A quick life update. On April 25th, 2024 I was laid off from my Senior Director role as the company I was working for fought to remain solvent. It didn’t. The company eventually declared bankruptcy and folded in August. I lost my cliche “Dream Job'”.
Honestly I wasn’t surprised or upset by the news. Not only because the writing was on the wall but because I was much more prepared this time around versus the first time I lost my job involuntarily early on in my career at my first job as an end-to-end product verification engineer back in 2009. Here are some lessons I was thankful to have learnt that helped me get through the second layoff without being devastated.
Lesson 1
The first time I was laid off was at my first professional role, where one of my former coworkers left me with this valuable piece of wisdom; that it maybe the first, but won’t be the last time this happens.
As an 80’s kid growing up in a sleepy government town it was fairly commonplace to see people stay at a single employer through their entire careers to earn a defined benefit pension when they reach the traditional retirement age of 65. This was my impression of ‘work’. That said, this advice bestowed on me completely changed my views of job security and financial dependance on a job. Although, at this point in my life I wasn’t quite versed with financial literacy and knowledge I understood that emergency funds and saving were important for future occurrences of work disruptions.
Lesson 2
Having realized work and jobs are temporary endeavours, I learned to; not have too much ‘stuff’ in my work cube because they’ll have to be moved when I move on either voluntarily or involuntarily. This taught me the underpinnings of minimalism. From that day on I never brought any personal effects into work, never had pictures or plants or certificates or other memorabilia at my desk. This made for a much easier cleanup when it was time to move on. This also applied to a lesser extent to my personal life – the more ‘stuff’ you own the more it owns you.
Lesson 3
This third lessons came from a former colleague at my first job as well. Be loyal to the work you do, not to the company you do it for. This advice stuck with me through my career and is something I’ve distilled down to my direct reports throughout my career as well. At work we build for the company we’re working for, but more importantly we’re building our own resumes and our own careers through the learning and application of skillsets that the job opportunities allow us. Companies will indiscriminately layoff employees, there’s no need to be loyal to any one employer.
Lesson 4
Be the best in your field. Strive to be in the top 10% in what you do and there will always be opportunity and demand for your skillsets. Learning this early on in my career paved the way for rapid career progression after experiencing my first layoff. Executed through continual growth and learning, staying on top of emergent technologies, learning people management skills and empathetic decision making skills to name a few. All to help apply and grow my skillsets to help corporations solve complex people and technological problems. In the decade leading up to my second layoff I was promoted, on average every 2.5 years. Working my way up from a junior engineer all the way to leading a team of over 100 full time employees as a Senior Director.
Impacts to FIRE?
If you’ve read my very first post “Hello World” authored back in 2022, my original FIRE projection was when I turned 44. I’m currently 42. Although behind on my age target for FI, the strong markets of 2023 and 2024 allowed me to reach my overall FIRE number. I achieved this through not only applying the lessons laid out in the post but also through prudent, systematic, consistent, and focused investing over the past 15 years that allowed me to come out of this in a position of strength. Both emotionally and financially.
I realize that I’m in a very fortunate position and I have the utmost respect and empathy for those that are affected by layoffs. It’s tough, but not the end, just a bump in the road if you’re still on the FIRE journey and not quite ready to sail off into the sunset. You’re not alone, leave a comment and our community will help you through as best we can.
Before you go…
A word from our sponsor, errr.. We still don’t have any sponsors but here’s an affiliate link to a book I found helpful. You probably will too!
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman: https://amzn.to/3ENBpvj
