Summer 2022 - Macroeconomic Climate
There is no question that the economic climate is different currently in the Summer of 2022 versus a few quarters ago. A few quarters ago, we were still amidst the Great Resignation. Fast forward to the Summer of 2022, and many businesses are feeling the squeeze. Many venture-backed startups are facing layoffs; this somber tracker can show the impact of the layoffs. Funding rounds became very tough, especially for earlier-stage startups. Runways that were more than acceptable, e.g, six months, needed to be extended to 18 mos +. I like so many others, got laid off from their venture-backed start-up.
The Layoff Day
The Monday in the middle of July in question wasn’t starting out too great. It was my last week at my parent’s house. My new home was completed, and I was working out of my new home during the day ahead of the movers coming during the weekend. I usually leave about 30 mins or so after my father on Mondays. My father first left me a parting gift by backing into my SUV on his way to work. Not the best.
Got a late Sunday evening invite for a mandatory meeting. This could have gone either way. I was assuming it would be to tell us to button down the hatches or chat through what the future of the company looked like. I told my mother that dad backed into me and we had a pretty big meeting in the morning. Mom’s words were ” well bad things happen in 3’s”. One down with the SUV.
The Zoom Meeting
The proverbial axe got dropped really quickly. As soon as the meeting with a majority of the company started [we were less than 25 people so a small spot], there was no sugar coating it. If you were on the Zoom, you were gone, effective end-of-day. Talk about a shocker. The tone was pretty somber and like expected was a major bummer.
The Third Thing
SUV and Job down, what would be the third thing? After the Zoom call, I heard something that sounded like water hitting one of my windows. Which was odd that it was clear outside and my sprinklers run at like 5am so this was at 10:30am. I walk over to where the sound is coming from and one of my windows and bam, it was full of pressure cracks.
Talk about the luck of the day. SUV scuffed up, I lost my job, and now one of my windows is cracking. Still, lots to be thankful for. After the initial shock, time to reflect and get back on that horse.
Dealing With a Startup Layoff
There is certainly no guide to this, and everyone is different. Here is a recap of my feelings, etc. First off, however you feel is correct. Some folks might try to be overly positive or overly negative. For working professionals, inevitably, a part of your identity is work. This can be a small to large part depending on how you identify. Your range of emotions is correct to your feelings. I went through a few of the stages of grief. To be successful, wanted to balance what I call the 3 R’s; reflection, recovery, and role.
Reflection
You are going to be a ball of emotions and also have a wide range of emotions. Just processing what has happened. You have been putting in your all and then some at a startup just to be told it’s the end of the road for you. This reflection part is crucial to start to take inventory of what you are grateful for and what you have to decide how dire or not dire the situation is.
I was able to take inventory or my assets ranging from financial to intellectual. Even that day I got laid off, I was published in a pair of publications.
https://www.intelligentcio.com/north-america/2022/07/11/developer-experience-key-to-digital-transformation-success/
https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/devops/guest-article/reimagining-internal-platform-engineering-to-delight-developers/
I went a little earlier to Starbucks to grab a strong Iced Latte and ask Kofi for his thoughts.
After some reflection, now it is time for recovery.
Recovery
There is no timeline for recovery. You will naturally feel bad and can look at how to start getting back on that proverbial horse. Recovery for me was to start taking steps to feel better and eventually reach that next role.
For the first time in most of my working career e.g Summer of 2004 as an intern, I was not without a job. Even as an intern for years at IBM, I worked remotely from university and even had two jobs as a student software engineer at the university’s research arm and IBM as an intern at the same time. The longest stretch of PTO I ever had was in July 2012 when I went to South East Asia for 4 weeks between projects at Deloitte. Usually, the real relaxing feeling is that unemployment feeling e.g a week or two between jobs but this time, the feeling was different.
The first step was to let my network know that I was laid off. I used social media platforms to let my network know that I also was part of the tech layoffs. LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools IMO if you are looking for a new gig.
There was some uncertainty around our health care. In the United States, health care is still employer centric. There is COBRA, but we were so small, that there were questions about if we were even eligible for COBRA. After some digging, luckily our PEO allowed us to elect for COBRA which I did since I did not know how long the job search would take.
Wanting to keep my technical skills sharp, my personal machine is WIndows but over the last decade, every machine I used at work was a Mac or Linux so terminal and Linux-flavors were my friends. Learned quickly how to install and manage my technical stack I usually use on my Windows 11 box, which was and still is my gaming rig. This is all on the road to a role.
The Road to a new Role
Once laid off, all the gloves were off for me trying to find a new role. I can not iterate enough how grateful I am for my network. The folks who reached out and referred me to open or created roles in their organization or team mean the world to me. I would love the opportunity to continue to pay this forward.
The old adage that interviewing can be like a full-time job is true. Depending on how aggressively you are with your interviews, you can have a few a day which you certainly need to prep for. My recommendation is to stay on top of your calendar. Using a tool like Calendly can help you schedule discussions with folks. I used Calendly and Zoom to schedule discussions with several folks.
When looking for a new role, this is your time as cliche as it sounds, to find and go after what you enjoy. Clearly, bills can pile up and family responsibilities are there. Just dedicate even an hour a day to trying to discover what you love.
Try to avoid the noise also. Spending hours a day on LinkedIN sometimes is not good for your own morale. Seeing folks post about how they are getting double-digit numbers of job offers makes you question yourself, especially when you are just starting out the interview process.
Keep your head up, eventually, those conversations, applications, and referrals will turn into interviews. This is your time to find or continue your passion.
I feel that I am extremely fortunate that the opportunities that I was under consideration for were different. I ended up getting a trio of offers ranging from being a Product Manager, Solutions Architect, to a Developer Evangelist. Each one represents a different path. I have been a SA for a while and also in the DevRel space for a while.
My First PM Role!
After some careful consideration, I decided to accept a Product Manager Role. The other two offers that I received were also from people that I knew and truly appreciate all of their time and championing of me. I was transparent through the process to each of the firms that I was going to decide which direction to take my career. The PM role is the most out of my comfort zone and the most different than any of my past experiences before. In the remainder of the weeks that I have off, currently gearing up and reading some great PM books and blogs.
Side note: I got my window replaced and working with the insurance company to fix my SUV so on the up and up :-)
Very grateful,
-Ravi
