I got laid off at Microsoft

If you are another creator and care deeply about helping others, please reach out — would love to put our heads together, collab, and continue to help others.

YouTube comments:

“The one takeaway is you can NOT NEVER EVER trust a company. They are not your friend, they are not your family. No matter how hard you work for a company the ones at the top will feed themselves first. It’s sad but it’s a true fact. We need to start to learn to be self-supportive.”

“I got laid off in early 2000s. I stayed in the IT sector. Earned 24 IT certifications and focused on DOD military networks and secret clearance type position focused around security and cyber security. After making this move, I never had to worry getting laid off. At the end of the day, you have to focus on yourself.”

“Many kudos to you: bright, articulate, and well-grounded. As a hiring manager and someone who’s been in the industry for a very, very long time, I can say these layoff decisions are often not even something corporations consult us on. When you work for a corporation and you’re generating revenue for them, you’re amazing, awesome, outstanding, and irreplaceable. When times get tight, you’re simply a line item on a balance sheet. The single best way to not have a layoff negatively impact you is to be relevant. Keep your skills current; always be learning; and don’t be afraid to self-promote if you’re manager isn’t seeing it. Have no regrets. Look forward, not backward.”

“Let me be honest and frank. Don’t get stressed and/or emotional over being laid off. You are expendable. Your loyalty should be to yourself and your family, not to any one company. Do not get too attached to co-workers. It only makes the layoff that much harder to deal with. When looking for employment, do not make job security one of your main objectives.”

Quit Your Day Job and Live Out Your Dreams

YouTube comments:

“I met a retired salesman in his 60’s finishing up his history degree. His dream was to be a history teacher. When most folks are retiring he was starting something new. I never forgot him.”

“When you’re 20 you care what everyone thinks, when you’re 40 you stop caring what everyone thinks, when you’re 60 you realize no one was ever thinking about you in the first place.”

“Thanks for the advice. I’m 52 and quit the manufacturing world after 29 years. I got so tired of the corporate puppets coming down and acting like tyrants I turned walk in and handed in my 30 day notice. I worked as a supervisor but it turned into a supervisor, manager, HR and Safety manager job and expected us to work 12 hour days seven days a week. I decided screw that paid everything off I own. I now make knives and jewelry as my hobby and help my kids out with their business. Best thing I could of done.”

“From somebody who’s done this: There is a difference between fear of failure and fear of homelessness. When I got five mortgage payments behind, I was no longer focusing my creative energy on writing, I was losing sleep because I was about to lose my house. For a novelist anyway, I think the idea of quitting your day job is really bad advice. I have found it easier to be creative when I don’t have to worry about where my next house payment is coming from. I’ve written six novels, one of them while unemployed and “chasing my dream.” Lemme tell you – financial desperation does not improve your odds. I can still produce 10,000 words a week just fine as somebody who gets a paycheck. And my books still don’t sell. That problem is not solved by adding the anxiety of having no income. .02 from somebody who tried it and lost.”

Job Security vs Entrepreneurship

Paul is in his final year of college, and of late he has been thinking a lot about what he wants to do for the rest of his life, after graduation. Growing up, Paul had always been told by his parents to study hard, get good grades, so you can be accepted into a good university and graduate with a good degree.

Because having a good degree will land you in a good-paying job and in return, a good life. You see, this is the mentality that a lot of us were told. For some people, this belief is hard to throw away because it’s what we have been told since childhood.

YouTube comments:

“Not everyone is wired to start their own business. Entrepreneurship needs a strong conviction. It’s what makes the risk psychologically bearable.”

“I literally watched people get hired at my job and then get fired only months later. I’m now a full time entrepreneur myself because I saw the risk as staying an employee with any company.”

“One thing I want to point out is if you like your 9 to 5 job and it is allowing you to save money, there’s nothing wrong with that. One of the most important things to do is to like your job. If not, your spending most of your life being miserable. That’s why I want to be a teacher, and not what someone else wants. For me, being around children would definetly be better than sitting in a cubicle, waiting for my boss to walk by with my paycheck. So, if the regular lifestyle is something you like doing, go ahead.”

German or American: Which labor law is better?

The recent terminations at Twitter have once again shown how different the protection against dismissal is in German and American labor law.

U.S. employees will probably receive continued pay for 60 days, or two months, under the WARN Act, and that’s it. If Elon Musk offers the dismissed employees (instead) a severance payment amounting to three months’ salary, that is considered quite fair by American standards. After all, Musk is paying 50% more than he has to.

In Germany, we would rather draw up a social plan that grants the dismissed employees (at least) 1 gross month’s salary per year of service as severance pay, in addition to compliance with the notice period.

