8 ms·

Layoff-sucks: Helping laid-off people find their next job

92 points by tracyhenry 4y ago

jedberg 4y ago
This is an awesome tool and a great service you are providing! One note of feedback: When I first loaded the page, all I saw were listings from Starry Internet, and when I reloaded it was just Lyft. This makes it look like you only have people from one company. My suggestion would be to randomize the listing on each page load (or even bias the list towards diversity of company and role). Then people can see the depth of the people signed up and start exploring filters.
- xwowsersx 4y ago
  And just "groupon" for me
- tracyhenry 4y ago
  Thx for the feedback! The list is already randomized on every load (from a given starting point). We'll make it more randomized. For now, you can filter the companies, and use the pagination to see more companies.
jade_liu 4y ago
shishy 4y ago
Your linkedin page links aren't working -- they go to layoff-sucks.com/<linked-in-url> instead of just the linkedin url
- tracyhenry 4y ago
  It works on my end - can you try some more? What's your browser?
  - patchorang 4y ago
    I'm getting the same thing, not on every one, but every 5 or so rows the linkedin link doesn't work. Chrome.
datalopers 4y ago
So recruiters can contact you? That’s called having a LinkedIn or an email address on github. Recruiters are the ones being laid off the most aggressively anyway.
- umeshunni 4y ago
  It's meant to help recruiters find people who are actively looking for a new role.
tacostakohashi 4y ago
Layoffs don't suck, layoffs are great. It's a quick, guilt-free way to get out of a dead-end situation without having to spend a multi-week notice period writing documentation, handing over, and pretending you'll be lifelong friends with a group of people you are sick of that don't have your back.
- elcomet 4y ago
  That's only true if - you have enough money to be out of work for a while - you are not on a visa which is definitely not the case for many people. And what if you like your job ? Then layoff does suck, no ? You seem to think the alternative option to layoff is quitting, but what about staying at the company ?
- whatever1 4y ago
  Layoffs great when you are in your 20s-30s. Specially if you are single with established immigration status. Not so great when you are in your 50s with family, health expenses & loans and nobody wants to hire you.
  - rockinghigh 4y ago
    It's not great in your 20s either when you just started and may have limited savings.
  - czbond 4y ago
    Not saying it is a fix, but unemployment insurance is there too.
- winphone1974 4y ago
  You appear to be contrasting layoffs to quitting, so wouldn't you be the one who doesn't have your coworkers' backs?
  - tacostakohashi 4y ago
    I have quit, and I have been laid off, and I am contrasting the experiences from my own perspective. Forgive me.
rookhack 4y ago
This is great (I mean it sucks that there are so many layoffs, but the tool is really useful). Where are you sourcing all the data from?
andrew_ 4y ago
Not trying to poop in the cereal, but take a beat before adding your name to the site; I'd be wary that this will be used to blacklist a whole lot of folks. There's a large segment of tech that doesn't see a tenure at Twitter as a positive, for example. Maybe consider hiding the company name.
- lispisok 4y ago
  There's a large segment of tech that doesn't see a tenure at Twitter as a positive Why?
  - blindhippo 4y ago
    Based on what I've read (here, reddit, and sadly the cesspool that is Blind) Twitter engineers are lazy and the epitome of the "rest and vest" career path. So, just software engineers being toxic gatekeepers based on dubious opinions. I've noticed trying to interview at smaller companies with a big tech company on my resume, I get a lot of weird pushback - like the interviewer is actively trying to discard me just to say they did. (anecdotal - so for what it's worth)
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - czbond 4y ago
      I get your perception, and have heard similar from a select few. But the issue is what interviews, recommendations, and firing are meant to solve. I'd bet there are enough people who would still be willing to get Twitterites a chance.
      - dmix 4y ago
        > I'd bet there are enough people who would still be willing to get Twitterites a chance. Yes, of course, other large companies like Facebook and Amazon will always be hiring. Altough I heard Meta is also doing layoffs after their revenue tanked earlier this year, just like Twitter's did. So Amazon is a better example. My buddy worked there and he said 90% of his team just goes on Reddit all day.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
philip1209 4y ago
I like it! I wish there were some "resources for job seekers" - maybe people could add services or products that are free for job seekers
