7 ms·

I feel envious of these folks getting such a nice severance. It would be rather nice for me to be laid off with a great cash flow of money and take a long vacat

I feel envious of these folks getting such a nice severance. It would be rather nice for me to be laid off with a great cash flow of money and take a long vacation. Naturally my life is financially in order (no debt, no kids to support, no visa issues), so I recognize my privileged position, and I say this as a first generation US immigrant who went through many precarious visas including H1B. Envy was nonetheless the first emotion the article evoked in me.

justizin 4y ago
It's not the best time to be looking for work.
- sfe22 4y ago
  Exactly, the best thing to do right now is hold on to your job. It is unclear when the economy will recover and you may be able to find a better job.
- itake 4y ago
  With a severance package and savings like OPs, why do they need to look for work now?
  - shpx 4y ago
    If many of these thousands of tech people start just spending their large savings and not working, that could lead to more inflation.
ar_lan 4y ago
It's sort of the same envy I feel when I see student loan forgiveness. I worked a ton (30+ hrs weekly) in college, and 40+ hrs during summer/winter break, to ensure I graduated college with no loans taken. And now to see loan forgiveness for people who took far fewer sacrifices (especially lawyers/doctors, who make significantly more than me now) - it sort of reinforces that working hard is a sucker move, and definitely discourages me from doing such paths if I believe I can just get a bail out later.
- bdhe 4y ago
  > To be eligible for forgiveness, you must have federal student loans and earn less than $125,000 annually (or $250,000 per household). Borrowers who meet that criteria can get up to $10,000 in debt cancellation. Do lawyers or doctors typically earn less than $125,000 or $250,000/household? If not, loan forgiveness does not impact them the way you think.
  - PragmaticPulp 4y ago
    > Do lawyers or doctors typically earn less than $125,000 or $250,000/household? One of my friend groups has a lot of young doctors and recent med school grads. They are all looking for the best ways to take advantage of this, including things like accelerating marriage timelines to be a "household" instead of individual so they can qualify under the limit. Starting salaries for family practice physicians, for example, can fit under that $250K limit. I'm not opposed to loan forgiveness for certain people, but the $250K household limit without a gradual phaseout is a baffling move.
    - pc86 4y ago
      100% of "recent med school grads" make less than $125k. A brand new resident will be making $45-50k and the yearly bump is in the single-digit percentages.
- 1986 4y ago
  If you're talking about the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan, I think you've been a bit misled about the "lawyers/doctors" part - you have to be making under $125k/yr ($250k/yr if filing as married) to qualify for forgiveness, and the vast majority of eligible loans are undergraduate, not graduate. So it would likely be extremely rare for well-paid doctors or lawyers to have their loans forgiven through this program - unless they were working in lower-paid positions (think rural doctor or public defender - arguably exactly the type of roles we should aim to encourage people into with programs like this!)
  - 4y ago
jbluepolarbear 4y ago
It’s not that great. I was laid off in late 2019 with about 4 months severance. I was constantly interviewing and networking. And then Covid lockdown hit near the end of my severance. At no time did I feel like I was on vacation.
adam_arthur 4y ago
It's certainly not the worst way to go out. But the truth is that good jobs are going to be very competitive over the coming months. Many being laid off now are likely to end up accepting comp packages far below their previous comp. The doors are pretty much closed at the usual FAANG types I can say anecdotally that I've already noticed an incredible easing of the difficulty in hiring (while maintaining a high bar)
PragmaticPulp 4y ago
> I feel envious of these folks getting such a nice severance. It would be rather nice for me to be laid off with a great cash flow of money and take a long vacation. I can tell you've never been laid off before, because even with severance it doesn't feel like a "long vacation". Layoffs like this are heavily correlated with a collapsing job market. Finding a new job right now is orders of magnitude more difficult than finding a job a year ago. Getting laid off also works against you, as many potential hirers assume that laid off people were among the lowest performers of their company. It's not fair, but it happens. It's also not really a relaxing vacation when you're busy prepping for interviews, dealing with interview calls and/or flights randomly scattered across the week, and other interview-related stresses. The clock is ticking and your full time job is now to interview to get a job. It's also likely (in this market anyway) that any company you interview with would prefer that you start ASAP, so you don't even have a defined end date. Getting laid off with severance sounds fun until it happens and you're faced with the realities, especially in the middle of a collapsing hiring market that has been flooded with 100,000+ laid off FAANG engineers competing for every great job out there.
- kilroy123 4y ago
  100% agreed. This is the worst time to be laid off since 2008, maybe even the dot.com crash in 2000? I'm too young to know what that era was like.
- lm28469 4y ago
  > I can tell you've never been laid off before, because even with severance it doesn't feel like a "long vacation". I've been laid off with no severance and it felt like vacation, so it might depends on your specific situation. It was my first job, in Germany, 70% of so of my salary guaranteed as unemployment benefits. I didn't look for a job for like six months, I could have used the full 12 months as I was more than cash positive and still managed to save 40% of my income without changing my lifestyle, it took me two weeks to find a new one. That being said I'm not a "study for interview" kind of dude, life's too short to grind for that imho
  - ethanbond 4y ago
paxys 4y ago
Far from being a vacation, looking for a new job while on a deadline and in a down job market is much more stressful than working a full time job.
- roflyear 4y ago
  Well, in the context of layoffs... most companies don't give you any severance.
- AmericanChopper 4y ago
  Happened to me recently, it was actually a great vacation. I was out of work for a couple of months, spent most of my time doing leisure activities, turned down a number of offers, and ended up with about a 20% increase in compensation. I could have done it stressfully if I’d wanted to, but why? I would have had less fun, and almost certainly arrived at a worse outcome…
bawolff 4y ago
Have you considered just quiting your job and waiting a few months before getting a new one? Engineers are quite privleged. We make money hand over fist, more than enough that its pretty trivial to save up 6 months of expenses, and just quit, and do nothing for a couple months. After all, there is no point in making money if you don't spend it, and one way of spending it is to just take a break from working for a little while. If a break is something you think would make you happy, you should do it.
- deanmoriarty 4y ago
  If only humans (me) were rational beings. I will never walk away from a 7-figure salary + RSU compensation at FAANG, no matter how miserable it makes me feel. Them laying me off is sadly the only option.

