As you know, I’ve been laid off by last Friday after a “reorg". They offered me a severance package equivalent to two weeks of my salary, which is “fair" as they didn’t had to and I was new: they hired me 4 months ago.
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I’m also extremely privilege as I said. Not because I’m better, but I’m a white man, living in North America, having a respectable career and a great network. I also have money set aside, so all together, finding my next challenge after will be easier than for most people.
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Keeping all this in mind, I declined the document that was asking me to basically shut up about what happened. This thread may seems like a way for me to give back to the people who betrayed me at , maybe it’s the case, but it’s also so the community know, because I care!
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I’ve lost my job three time in the past not because I wasn’t able to do the work, because they had to. In previous occasions, I’ve meet with manager or founder who were sad to have to make this move, who cared. This time, laid me off by hiring a third party contractor.
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Which means none of the management was in the meeting to tell me they were letting me go. My direct manager, who cares a lot about people & that I like a lot, didn’t even know as I booked a flight for a conference, with her approval, 1-2 days before!
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I found it was a total lack of respect, and I’m not sure if it’s by fear of retaliation, but no other manager ping me in private after to apologize and check if I was fine. Which is heartbreaking for me as I’m naive enough to consider some of them friends.
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Maybe you’ll read that thread and will say that I’m extremely un-professional by doing it, and you may be right, but I think it’s my duty to share my story, so nobody else get caught in a situation like this. I’m also privilege to have a network that believe and trust me!
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Who could have known we would get laid off? The meeting description was about giving feedback for the all-hands we had 2-3 weeks before. So to add on top of having a nearly stranger telling me I wouldn’t have the job I loved so much, it was done in a “fake” meeting!
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So today, I share this, yes, let’s be true, I’m hurt by the situation. Financially, as I don’t have a pay check anymore for now and no matter your network or expertise, it take 1-3 months to land a good job. I lost my bread and butter last Friday.
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But I’m also hurt because the people I cared about, treated me like if I was no one, like if I didn’t deserve to have someone from tell me the bad news. People I loved, who at the moment all my accounts were turned off (which was during the meeting), never looked back.
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But even more than me, myself and I, I’m sad because is such an important part of our world in tech and I’m afraid to see where it’s going. I believe in a lot of wombats who are still there, but most don’t have the power to stop this madness, unfortunately.
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So today, I’m putting myself on the line, because, yes, I’m vocal, yes I’m usually bold and yes I have the right to say what I have to say, but it’s still a scary shit to be public about what happened at , because it’s who I am, I don’t want to hurt others.
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But I’ve been lucky enough to bounce back in many situations, still, I firmly believe that we need to be better in the tech industry. What’s sad, is that this white guy here being laid off by is probably far from the worst that happens to women, people of color and many...
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What is making this lay off hard on me, is that I also have confidence issue since my depression even if it doesn’t look like it. Being laid off doesn’t help at all, and since I care a lot, it’s also a burden for me that I wasn’t alone and for my friends still at
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It’s also the fact it was totally unexpected. is in the best place they could ever be to be a profitable AND human company. I also got ONLY 100% positive feedback on my work, so, were they lying to me? It’s not easy on the confidence side.
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So on that note, if you think you shouldn’t hire me after all I’ve said on my experience at my last day at , please don’t, I would understand. Still, I will continue to help developers being successful, and I really hope that the project continue in the right direction!
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Oh, if you want to add to the discussion about my or other stories about the layoff, I guess it will be easier to use a hashtag..
#npmlayoffs
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Oh and, please share if my story resonate with you. In life, it’s about awarenesses and it’s time for us to be treated like we deserve… #npmlayoffs
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To be clear, I’ll say it again! There are a lot of great people at , people who cares about other and the community, people that are extremely talented and work hard to give the community a great tool like the CLI #npmlayoffs
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Oh, and as you know, I'm looking for a new developer relations role, so feel free to share my profile in your network or RT this tweet (that would mean a lot to me) linkedin.com/in/frederichar #npmlayoffs
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It's making me sad how some are missing the point of #npmlayoffs. It’s not about losing our jobs: it happens/happened/will happen again. It’s the total lack of respect, empathy and professionalism of the process. It shouldn't be normal because "it's often how it is w/ startup"!
To be even clearer about the #npmlayoffs , I think I can talk for all of us saying that nobody is disputing the fact that we lost our job with the information we have right now, shit happens, the problem is how did it. This thread stuck to the facts: nothing more or less.
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People ask me what could do to "fix" the #npmlayoffs situation. Firstly, recognizing that a mistake was made, not by firing us, I hope they had good reasons, but in the way it was handled. So a public apologize would at least be fair to us, but even more to the community.
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Also, ensuring to have clear and transparent guidelines in the employee handbook about #npmlayoffs procedures to be sure future employees won't be treated like we were and ensuring that the company will live up to their public values would be a good second step.
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As a third step, it would be nice if reiterate their severance package & stock options offers to all of us, adjusting them if they realize some may not be appropriate, without any obligation to sign the non-disparagement clause #npmlayoffs
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Lastly, but not least, it would be crucial for to be accountable for their community and customers by creating a plan ensuring the viability and the future of the & ecosystems independently of what could happen with npm, inc, the company. #npmlayoffs
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I would love that people don't put words in my mouth. I've never said it was terrible at : I had an amazing time working with @ReBeccaOrg, & . It was great to work with the community and have this great challenge! I'll miss that job... #npmlayoffs
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