ferdowsi 4y ago
> This list is an aggregation of public layoff lists where people voluntarily signed up, plus people who sign up through us. You should be actively getting the consent of these people on these lists. They consented to have their info in lists created and shared by colleagues, not as part of your service.
- JacobThreeThree 4y ago
  Legally speaking I think the service is protected here, so long as they have an opt-out mechanism, and the contact information they provide has been previously published publicly. There are large companies, like Meltwater for instance, whose business models are like this.
  - nsvd 4y ago
    What about ethically?
  - denkmoon 4y ago
    Someone hasn't done their yearly CCPA training
  - bagels 4y ago
    Even if it were legal (some think it isn't), it's still a good idea?
ill_pigeon 4y ago
You are going to get completely fucked by GDPR if you're scraping and rehosting people's personal data. This is not cool at all. I recommend you shut this down immediately and email everyone on the list to apologise.
- lazyasciiart 4y ago
  I don't believe that's true. Specifically, they say they are republishing public lists that people have signed up for, for largely the same purpose ("letting people know that I've been laid off"), which is in the interest of the subject. They should be notifying the people on the list, but there's nothing intrinsically wrong with what they're doing.
  - remram 4y ago
    Luckily the GDPR is a bit more specific than "it was public somewhere in the first place".
    - lazyasciiart 4y ago
      Correct. It requires that they published it, clearly with the intent of making it public, and for purposes similar to what it is being re-used for. I believe I mentioned that.
      - remram 4y ago
        It is more specific than that. Having published it somewhere else for similar purposes is not enough. You have to obtain explicit, demonstrable consent and offer a way for the subject to withdraw that consent (in this case they don't even know about it! This site collected and showed their information without letting them know) This is explicit in article 7: https://gdpr.eu/article-7-how-to-get-consent-to-collect-personal-data/ https://gdpr.eu/article-7-how-to-get-consent-to-collect-pers...
        lazyasciiart 4y ago
andirk 4y ago
If I was running a successful tech company, these layoffs would be a godsend. Plenty of amazing devs let go simply to lower headcount costs. I'd be poaching this list ASAP! And please, use this time to sharpen your skillset! You'll be back in the grind before you know it, so don't let this little vacation pass you by.
- datalopers 4y ago
  Hiring from the bottom of the barrel is not a winning strategy. There’s a reason most of those people were laid off. There’s some exceptions for sure (50-100% blanket layoffs) but when a company gets rid of 5-20% they make selective decisions. If you want to hire talent, you poach the people who weren’t laid-off but are now more willing to listen to opportunities today.
  - notfromhere 4y ago
    Yeah that's not remotely true. Being a star performer doesn't protect you from layoffs. You can hit your KPIs and over perform and it won't prevent you from being on the chopping block.
    - noptd 4y ago
      >Being a star performer doesn't protect you from layoffs. Generally speaking, they absolutely do. Even in scenarios where an entire org is being cut, star performers will be reassigned to other areas of the company beforehand. It may sound brash but it'd take either a major failure in management or a failure in reputation-building and visibility for a star performer to be cut during these types of layoffs. That's not to say that good or even great engineers aren't at risk, but you're not going to find "10x-ers" being let go.
      - Erem 4y ago
        Counterpoint: I have only worked 3 months since receiving an Exceeds Expectations from my employer. I got laid off last week along with 1 more of my 5 teammates.
erehweb 4y ago
The data may be publicly available, but GDPR still applies, AFIAK. https://www.technologylawdispatch.com/2019/04/privacy-data-protection/processing-publically-available-personal-data-without-telling-data-subjects-the-polish-data-protection-authority-has-bad-news-for-you/ https://www.technologylawdispatch.com/2019/04/privacy-data-p... "The main takeaway is for companies that process personal data gathered from public sources to tread carefully. Be mindful of your GDPR article 14 notification obligations. Be sure you document your processing decisions, particularly if you decide not to inform affected individuals how you process their personal data. And most importantly, be prepared for regulatory scrutiny and engagement."
UncleOxidant 4y ago
I guess I'm not understanding why this would be better than just changing your Linked-In status to 'available looking for work'?

