Soulless Corporations

I’m 30, constantly upskilling, plan is to build big corpus till 35. Working remote, keeping expenses pretty low, no loans, will live in Rented house for next 5 years.

Mandatory : keep on up skilling Optional : go outside India or move to operational roles(as it doesn't need creativity bone) In your 30's you shouldn't explore stuff, stick with one domain(example : digital marketer) be the SME. In 40s you'll have 10+ years experience of a domain, and you're part of that domains evolution No one wil have the know how you gained in 10 years

Long Term: 1. Keep upskilling. 2. Build alternative income sources. 3. Don't buy things just for FOMO or show-off. Short-term: 1. Cut down on social media/news usage; especially where such layoffs related discussions are happening. 2. Get your tests done for vitamin/nutrients deficiency and fix the deficits; these deficiencies take a bad toll on mental and overall health. 3. Try to spend more time outdoors; if possible as close to nature as possible. 4. Try to spend more time with your loved ones.

It's infuriating how everyone's response to this post is side hustles, wasting your life away to constantly upskill and reducing spending. Basically everyone here is saying "live life like shit to appease your corporate overlords" as if layoffs is OUR fault???? Instead the real advice should be something like build expertise in something while you're an employee and later start your own company on the basis of it. This will increase competition within businesses and will force them to treat their employees like humans. This was kind of the reason why things were generally good for employees from 2021-22 because all the startups popping up increased labour demand. Or if your employer lays a bunch of people off and starts giving the rest of you their workload, simply refuse! Don't work extra long or extra hard. Get the employees together collectively and make everyone, or atleast the majority refuse to entertain these outlandish demands from your employers. What are they gonna do? Fire you all and lose their business? Please people, don't take the beating... Fight back!

Do you think these layoffs are a permanent thing now and not just a temporary phase? I was of the opinion that this is just a phase. Maybe I am wrong. But if this is a permanent shift then it is definitely very scary.

Nothing can be done. It's the way of life for a middle class Indian. If you think of entrepreneurship, then failure is the norm. It's rewarding only if you can survive the first 2 or 3 years. That's even more taxing that employment.

Same feeling buddy. I don't feel like I'm gonna be employable after 35 years of age and this thought itself it scaring the shit out of me. I think it's time I should start focusing on some business ideas but I'm just too clueless about where to start from

Adding my two cents here - strictly on the layoff angle. In the last 4 years since Covid - layoffs have become more acceptable globally. Earlier, companies were more hush hush when they had to do any such thing. Moving forward - I believe this is going to be a usual business practice for companies to protect shareholder value. Only way out of this - building alternate sources of income. This should be something which has nothing to do with your 9-5. You might struggle in the first few years but by the time you are 40 - you should target an amount equivalent to your then expenses.

How old are you? Doom maybe far away and the world has changed to have 2.5 careers in your lifetime. 20 years each.

i am sad

Buying should be taken off the list it’s a huge scam, staying in parents house in no shame!

Simple:- Keep upskilling and always stay prepared. Face interviews every 6 months to understand where you fit in the market. Network, network and network. It's better to not have any kids keeping in mind that it takes a lifetime of earning to raise and maintain a child. Live below your means and have enough runway that is enough for you to not only live a basic life but also pay your insurance fees for at least 2 years. This is the only way one can stay afloat in this market. With the advent of Gen AI, things will only get worse. This is the bitter fact and one has no choice but to face it.

Lol, its fine when you quit a company, but unfair if company terminates you? Understand that the company is not your mother. Its not its responsibility to take care of you. You are exchanging your skills and talent for money for the benefit of both you and the company. Both parties are free to terminate this arrangement if either party feels that it is not beneficial for them.

Do you feel having a mentor for a long run (say till the age of 40) will help one stay afloat in their careers?

I've a question. do people from other high paying professions with good yoe (>=5) also suffer like experienced swes? like corp lawyers, consultants, bankers, vcs?

For a second, imagine you are a founder of a company. You would want to stay away from this corporate soulless behaviour and never layoff any employee. You would always work for your employees over your stakeholders and investors. Why do you think this approach is too hard to sustain? It couldn't be that we can think so positively from outside, and others on the higher up are incapable of thinking like this.