Scenes from Layoff Day, U.S.A.

Layoff season is upon us again.

Unless you've been through it once before, it may be difficult to imagine just how heartless and soulless big corporate American style layoffs are.

Here's what the scenes will look like when it comes to your W2.

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Welcome, Avatar!

First off, a special thank you to the readers who pay to make this newsletter possible.

Your kind words, success stories, and support go a long way.

– Fullstack

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Before we get into the post today, I wanted to share a win from a reader. He wrote in for help a few months ago, and this week, he wrote back with his success story.

Hey Fullstack, hope you've been well! I wanted to let you that I got an Senior Engineer offer from my old company! We spoke in December via DM, when I had just been pipped / fired from my bigtech startup job. At the time, my confidence was at all alltime low, but I read your article “Fired Every Year? You might be the problem.” almost every week to reframe my situation and to focus on the learnings I had. This gave me a lot of confidence in the interview process. I also just straight up told them what you mentioned rather than be candid about getting fired, and I think that left a strong impression on them. The comp isn't amazing, so I'm planning on taking the job and either 1) using it as a base to focus on wifi money 2) using it as a stepping stone to look for a much higher quality W2 once the market turns. Thanks a ton for your help! Looking forward to what you're going to put out on the substack this year.

I’m stoked to see others succeed and glad that he has landed himself a new job and mindset to take him even higher.

If you want to do a 40 minute call to talk, the Founding member plan is still available, though prices will be going up next week. I’ve joined a new team as a part-time CTO role and have been swamped as I ramp up and sprint towards an MVP. I have time for a few more calls at the current plan but will then have to raise the bar a bit.

Otherwise, my DMs are open on Twitter. Reach out if you have questions.

Now, on with the show.

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The CEO sends out an all-team message on Slack that in 10 minutes, you'll receive an automated email on your status, whether your role has been "affected".

You wait.

10 minutes later, you open your inbox and breathe a sigh of relief. You're spared this round.

You check Slack and some are messaging that they also will keep their jobs.

Some colleagues are suspiciously silent.

You check their calendars. Turns out all of the fired have a meeting with HR booked in an hour.

You start bouncing through the calendars of all the colleagues you work with.

Oh jeez, how did this guy get cut, he was good.

Glad, they're gone. No more politics or SEVs from bugs that guy wrote taking a fat salary.

Too bad, but they were asking for it.

The numbers keep stacking up, you know a couple, then 5, 10, 20 who are gone.

The CEO does his livestream, 10 minutes of him feeling guilty for layoffs – that were preventable, but he'll never admit that.

Big brother fades to black.

One of your work friends messages with details on the severance package. In his meeting with HR, some HR lady stammered out, "16 weeks plus 1 week per length of cervix – no, uh… I mispoke – length of service".

Whether laid off or not, most are in a state of shock.

The daily standup meeting starts and it's complete silence for 10 minutes. Everyone's on mute shuffling in front of their screen.