big tech, if you weren't an avg to high performer in a decent amount of time, you would have already been dismissed, you wouldn't be able to hide in a crowd until the hard times hit.
So try not to take layoffs personally. Easier said than done, I understand.
@Bob Syerunkle You're talking about companies that see software engineers as cost centers. I'm talking about tech first companies, with a primarily technical product, like SaaS. They value competence, they can't afford to keep low performers for a long time like big tech can, and there's much less bureaucracy so low performers can be let go much faster.
I work at a company like this, and we didn't have any low performers laid off in the last round. There were no more low performers around to lay off! No one was looking for an excuse to get rid of anyone, we run lean.
Agreed.
good video!
You feel like that dev dad I didn't knew I needed in my dev life 👨👦
omg the production quality of that first 30 seconds 🤯💯
I literally just picked up iMovie, wtf are you using?
I was impacted by the layoffs. Used to work at a big tech company but they reduced their employee head count which included me. It took a while just because of the state of the market currently but I was able to get a new position paying as much as I was receiving at my other job. I’m just so glad I was able to do that because I know the same can’t be said for many other people. To anyone reading this that was also a part of the layoffs: keep your head up, and keep searching you got this
Awesome video! What animation service did you use for that n-ary tree?
I work at a large tech company, and we just started hiring again -- for an intern position and also just re-hired an intern. At least in Canada, I'm not worrying too much for the moment.
Pls what’s the name of the company and how can I apply for an internship
This is a great content
thanks for the advice , thank you!
just out of curiosity , from 6:58 to 7:22 which tool did you used to create such animations ? I like it
My biggest financial mistake was being only 12 years ago during the 2008 financial crisis and nowhere near prepared enough to scoop up some cheap stocks and real estate maybe
You're so correct! Save, ¡nvest and spend for necessities and a few luxuries relatives to on's total ass~ets ratio.
Hindsight is 20/20. Easy to call it a mistake now because you have clarity on what the outcome of your choices would have looked like. You would have been "prepared" or found a way to be prepared if you were certain of the outcome. Some might argue that today some tech stocks are down huge. Would you take the risk now and invest?
Got laid off 2 months ago. thanks for the breakdown
Hey, love your vids! Can you provide tips for new L4 SDE’s at Amazon?
I wished I've watched this video earlier!! I just had 1:1 with my manager asking for expanding scope and promotion opportunities...
I just got laid off at Google, as a Junior Software Engineer!! Took me by surprised when I got the email and call from my Project and Program Managers. I had a feeling back in September and October we were going to be let go!! Sucks Big Time!!
We were given pink slips back in September and October that lay offs were goin down during the Fall 2022 and Winter 2023.
Go to med school…
What org were you part of? Last time Sundar spoke publicly he said only "experimental" orgs where in danger
@@ckrgksdkrak for what?
@@ladyblack679 job security
The Gold Medal I won being named as the Most Valuable Peer, didn't shield me from a Global Reduction of the Workforce.
One thing I forgot to mention was I was promoted during the great recession by hedgehogging because more scope came my way, not because I was seeking it.
Continue the conversation on my Discord: discord.gg/HFVMbQgRJJ
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amazing video! Could you perhaps do a video on importance of monetizing your projects and how to do it? I've been coding various projects for over 4 years now, but none of them even attempted to make a profit, while everyone says that making pet projects with some sort of business motive is a crucial skill. Thanks!
You should have gone to med school… less stress… more money… more predictable… you can always code on the side…
@@ckrgksdkrak “more money, less stress” lmao bye.
This channel is gold. Found from Rahul Pundey
What a pun. "The algorithm is guaranteed to terminate". Well done
Valeu pelas dicas, akita da gringa haha
I got laid off this year. I did ALOT for that company. I managed the entire lab for 2 years alone, remodeled the lab, created a project management system.created an entire process for those guys and starting the automation processes they continue to use to this day. As a result the data could get delivered VERY quick. Essentially I created the entire lab from scratch, even making the test request forms myself.
They kept the guys I trained up well and enabled hiring( we needed a PHd engineer and I gave all the feedback needed, as aresult they hired the guy) for instead of me. Unfortunately one of the hires "brown nosed" his way to becoming my manager and I didn't realize that politics at work existed, and as a result of that I got into the chopping block I think. Wanted to hear if it is possible if "good performers" get laid off or maybe I am just imagining things haha. Additionally I helped my new hire a lot with endless favors, and helped the guy I trained with a lot of things and he ended up being the favorite (they often tried to teach him more things and I also noticed him doing personal favors for colleagues ). I even offered emotional support for my colleague who was borderline about to have an anxiety attack due to feeling worried about me teling him to "redo" his work.
Idk but I do firmly believe politics can be a part of the layoff process.
Politics definitely play a huge role and you have to learn how to play it unfortunately. There are many companies where your managers will not be aware of how much time you spend helping others. This is a common type of hidden work because usually it will be in the form of a personal message/phone call and is obscured from your managers. Its thus important in companies to have some kind of kudos process where people can give shout-outs to people who invest time in helping others (like you did). In many remote teams, this usually comes in form of a kudos Slack/Teams channel. In the office, it would be during a retrospective meeting. If someone you help a lot never gives you kudos/credit and instead takes the praise for something you helped them with, stop helping that person immediately (at least privately). If they require your help, it should always be in a public/in view of your managers whether that is a public channel, a CC'd email chain or an issue ticket.
Damn I didn;t know that actually. I will definately keep this in mind next job. I could go on and on about my previous job, but however I am prolly better off keeping this is in mind. I Never knew politics at work existed until my experience there.
