I’ve been watching the news about layoffs at Oracle and it brought back a lot of memories.
Years ago, working at Oracle was my dream job. It was one of the most prestigious names in tech and I was excited to be part of it.
But the reality, at least in my experience, was very different.
For the eight years I worked there, it was the most unstable job I ever had. Every quarter felt like a countdown to the next round of layoffs. Thousands of people would be cut and everyone wondered if their number was next. The culture at the management level was extremely aggressive and political. There was constant pressure, constant internal competition, and very little sense of long-term stability.
To be fair, the colleagues I worked with were fantastic. I made a lot of lifelong friends there and many of them were incredibly talented people.
But the environment eventually forced me to make a decision.
Instead of waiting for the next round of layoffs, I spent nearly two years quietly preparing my exit. I upgraded my skills, repositioned my career, and eventually moved on.
That decision changed everything.
I’ve now been at my current company for seven years. Last year I made nearly three times what I was making before. I enjoy the work, feel valued, and have compensation and stock options that actually reward performance.
Like any business, layoffs can happen anywhere. But the difference is that today I have modern, in-demand skills and a role where I’m excited to show up every day.
Looking back over a 40-year career, I’ve lived through a lot of economic cycles:
• The 1987 stock market crash
• The Dot-com crash of 2000
• The 2008 global financial crisis, and in 2012 Housing Bubble
• The COVID market crash of 2020
Through all of that, I’ve never been laid off once.
That wasn’t luck. It was about continually adapting, learning new skills, and being willing to take control of your own future rather than waiting for a company to decide it for you.
Sometimes the best career move you can make is the hardest one: deciding it’s time to leave.