Where do these differences come from, and which system is actually better?

What Happened in Chattanooga?

2014. The recent vote by workers in a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee to decline representation by the United Auto Workers union (UAW) highlights the differences in labor policies between the United States and Germany.

With American union membership on the decline, this was the first time that the UAW attempted to represent workers in a foreign company in over a decade, and its failure sets a precedent for the future of unions in the American South.

Looking to its successes in Germany and elsewhere, Volkswagen was in favor of creating a German-style “works council” in Chattanooga that, due to American labor laws, would require the UAW to represent workers’ interests.

This was met with mixed reviews. In particular, workers worried that voting for union representation would scare away production of a new model of SUV, despite VW’s assurances that the UAW vote would have no effect on the decision to manufacture the SUV in Chattanooga. Politics also played a role in the outcome.

In the politically conservative South, several Tennessee government officials, with the help of anti-union action committees, were able to lead a successful campaign against the union. Some lawmakers warned that VW might not receive new tax incentives to expand in the state if the UAW was successful at the VW plant.

Furthermore, many workers were reportedly happy with current wages, felt that the company treated them well, and did not want the union to damage or muddy that dynamic. The vote has left Volkswagen still looking for a way to create a works council, even without the UAW.

I quit my $120k job

I decided to quit my job after I realized these 3 lessons. Although I heard of these 3 things before, they never clicked inside my head until these events happened in my life.

YouTube comments:

“If you don’t have a dream, someone will hire you to build their dreams.”

“I think the scariest thing for most people (myself included) is leaving the security of the job that you have. When you sent have another form of income already leaving that job can be terrifying.”

“I can relate to your experiences when you told the story about the interaction with your parents. I have a similar experience and I realized this has gotten worse when I put my well being: mentally and physically on the back burner for work. The biggest turning point for me is when I started to see my parents physical changes from old age; graying of hair, memory declining and just not recovering as quickly as they used to. That’s when I realized I f’d up. The excuses of I’m too busy to see them or the free time that is being sacrificed is for what? To out-compete your colleagues or hustle more than what is expected from the job description? We are expendable as you said. I took a seat back and started to see this toxic culture that it is “ok” to work off hours or be on call at a moment’s notice EVEN when you are on vacation; it’s not ok. It’s starting to crack and wake people up. The pandemic just accelerated it and you see stories of people wanting to take their lives back by pushing for WFH or do what is expected from you. Nothing more nothing less. My point to this story is that this isn’t unique. I feel there are many of us who are feeling this way and it’s not too late to change. Just need to make a commitment and walk that path.”

Don’t be a slave

Jordan Peterson on the dangers of meaningless jobs and the importance of pursuing what is meaningful in work and life.

YouTube comments:

“One day I said ‘I don’t want to follow his stupid rules’ to my boss’s boss speaking about my boss who was also in the room. This guy didn’t even follow his own rules because he knew they were stupid. He was not stupid and I knew that. It was a smart play by him to take me out (fire me) because I had a different way of thinking that didn’t suit his vision. I had enough money in the bank at the time to act naturally like this though.”

Job Security in an Insecure Time

2018. American workers struggle with massive layoffs and the stress of an unknown future.

YouTube comments:

“$70k + Benefits? YOU MAKE ENOUGH MONEY. How can you not survive on that? They expect a job for life where they never have to save or plan or invest or learn any new skills. And they say millenials are entitled?”

“The US needs a union revival. This is disgusting to watch.”

“I you’re making 70 grand a year, you should be saving at least 20 thousand a year, but Americans like to buy their toys and squander their money like there’s no tomorrow. Just do the math: 20 thou/year over 15 years that’s 300 thou, house paid off plus compounded interest. just saying.”

How you get true job security

YouTube comments:

“I always thought after I graduated college and got my first job at corporate I thought finally got a job I could never lose. Boy was I wrong. I’ve seen some of the best coworkers I had get laid off because the company decided the department was no longer needed. You really need to take charge of your personal interests because no one else will.”

“You see, jobs are temporary, they come and they go. Your skills, personality and attitude stay. So smile, take a step forward, and do whatever you love. Thanks Matt! :)”

About his father being laid off from his “safe” desk job: “You can fail at what you don’t want, so why not take a chance on doing what you love?” – Commedian Jim Carrey

Safe is the new risky

Most people are looking for job security. Not understanding that jobs are in the best interest of the company not the employees. Everyone knows about the 40-40-40 Plan, Working 40 hours a week for someone else, For 40 years of your life, to retire off of 40% of what you struggled to live off of. That’s not freedom, its a cycle that needs to be broken.