Thread regarding Oracle Corp. layoffs

I was RIF’d in Sep 25. The severance pay was a blessing and I was able to take time off, get some projects done around the house and enjoy some naps. I knew I had to get another job and like others, found the search to be brutal. I did land a great position in an entirely new field and I love it.
I’m rested, I have more energy and the unrelenting pressure I felt working for Oracle is thankfully a thing of the past.
I was proud to work for Oracle and am grateful for the many years I had there, but it is refreshing to now feel valued. That was a feeling I hadn’t experienced at Oracle in many years.

@fj I forgot to answer the question: Being laid off has been far more stressful than any time being employed by Oracle. If I didn't have money saved, 7 months of pay, and RSUs it would have been even worse. I have considerable monthly bills, which makes it worse. This is because I own land that I am selling and have loans, etc. If my monthly overhead was only $2000-4000 it would be less stressful, but it is still stressful. I'm a good deal away from retirement, so I can't wait to be back in the swing of things. THAT is when I will feel relief.

I was laid off Aug 2025, with a garden period to Sep 22. They paid me until that Sept date and allowed that year's RSUs to vest, which was worth about $70k. My severance was half a year's salary. While taxes were taken out, it wasn't too bad.

I opted to not get COBRA because the family is generally healthy and I will get another job with insurance. In fact, I just passed a 7 round interview process at Oracle to get back in. Because of layoffs, my req is suspended for a couple of weeks, but should survive because it is production support for revenue generating work. When you leave Oracle and go back in, it results in a "correction" of your compensation because the raises come slowly after you're on the inside. Even with promotions, which don't include raises.

My experience with United Healthcare EPO with Oracle has been great and if I am successful in getting back in I will have the same insurance again.

I wouldn't normally respond or write anything online about this, but there were a lot of negative comments so I thought I'd share a positive comment. While the work isn't always rewarding and the raises are almost non-existent, Oracle has been good to me and I was always grateful to have a job that paid well. I was grateful to have great health insurance to care for my family. I live in a beautiful home that Oracle's salary purchased and my kids go to college that is paid for by scholarships and Oracle salary and stocks. While I was disappointed to be laid off, I have beaten all layoffs between Oracle and the company I was with before that Oracle bought for 31 years. It is actually amazing that I was able to make it that far without getting hit before.

For people saying that their Oracle skills aren't marketable elsewhere, I have to wonder what space those people are working in because my skills are completely marketable everywhere. If you're an Oracle Database person, you're marketable everywhere. What about all those Oracle customers? They use your Oracle skills every day. The Oracle cloud (OCI) is transferrable to other clouds. Sure, there is some ramp up, but it is faster if you already know a cloud platform. Java programming is ubiquitous, as are other languages you can use at Oracle, like Node.js, Python, JavaScript, C/C++, and More.

What I've found is that the interview process is wildly different than I expected. Companies are all going coding interviews and some of them are mired in contrived leet code problems to see if "you know how to code Java" or whatever language you know. It's all become data structures and algorithms, even though that isn't really the bulk of how real work is done in reality for the most part. So, I spent a lot of time studying all sorts of things to prep for any interviews I get. Oracle does leet code interviews as well, just on Hackerank. I have about 80 leet code problems under my belt now and a slew of system design problems as well. I've modernized my Java skills up to version 25, and while it was a lot of work, it has been rewarding and educational.

I played to my strengths when looking for jobs and I have been getting a good number of interviews. It should be more, yes, but I am getting traction. I even have friends and family who refer me for work in Google, Apple, and Amazon and haven't gotten past the baseline screening yet at any of those places. This seems odd to me because I was totally perfect for most of those jobs. Maybe that doesn't fully convey in a resume and cover letter. For one role, I built a PoC that effectively shows that I can do the project work that they are trying to do. I'm expecting an offer from that company any moment now. I nailed their tech interview and all the other interviews.

That being said, I still prefer returning to Oracle. I think it's a great company and that they are making a ton of money and in the role I am coming back into I will be working heavily in AI, which I find to be very interesting. My view is... it's a job. Most people don't like working and it is easy to get down on your employer if you feel any number of certain ways. But I choose to be grateful for the opportunities to provide for my family. Yes, it is hard work, but that is why they call it work. It isn't play time. Yes, it is stressful, because deadlines are real, the work is real, the bottom line is real. It comes with the territory. I strive to find work/life balance and sometimes it is easier than other times. I guess I just don't have a problem with any of that.

Hope this helps some people, and good luck out there.

knowing fully well my O skills are useless in the current job market...buy hey who cares...I got the package.

So....... it's all good then?

Rifed last September and felt instant relief and tons of gratitude for getting me out of this painful hazardous work/work culture and manager knowing fully well my O skills are useless in the current job market...buy hey who cares...I got the package.

I was RIF'd last year after 28 years. It was scary at first, because I knew that at my age that I would be unemployable, that's just the reality of things these days. the good news is that I had been planning and restructuring my finances for the past 2 years and was in good shape to retire. My state has really good unemployment benefits ($4800USD per month) so I didn't have to file for social security right away. I continued medical benefits under my husband's job and those were better than Oracle's TBH. So financially, I'm OK. The MENTAL part of an early retirement is challenging. The lack of structure is tough. I have several hobbies and I've picked up a few more. I'm volunteering with 2-3 organizations in the community, and that helps too. it's a huge shift in identify to go from feeling like a valued (!) member of a team to... something else. Good luck to my fellow co-workers. There is life outside of the big O.

@at keep at it my friend

@OP yes. It was instantaneous. I was seeing a therapist at the time so that may have helped too.

@a3 I was let go around the same time after more than 25 years. The shock took at least a month to wear off. Then the other shock that is the job market and the scams and the ghost jobs that are posted started to hit. Six months later, not even an interview - not sure the jobs I applied for were even going to be filled.

I'm burning out. I wasn't able to save enough for retirement for more than 8 or 9 years, if the stock market stays healthy. I'm not in a good place at the moment, struggling to just stay where I am and keep what I have. The mood swings are something else. But I keep going, keep applying, keep networking. Something will break for me.

Hoping others are having a better time of it.

Is the Pope, Catholic?

Rif’d 9/25, it was tough at first, I was pretty angry about the whole situation. Took 30 days and did nothing except try to stay busy and accomplish small tasks around the house. I would not allow myself to accomplish nothing because that’s a fast track to rotting away. Started to look for work in October. That was soul crushing due to the relentless rejection but I kept at it. Had a few interviews, they all went really badly and stirred more anger I think due to the loss of control over my own destiny. Around mid Jan I was ready to accept that I was not employable and give up trying to find work. Then miraculously I landed my dream job and things have been really good since then. I’ll say that recovering from a sudden and unexpected job loss is just like recovering from any other type of big loss. It’s probably going to take at least 6 months to feel somewhat normal. Try to stay positive and keep moving forward.