You Did Nothing Wrong. You’re Laid Off!
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
“Nobody, nobody on this call has done anything but brilliance.”
I’ve already been told you I’ve been laid off and how it happened. I’ve told you how they made me feel that I’m a simple resource to be replaced.
This article is about the following meeting when we were laid off. This article (blog post if you must) is about the following meeting where the CTO spoke to us all. One of the first things they said? It’s that quote: “Nobody, nobody on this call has done anything but brilliance” and this didn’t make me feel good, probably because I’d just been laid off for being in the wrong country.
I Get It
At least I wasn’t fired for incompetence.
My job wasn’t eliminated because I did anything wrong. No, in fact, I was brilliant. We were all brilliant. And yet, here we were, sitting in a Zoom meeting, being told our jobs were going to India.
“I’m really honest with you, I’ve not prepared what I’m going to say to the nth degree, because I did want to come across as scripted.”
It’s always nice to think a meeting hasn’t been planned well. There wasn’t an agenda, and it wasn’t clear what the meeting was for. The CTO freestyling it, so he doesn’t sound too corporate. The irony is they sounded exactly like a corporate tool anyway.
I already just wanted to get out of it and start looking for a new job.
A Meeting of No Answers
We weren’t given details of this second meeting, just a slot on the calendar from a leadership team that rarely spoke to us unless something was going horribly wrong.
“This is not a problem caused by anybody, anybody on this call”
So just to summarize
Nobody’s to blame.
Nobody could have done anything differently.
But we’re still fired.
Got it.
“Transformation Justification ” and Other Nonsense
During the call, they assured us, over and over, that this was not about cost-cutting. This was about transformation.
“Over the medium term, it’s probably still a tough process, but it is about that transformational piece.”
Excuse me? Transformational piece? This isn’t a corporate strategy session. This is possibly the end of my career.
Then came the kicker:
“We need to get to the point where we can transform the ourselves, both business-wise and IT-wise.”
By firing the people who build and maintain the IT systems? Bold move. Can’t wait to see how that one plays out.
Then they threw in this classic:
“It is what it is.”
Ah yes. The universal phrase for “we don’t care, stop asking questions”. Not that they asked if we had any questions at this point.
We’re Training Our Replacements
We were informed that this wasn’t a simple layoff. No, no. Before we left, we’d need to train the people taking our jobs.
So, for three months, I’d still have a job as I trained my replacement. I already had no intention whatsoever of doing so.
Some people would be “retained” but it seemed I wasn’t one of the chosen few. It seems to me those who would be “retained” would be a babysitter tasked with cleaning up the mess when the new team inevitably failed to deliver.
They spoke about their growth plan of 20% year on year.
“We’re going to have to have one hell of a burst”
I’m mystified reading the transcription of the meeting now. What were they thinking, telling a group of people being laid off how great it is going to be without them?
It got worse
You’re the CTO laying people off. So, you say:
“It’s a lot of weight on my shoulders”
I mean, come on. You’re keeping your job. I’m not.
I wasn’t impressed with:
“I’ve been involved with this for quite quite some time”
Yeah, I bet. When I die you won’t be planning my funeral, but if you did, I wouldn’t want you to tell me how long you’d been working on the project.
“You know we need to protect delivery effectively”
Really? Why are you telling me this?
Reality Check
For all my sarcasm, the truth is, that getting laid off isn’t just about frustration — it’s about uncertainty. As much as I’d love to just roll my eyes and walk away, the reality is that a job loss, especially one that feels so arbitrary, forces you to rethink everything. How secure is any job, really? What does loyalty to a company actually mean?
At that moment, sitting in that Zoom call, I wasn’t just annoyed, I was wondering what came next. Was I going to have to take a pay cut? Move? Start from scratch in an industry that increasingly sees developers as interchangeable resources? I had no answers, just a mix of anger, anxiety, and, strangely, a bit of relief. At least now I knew where I stood.
Then…
They wound up the call saying we would get an email by the end of the day explaining the “next steps”. I was shocked about the contents of the email I did receive, but that’s one for the next post.
“Thank you very much everybody”
And then I went to make a coffee.
Now imagine getting fired and never knowing what you were being thanked for. I think that’s one of the only thank yous that I received during this process, I still don’t know what it was for.
For my service?
For my patience?
For not screaming into the mic?
Guess I’ll never know.
Conclusion
I was brilliant. You were brilliant. The CTO was brilliant.
Brilliance doesn’t matter when it’s cheaper to be average somewhere else. But I refuse to settle for average.
So now, I start the job hunt. And you can bet I’ll have some stories to tell about the interview process.