How being laid-off changed my career for good

On June 26, 2022, I was laid off from my dream job. I woke up to a message from my friend saying “are you okay?” and I had to ask “… Yeah, why wouldn't I be?”

I made myself some coffee before going to my home office to get some work done. Before my coffee was made, I noticed the title of my company Slack workspace had changed to “Farewell”. Panic ensued.

I opened my inbox to see two messages. The first was from the CEO apologizing as he laid off 10% of the workforce. The next was an email saying that I was one of the 10%.

The email explained that I would have a couple of hours of access to the Farewell Slack workspace to say goodbye. I was no longer part of all of the groups for the project that I was working on, and in my mental state, it was so hard to remember all of the people that I wanted to say goodbye to. I called my parents and my soon-to-be-partner in tears.

In the approximate 15 minutes between me getting a text and making my coffee, then making some phone calls, most of the access to programs on my laptop for work was gone. As I contacted people to let them know that I was one of the 10%, I received some sweet messages. They both made me feel great — that it wasn’t anything to do with my work — , and also horrible — if I’m so great, then why me?!

I anxiously awaited my 15-minute phone call with my boss, which was scripted.