Soulless Corporations
To be very honest I feel very frustrated looking at the situation right now. Companies are laying off without worrying about the employees. It's just corporate profits everywhere. I am scared to death that my career won't last long than 20 years because the moment these folks think you are becoming a financial burden on them, they'll lay you off. I don't want to live my life in a constant war mode. The Indian education system has bruised my personality for a long time. I want to relax but looking at this battlefield I can never. My weekends are spent worrying about planning for finances in case I get laid off. I am worried I won't be able to buy a house. This shit is depressing me very much. Other folks please tell me how are you navigating this mess?
Eco
Stealth
7 months ago
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.
Eco
Stealth
7 months ago
1 Cr FD gives 50K+ monthly interest so somewhere higher than that.
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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
LokiPen
Stealth
7 months ago
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.
BaatMaan
Stealth
7 months ago
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!
You can unionise and fight back in a struggling startup and the whole company goes down.
You fight back a corporate and you get laid off.
Remember, startup founders and senior leaders are also people like you and me. It’s the market pressure that drives the situation and forces us all to adapt. Not the people.
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NeatFrame72
Stealth
7 months ago
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.
GrayProctor
Stealth
7 months ago
Look at the debt US government has accumulated, even if the US reduces interest rates, the debt is too much risk for investors to invest in corporate bonds.
The bonds will be priced at a higher premium in order to entice the investors.
This mess is forever now.
unpocoloco
Stealth
7 months ago
Leaner and high performance engineering teams are the new norm. Go hard or go home.😑
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Qwerty2398
Stealth
7 months ago
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.
GrayProctor
Stealth
7 months ago
I know nothing can be done, but is this the way we to proceed as humans?
Not if you improve your real non-tech knowledge through one of many Indian knowledge systems and are able to use it to earn and sustain yourself like yoga, Ayurveda, Veda, Vedanga... Ofcourse it requires higher levels of knowledge and takes time to build up, but it won't leave you messed up like western education does in west and India (tens of lakhs of unemployed and unemployable engineers)
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
Aarzooo
Student
7 months ago
Same here
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.
GrayProctor
Stealth
7 months ago
My point is not to talk about my own survival, that is the most.obvious point. Everyone will work for their own survival, but if we keep on marching in this path, the ecosystem will become too toxic.
I want the ecosystem to be supportive, creative and inclusive.
The shareholder value point does not make sense to me, it is just the way of leadership saying, we will pocket more money than the rest of the employees.
Let’s go macro in that case.
Businesses need money to be built. Any business owner - new age or traditional will borrow money to pay for the expenses that s/he will incur till the time his product/services generate enough revenues to sustain the operations.
In case of business outcomes not hitting the agreed targets - the lender will push for recovering the monies spent/protecting their investment to the extent possible.
This is similar to a situation when you have taken a loan for a house and have defaulted. The bank will eventually come and takeover your property and auction it to recover their due amount.
In today’s day and age - where businesses are competing for the same customers - unfortunately borrowing is the name of the game and the risks associated with it.
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How old are you?
Doom maybe far away and the world has changed to have 2.5 careers in your lifetime.
20 years each.
GrayProctor
Stealth
7 months ago
I'm 33
Buying should be taken off the list it’s a huge scam, staying in parents house in no shame!
D0nkey05
Stealth
7 months ago
It's genius actually. Why take on unnecessary financial burden because you want to be independent? I honestly think that you shouldn't do things out of FOMO, if you're parents have left you with a decent enough legacy, build on top of it instead of starting from scratch :)
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?
Grub96
Student
7 months ago
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.
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