justizin 4y ago

It's not the best time to be looking for work.

sfe22 4y ago
Exactly, the best thing to do right now is hold on to your job. It is unclear when the economy will recover and you may be able to find a better job.
itake 4y ago
With a severance package and savings like OPs, why do they need to look for work now?
- shpx 4y ago
  If many of these thousands of tech people start just spending their large savings and not working, that could lead to more inflation.

ar_lan 4y ago

It's sort of the same envy I feel when I see student loan forgiveness. I worked a ton (30+ hrs weekly) in college, and 40+ hrs during summer/winter break, to ensure I graduated college with no loans taken. And now to see loan forgiveness for people who took far fewer sacrifices (especially lawyers/doctors, who make significantly more than me now) - it sort of reinforces that working hard is a sucker move, and definitely discourages me from doing such paths if I believe I can just get a bail out later.

bdhe 4y ago
> To be eligible for forgiveness, you must have federal student loans and earn less than $125,000 annually (or $250,000 per household). Borrowers who meet that criteria can get up to $10,000 in debt cancellation. Do lawyers or doctors typically earn less than $125,000 or $250,000/household? If not, loan forgiveness does not impact them the way you think.
- PragmaticPulp 4y ago
  > Do lawyers or doctors typically earn less than $125,000 or $250,000/household? One of my friend groups has a lot of young doctors and recent med school grads. They are all looking for the best ways to take advantage of this, including things like accelerating marriage timelines to be a "household" instead of individual so they can qualify under the limit. Starting salaries for family practice physicians, for example, can fit under that $250K limit. I'm not opposed to loan forgiveness for certain people, but the $250K household limit without a gradual phaseout is a baffling move.
  - pc86 4y ago
    100% of "recent med school grads" make less than $125k. A brand new resident will be making $45-50k and the yearly bump is in the single-digit percentages.
1986 4y ago
If you're talking about the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan, I think you've been a bit misled about the "lawyers/doctors" part - you have to be making under $125k/yr ($250k/yr if filing as married) to qualify for forgiveness, and the vast majority of eligible loans are undergraduate, not graduate. So it would likely be extremely rare for well-paid doctors or lawyers to have their loans forgiven through this program - unless they were working in lower-paid positions (think rural doctor or public defender - arguably exactly the type of roles we should aim to encourage people into with programs like this!)
- 4y ago