The key is to be in continual communication with management about your accomplishments (assuming on good terms) plus indirectly delivering a message that the company is screwed without you.
Yea I was not too good about talking to the bosses. I didn't trust the guy who brown nosed hs way up as he was constatly "sucking up" to the boss over and over again
I learned about corporate politics, and as a result I have started to develop more independent contractor work. Similar work for much higher pay, plus actual ownership in my own company. These are my clients and not the companies, they can’t phase me out.
I liked the shoe analogies
Hey Steve, another great video, always looking forward to when you upload!
What are you thoughts about taking parental leave during this recession? I know it's not the best time, but family & babies can't pause or wait. What can I do to best prepare myself before the leave? How do I ensure I'm on the keep list after the leave? How much advance notice should I give?
Thanks in advance!
The "layoff algorithm" you described is too logical and complicated. Bigger layoffs follow just simple rule: Save as much money as possible.
Your performance will usually mean nothing.
Got the feeling I am going to be laid off in January, the thing is, I was a good performer during 2022, probably the best in my team, but managers tend to prefer other people for certain tasks. So I won't be mad if they can me next month, honestly the job is ok, but mentally I am kind of done with that place. Favoritism is a thing, and I am a guy driven by numbers not by personal preference, so yeah, If I get canned I wouldn't care that much.
Terrible luck for people such as myself, having finished highschool during a pandemic and entering the workforce during economic downturn
One thing that pisses me off even more is when you are looking for another job, the interviewers will immediately think you are underperforming once they know you were laid off from your previous job... I mean, go look up what "layoff" means, they are not the same as getting "fired" smh
That's why you never tell them
Sounds like Steve wants people to put in OT (being on-call, and answering their work emails and calls outside of work).
Hey people, be ready to be burnt out from your job just to get laid off, and yes, that happens all the time.
It is more prudent to devote your time on personal skills rather than company-focused goals, because at the end of the day, you can and will get laid off/terminated at-will by any company.
2022 is a dramatic year. Great resignation and layoffs happened in the same year. Same with extreme highs and lows in the stock market. It's a life lesson for how ephemeral things can be in volatile industries like stocks. But learnt that high tech is also a volatile industry now - massive hiring and firing can happen in a short period!
During these uncertain times I actually got a promotion that I fought for... so that point he made makes me nervous... lol
it is ok. Just need to focus on finding ways to deliver different kinds of impact. What he said is not true if you are the spike on the hedgehog: you can use the downturn as an opportunity to help your org.
Really appreciate the videos. Was wondering if you could address the concerns that chatGPT would take over SWE jobs?
As a person who had a very hard time finding my first job after college and experienced company went out of business X2 let go X1, worked at an underpaid job for few years, in my 20s, all I want to say is -- so what? We should prepare for the future to a certain extend but there is no need to worry too much and not need to fear. Don't take lay off too serious. The more hardship/difficulties a person experienced, the stronger you get, one door closed means another door opens.
work is tough
Or start looking
crap Im probably gonna get let go im only like 4 months into the company and its been hard to get things to flow my way. feel like other people keep blocking me hard and I cant get any push to get my work across the finish line early. Feel like this looks bad for me. Sometimes feels like I'm intentionally getting screwed over.
Good video in describing a layoff in scientific, mathical and advantage business terms. However I did not see any strategies provided for avoiding being layoff.
why would he give you strategies for not being layoff? First of all, you never accept a position with the mindset that you will never get laid-off... your mindset should always focus on protecting yourself financially against possible future laid-offs. Save money for 6 months or more for those possibilities, and continue to upgrade skills and apply for positions while you actively employed..... you have to protect yourself...these companies do not give a shit about you..... layoffs is part of doing business...
Just got laid off on 12/7.. midsize SaaS company. I think they did me a favor by putting me in the first round…. And I had just been promoted five months earlier.
there are safe industries, these are great places if you are worried about layoffs and always have some savings, if its not a layoff, could be a pandemic/war/mother nature thing; always be prepared for the unexpected.
Keep God first place and remember you only fail if you give up.
Clear up in the quality of the video. This should have a lot more viral potential.
Tech salaries were rising all year. They are all doing layoffs to try and gain that control back.
Can you do a video on how to not get bogged down by minutia and make effective decisions on large scale systems. As someone who is in the equivalent of an SDE 2, I'm surprised when Senior/TL's handwave something away as an "implementation detail" but still make effective decisions when they don't know the implementation.
It's not about hand-waving -- it is about knowing your audience. Depending on who you're talking to, you need to tune your conversation to the correct resolution. Communicating effectively with different types of stakeholders is one of the key skills of a senior engineer (not just coding chops). That doesn't mean there aren't senior engineers who talk from their rear ends and envision things that may be technically infeasible; but mostly we rely on our experience to understand what is and isn't possible within the given resource constraints.
By far the best pragmatic, realistic approach towards this entire mess.
I deem this LOGICAL
I'm a veteran of my industry, though I'm not in tech. I would offer similar advice; a career is not a sprint, learn to run the Marathon..
Thanks, Steve.
I wonder, which technical books influenced you the most to grow and excel in senior roles?
(Bonus, which self-improvement/business management books influenced you too?)
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg is good
Its by a scientist who studies human habits
The Circadian Code by Dr. Satchi Panda
It shows how time restricted eating (aligning food intake with our circadian rhythm) can have big impacts on our health, energy, mental clarity, sleep quality, etc...
@@skybirdnomad Thank you for sharing.
great video!
Already got canned, and found a job.
It's tough out there. Stay strong, brothers.