Two years after being laid off, a tech engineer shares the unexpected things that being fired taught them
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- An anonymous former Uber employee shared the silver lining of being laid off following massive layoffs in the tech industry.
- The poster felt 'devastated and worthless' but then realized they were more than their career.
- They went on to share advice on how to best handle being laid off.
Uncertainty around job security is on the rise as companies like Meta and Twitter lay off thousands, but someone who's been there before says being fired has its benefits, too.
On Wednesday, an anonymous, self-described former Uber employee posted on the Blind app about their experience two years after they claim they were laid off from a tech position held for five years at the company.
The Blind app is an online community for professionals to anonymously share experiences in the workplace. Users must sign up with their company email to become a member, but this information is inaccessible to Insider to verify. The poster did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Uber laid off over 6,000 employees in May 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but it's unclear if the anonymous employee was among those terminated at the time.
"Back then I identified with who I was at work, a successful engineer who was doing great things that was going to make a difference," the post read.
It continued: "I didn't understand how this could have gone wrong, all the memories and the plans were just wiped by a phone call."
The poster described feeling "devastated and worthless" after being let go just one month into parental leave from the company. According to the entry, the firing was unexpected based on "great ratings" in past year.
Despite the initial despair and shame, they said unemployment came with important realizations about how their job compares to their personal life.
Insider has summarized their key advice :
- Optimize for your life whether money is your main focus or work-life balance.
- Plan ahead in case things go bad.
- Don't sacrifice the things you care about for a project or deadline.
- The billionaire owner of your company doesn't care or relate to the life you live.
The anonymous post has garnered nearly 200 comments in the two days it's been up including those from people who also claim they experienced similar layoffs at their own companies.
"I have been laid off a few months ago but still haven't found a job," one commenter wrote. "I have been devastated for so many months. Like you, I haven't yet told anyone about it as I am ashamed and worried about family's reaction."
Meta announced it was laying off over 11,000 employees on Wednesday not long after Twitter fired thousands under its new owner Elon Musk.
Many employees of the two tech giants shared heartfelt messages on various platforms online to announce their termination despite the abrupt changes in staff.
"You are not alone. We are all in this together, today it's you, tomorrow it will be me," the former Uber engineer wrote in their Blind post.
"If you are laid off trying to keep things in perspective, go hug the people you love and enjoy life like you never did."
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