jbluepolarbear 4y ago

It’s not that great. I was laid off in late 2019 with about 4 months severance. I was constantly interviewing and networking. And then Covid lockdown hit near the end of my severance. At no time did I feel like I was on vacation.

adam_arthur 4y ago

It's certainly not the worst way to go out. But the truth is that good jobs are going to be very competitive over the coming months. Many being laid off now are likely to end up accepting comp packages far below their previous comp. The doors are pretty much closed at the usual FAANG types I can say anecdotally that I've already noticed an incredible easing of the difficulty in hiring (while maintaining a high bar)

PragmaticPulp 4y ago

> I feel envious of these folks getting such a nice severance. It would be rather nice for me to be laid off with a great cash flow of money and take a long vacation. I can tell you've never been laid off before, because even with severance it doesn't feel like a "long vacation". Layoffs like this are heavily correlated with a collapsing job market. Finding a new job right now is orders of magnitude more difficult than finding a job a year ago. Getting laid off also works against you, as many potential hirers assume that laid off people were among the lowest performers of their company. It's not fair, but it happens. It's also not really a relaxing vacation when you're busy prepping for interviews, dealing with interview calls and/or flights randomly scattered across the week, and other interview-related stresses. The clock is ticking and your full time job is now to interview to get a job. It's also likely (in this market anyway) that any company you interview with would prefer that you start ASAP, so you don't even have a defined end date. Getting laid off with severance sounds fun until it happens and you're faced with the realities, especially in the middle of a collapsing hiring market that has been flooded with 100,000+ laid off FAANG engineers competing for every great job out there.

kilroy123 4y ago
100% agreed. This is the worst time to be laid off since 2008, maybe even the dot.com crash in 2000? I'm too young to know what that era was like.
lm28469 4y ago
> I can tell you've never been laid off before, because even with severance it doesn't feel like a "long vacation". I've been laid off with no severance and it felt like vacation, so it might depends on your specific situation. It was my first job, in Germany, 70% of so of my salary guaranteed as unemployment benefits. I didn't look for a job for like six months, I could have used the full 12 months as I was more than cash positive and still managed to save 40% of my income without changing my lifestyle, it took me two weeks to find a new one. That being said I'm not a "study for interview" kind of dude, life's too short to grind for that imho
- ethanbond 4y ago

paxys 4y ago

Far from being a vacation, looking for a new job while on a deadline and in a down job market is much more stressful than working a full time job.

roflyear 4y ago
Well, in the context of layoffs... most companies don't give you any severance.
AmericanChopper 4y ago
Happened to me recently, it was actually a great vacation. I was out of work for a couple of months, spent most of my time doing leisure activities, turned down a number of offers, and ended up with about a 20% increase in compensation. I could have done it stressfully if I’d wanted to, but why? I would have had less fun, and almost certainly arrived at a worse outcome…

bawolff 4y ago

Have you considered just quiting your job and waiting a few months before getting a new one? Engineers are quite privleged. We make money hand over fist, more than enough that its pretty trivial to save up 6 months of expenses, and just quit, and do nothing for a couple months. After all, there is no point in making money if you don't spend it, and one way of spending it is to just take a break from working for a little while. If a break is something you think would make you happy, you should do it.

deanmoriarty 4y ago
If only humans (me) were rational beings. I will never walk away from a 7-figure salary + RSU compensation at FAANG, no matter how miserable it makes me feel. Them laying me off is sadly the only option.