So I just got laid off from Microsoft

This is certainly not like the kind of content I ever intended to post on here. I just made this account for like my Twitch and gaming content, but I figured I’d talk about it cause I, I don’t know what else to do right now.

I literally just got an email last Wednesday saying, uh, my position was to be terminated immediately and I was to stop doing the work that I was doing.

I think the thing that pi---s me off the most about this is I moved across the country for this job, right? I, I moved literally from the east coast of the US to the west coast, a 45 hour drive. I left, uh, like friends and family. My wife had to leave a job that she liked and really enjoyed. And I’ve only worked here for 7 months. It hasn’t been a full year.

That feels like huge business oversight, right? To like say, oh, we need the budget for this person. We have the budget to hire this person. And then seven months later be like, oh, we can’t afford them anymore. It’s too much money.

And I still get like two to three months of Severance pay. So that’s nice at least. And I was told it wasn’t performance based, but like I had special clearance access on my team. So I’m the only person that could do like some of the work I was working on and you know I was told it was like high priority. I like I guess nobody can do that work now. There’s a deadline coming up in like two months but like how like there was no reasoning behind it and even like my boss was fired and I talked to like my boss’s boss. He doesn’t have a reason for why I was like there’s no reasoning. Nobody knows it’s crazy and I’ve only worked here for 7 months.

Why the fu-k did they hire me in the first place?

I mean, I guess I just start looking for other jobs now. Um, and maybe try to continue with the the Twitch stuff, whatever see how that goes but just kind of like venting a bit I guess I I don’t know I’m just kind of pi---d off that this job made me move across the country and they only kept me around for 7 months. Feels a little messed up.

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Oh my goodness! This must be so frustrating for you to move and then be laid off.

I was so lucky that when I moved a decade ago, they told me they will pay my moving costs if I stayed one year. I stayed and they paid. I left 5 years later and have really good memories of my time there.

I’m so sorry it didn’t work out for you.

It was all AI pick for making jobs redundant. Depending on many factors, like time in office, active on laptop, keys pressed per minute etc. Etc. Harder if in middle management managing people.

I'm pretty sure this dude didn't have "Q" clearance or anything like that. I bet he just went through some training to work on gov't jobs

The lessons for others to learn here is do not move halfway across the country without at least a two year golden parachute package.

@qv Does their resume have that many “likes”? I wouldn’t hire based on this alone. Drop the “likes”. You sound like a 1980s valley girl.

“I don't understand how people on LinkedIn keeps mentioning about being promoted or has found a higher title than before”

Serious question, do you know what barley is? The kind people eat? The grain?

After being laid off as a very well paid tech guy, I couldn’t find a job for two years. So I moved to the Midwest and took a job at a grain elevator with barely being the breadwinner. No IT work here. I’m the only guy in the office so my title was Vice President - Grain Operations.
Starting next month, I will get $263 more per month and my title will be VP - Transport Operations.

My salary is 25% of what it was in tech but darn the title is kicking.

“ like I had special clearance access on my team”

Twenty years ago clearances were in great demand but with tens of thousands of extra-military joining the civilian workforce each year, it’s no longer a prize.
Wait until a few hundred thousand federal workers start looking and you’ll see the real problem.
There are hundreds of thousands of contractors with SC who can do your job.

Sorry for being harsh but the world has changed.

It's an open secret that Microsoft is replacing US employees via outsourcing or bringing in visa holders. I lived in the Seattle area for almost two decades and it has been going on since the early 2000s. It sounds like you have a security clearance. If so, leverage that clearance to find your next position as the competition will be less fierce as it is limited to citizens. See https://www.clearancejobs.com/.

The recently layoff that I've seen with my own eyes, the older ones get impacted because they are seen as more expensive and probably they want to hire more from outside. The so called restructuring at Microsoft is a yearly affair with major ones happening every couple of years whenever the blueprint changes. This time it seems quite drastic. It is control alt delete and start from a new blueprint . Little if ever is done about redeployimg or refilling. That is life is IT , make the money stay relevant. If stability is what you own Microsoft ain't the one due to the blueprint change.

I don't understand how people on LinkedIn keeps mentioning about being promoted or has found a higher title than before at Microsoft and this is happening at the the same time. This is just strange or that person has some great connections, because I know talented people who have years working here and still take a while to get promoted.

You like used the word like like 12 times

OP: I was once given advice my an older person who worked at the same company as me.

"You care about this company but remember the company does not care about you. They will fire you if they don't need you."

It wasn't like this when I started. If a position was being eliminated the older management would look around other departments and try to find another position. We were treated like people who had families.

I know a manager who tried to get someone a raise because he saw a child's car seat in the employees car. Who does that now?

Typical Microsoft business practice!

OP, welcome to Microsoft! this kind of cutthroat practice happens all the time at Microsoft, unfortunately

It’s extremely common and wasteful. There is a game at play and your player was eliminated. Not trying to sound cruel it really works this way.

Thread regarding Microsoft Corp. layoffs

So I just got laid off from Microsoft

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