Being laid off blindsided me. As it seems, I was a little bit arrogant and far too comfortable. I guess this sm--k in the face is what I needed to reframe my perspective and to make sure I invested my time and energy in a way to still do a good job but not make work my entire personality. I plan to take that lesson with me to my next job.
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I’ll miss my coworkers
I saw some posts that FLMs did not know until Monday night. Is that true? What's done is done but could they have at least made a case not to cut a top performer like me? Or was I too expensive and that was the reason?
@cf if you want loyalty, get a dog. Inside IBM, under Gin 'n Tonic (Ginny Rometty), Alvind, Krabanaugh and Rob the Slob, there is no loyalty to anyone but yourself. IBM doesn't care for you or your career anymore. If you're a new US IBM employee, you will find that out at your next evaluation or at the layoff call scheduled by management. And IBM Management hangs together in a clique, and drinks together too.
@ce : I am mostly upset at the direct manager who is intellectually mediocre and technically incompetent, who I was supposed to "trust". He ended up being a racist, patronizing useless POS. So the blame should be equally distributed.
Unless they realize one day that you are the person who made it all work...and tell you that, and understand that you should be kept
Agree.....loyalty is a long forgotten idea within companies and families
The days of mutual respect and loyalty between management and staff at IBM are long past. IBM’s one-time core principle of trust and personal responsibility in all relationships no longer applies to its executive ranks (nor do the IBM Business Conduct Guidelines.) Don’t overly invest in your career because it’s guaranteed that your employer at most makes extremely short-term investments in you.
Know that your 1st or 2nd line manager may have been coerced to sign a justification for laying you off written by higher ups and certify it as their own assessment. The documented decision making process and paper trail scrupulously follow the law. The actual decision process is a different matter. IBM’s no longer squeaky clean in this century; it just presents the outward appearance of being so.
In IBM even band 10 and band D employees are disposable interchangeable parts now. The situation has become similar at other major tech employers. Show your next employer no more loyalty than they show you. Beware of loyalty to your local team. Big businesses get a free piggyback ride from that loyalty to your local team. They count on it!
Even if you’re the best in your country or geo, they can always find 2 or 3 lesser talents in a far cheaper developing country to replace you. They won’t think twice before doing so … even to someone who walks on water.
The word to remember is “Disposable”
Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.