92 points by tracyhenry 4y ago

This is an awesome tool and a great service you are providing! One note of feedback: When I first loaded the page, all I saw were listings from Starry Internet, and when I reloaded it was just Lyft. This makes it look like you only have people from one company. My suggestion would be to randomize the listing on each page load (or even bias the list towards diversity of company and role). Then people can see the depth of the people signed up and start exploring filters.

xwowsersx 4y ago
And just "groupon" for me
tracyhenry 4y ago
Thx for the feedback! The list is already randomized on every load (from a given starting point). We'll make it more randomized. For now, you can filter the companies, and use the pagination to see more companies.

jade_liu 4y ago

shishy 4y ago

Your linkedin page links aren't working -- they go to layoff-sucks.com/<linked-in-url> instead of just the linkedin url

tracyhenry 4y ago
It works on my end - can you try some more? What's your browser?
- patchorang 4y ago
  I'm getting the same thing, not on every one, but every 5 or so rows the linkedin link doesn't work. Chrome.

datalopers 4y ago

So recruiters can contact you? That’s called having a LinkedIn or an email address on github. Recruiters are the ones being laid off the most aggressively anyway.

umeshunni 4y ago
It's meant to help recruiters find people who are actively looking for a new role.

tacostakohashi 4y ago

Layoffs don't suck, layoffs are great. It's a quick, guilt-free way to get out of a dead-end situation without having to spend a multi-week notice period writing documentation, handing over, and pretending you'll be lifelong friends with a group of people you are sick of that don't have your back.

elcomet 4y ago
That's only true if - you have enough money to be out of work for a while - you are not on a visa which is definitely not the case for many people. And what if you like your job ? Then layoff does suck, no ? You seem to think the alternative option to layoff is quitting, but what about staying at the company ?
whatever1 4y ago
Layoffs great when you are in your 20s-30s. Specially if you are single with established immigration status. Not so great when you are in your 50s with family, health expenses & loans and nobody wants to hire you.
- rockinghigh 4y ago
  It's not great in your 20s either when you just started and may have limited savings.
- czbond 4y ago
  Not saying it is a fix, but unemployment insurance is there too.
winphone1974 4y ago
You appear to be contrasting layoffs to quitting, so wouldn't you be the one who doesn't have your coworkers' backs?
- tacostakohashi 4y ago
  I have quit, and I have been laid off, and I am contrasting the experiences from my own perspective. Forgive me.

rookhack 4y ago

This is great (I mean it sucks that there are so many layoffs, but the tool is really useful). Where are you sourcing all the data from?

andrew_ 4y ago

Not trying to poop in the cereal, but take a beat before adding your name to the site; I'd be wary that this will be used to blacklist a whole lot of folks. There's a large segment of tech that doesn't see a tenure at Twitter as a positive, for example. Maybe consider hiding the company name.

lispisok 4y ago
There's a large segment of tech that doesn't see a tenure at Twitter as a positive Why?
- blindhippo 4y ago
  Based on what I've read (here, reddit, and sadly the cesspool that is Blind) Twitter engineers are lazy and the epitome of the "rest and vest" career path. So, just software engineers being toxic gatekeepers based on dubious opinions. I've noticed trying to interview at smaller companies with a big tech company on my resume, I get a lot of weird pushback - like the interviewer is actively trying to discard me just to say they did. (anecdotal - so for what it's worth)
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - czbond 4y ago
    I get your perception, and have heard similar from a select few. But the issue is what interviews, recommendations, and firing are meant to solve. I'd bet there are enough people who would still be willing to get Twitterites a chance.
    - dmix 4y ago
      > I'd bet there are enough people who would still be willing to get Twitterites a chance. Yes, of course, other large companies like Facebook and Amazon will always be hiring. Altough I heard Meta is also doing layoffs after their revenue tanked earlier this year, just like Twitter's did. So Amazon is a better example. My buddy worked there and he said 90% of his team just goes on Reddit all day.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

philip1209 4y ago

I like it! I wish there were some "resources for job seekers" - maybe people could add services or products that are free for job seekers

ferdowsi 4y ago

> This list is an aggregation of public layoff lists where people voluntarily signed up, plus people who sign up through us. You should be actively getting the consent of these people on these lists. They consented to have their info in lists created and shared by colleagues, not as part of your service.

