I’ve been through a few companies that did layoffs. My first, I was a part of it. I had heard about it and there were even websites posting about when it would happen. I got an invite around 9:30am that there was an 11am mandatory meeting and I packed all my stuff so it would be easy. While waiting in line there was a guy in front of me confused, and I quietly told him there were rumors of layoffs, but he still didn’t seem to understand. It was a crazy experience being in a room with ~200 people getting fired. I hope I never go through it again. One guy stood up and said “go fuck yourselves”. Others were crying. I left with my things I’d luckily bore-packed, and saw another set of people crying on the T (Boston’s version of the subway).

My current company, I’ve been through 4 rounds of layoffs. It’s been weird seeing it on the other side. Round after round where the best people are let go. We keep going, but we really have lost some of our best. It’s clearly decided by consultants with their spans and layers contractions. Ugh