Someone lost their job at Amazon when they were expecting their first child and looking forward to being a parent. Now their whole world is upside down.
Someone got laid off in October, fought hard to find an internal role, and still got impacted in the next round.
Someone who spent 10 years in the company, worked across three teams, and managed people with care, also lost their job today.
It happens quickly. You get an email, the next thing you know you are locked out of the system, badge stopped working, chats gone. It feels like you were never part of the place to begin with.
Layoffs are the worst part of this industry, and you can do almost nothing to prevent them once a list is made.
A few things I want to say to anyone who got impacted today:
1. A spreadsheet decision is not a measure of your intelligence, your kindness, or the value you created for users and teammates. Please be kind to yourself.
2. Take time to process. Cry, vent, sleep. You are a human who just had their safety rug pulled, not a robot who must instantly “bounce back.”
3. The projects you shipped, the skills you built, the people you helped, all of that is real. A layoff cuts pay, not your track record. Do not feel like you’re not strong enough to find your way again, you are.
4. Tell friends, ex colleagues, mentors what happened. Ask for referrals, mock interviews, resume reviews, even just calls where you talk about anything except work.
If you were not impacted, check on the ones who were.
Nobody chooses to be on the receiving end of that email. The least we can do is remind them that the email is not the end of their story.