JacobThreeThree 4y ago
Legally speaking I think the service is protected here, so long as they have an opt-out mechanism, and the contact information they provide has been previously published publicly. There are large companies, like Meltwater for instance, whose business models are like this.
- nsvd 4y ago
  What about ethically?
- denkmoon 4y ago
  Someone hasn't done their yearly CCPA training
- bagels 4y ago
  Even if it were legal (some think it isn't), it's still a good idea?

ill_pigeon 4y ago

You are going to get completely fucked by GDPR if you're scraping and rehosting people's personal data. This is not cool at all. I recommend you shut this down immediately and email everyone on the list to apologise.

lazyasciiart 4y ago
I don't believe that's true. Specifically, they say they are republishing public lists that people have signed up for, for largely the same purpose ("letting people know that I've been laid off"), which is in the interest of the subject. They should be notifying the people on the list, but there's nothing intrinsically wrong with what they're doing.
- remram 4y ago
  Luckily the GDPR is a bit more specific than "it was public somewhere in the first place".
  - lazyasciiart 4y ago
    Correct. It requires that they published it, clearly with the intent of making it public, and for purposes similar to what it is being re-used for. I believe I mentioned that.
    - remram 4y ago
      It is more specific than that. Having published it somewhere else for similar purposes is not enough. You have to obtain explicit, demonstrable consent and offer a way for the subject to withdraw that consent (in this case they don't even know about it! This site collected and showed their information without letting them know) This is explicit in article 7: https://gdpr.eu/article-7-how-to-get-consent-to-collect-personal-data/ https://gdpr.eu/article-7-how-to-get-consent-to-collect-pers...
      - lazyasciiart 4y ago

andirk 4y ago

If I was running a successful tech company, these layoffs would be a godsend. Plenty of amazing devs let go simply to lower headcount costs. I'd be poaching this list ASAP! And please, use this time to sharpen your skillset! You'll be back in the grind before you know it, so don't let this little vacation pass you by.

datalopers 4y ago
Hiring from the bottom of the barrel is not a winning strategy. There’s a reason most of those people were laid off. There’s some exceptions for sure (50-100% blanket layoffs) but when a company gets rid of 5-20% they make selective decisions. If you want to hire talent, you poach the people who weren’t laid-off but are now more willing to listen to opportunities today.
- notfromhere 4y ago
  Yeah that's not remotely true. Being a star performer doesn't protect you from layoffs. You can hit your KPIs and over perform and it won't prevent you from being on the chopping block.
  - noptd 4y ago
    >Being a star performer doesn't protect you from layoffs. Generally speaking, they absolutely do. Even in scenarios where an entire org is being cut, star performers will be reassigned to other areas of the company beforehand. It may sound brash but it'd take either a major failure in management or a failure in reputation-building and visibility for a star performer to be cut during these types of layoffs. That's not to say that good or even great engineers aren't at risk, but you're not going to find "10x-ers" being let go.
    - Erem 4y ago
      Counterpoint: I have only worked 3 months since receiving an Exceeds Expectations from my employer. I got laid off last week along with 1 more of my 5 teammates.

erehweb 4y ago

The data may be publicly available, but GDPR still applies, AFIAK. https://www.technologylawdispatch.com/2019/04/privacy-data-protection/processing-publically-available-personal-data-without-telling-data-subjects-the-polish-data-protection-authority-has-bad-news-for-you/ https://www.technologylawdispatch.com/2019/04/privacy-data-p... "The main takeaway is for companies that process personal data gathered from public sources to tread carefully. Be mindful of your GDPR article 14 notification obligations. Be sure you document your processing decisions, particularly if you decide not to inform affected individuals how you process their personal data. And most importantly, be prepared for regulatory scrutiny and engagement."

UncleOxidant 4y ago

I guess I'm not understanding why this would be better than just changing your Linked-In status to 'available looking for work'?