SebastianVerified account

As you know, I’ve been laid off by @npmjs 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.

The package came with an agreement containing a non-disparagement clause (same as @neverett mentioned). Fortunately, I’m lucky and privilege enough to be able to declined the @npmjs “offer” since having to keep quiet about what happened would be against my values.

Part because, it’s who I am, and because I care deeply about people in general, but specifically in this case, about the @npmjs community and the @nodejs / @the_jsf one. I also care about the wonderful humans I’ve work with during the last four months.

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 @npmjs will be easier than for most people.

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 @npmjs , maybe it’s the case, but it’s also so the community know, because I care!

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, @npmjs laid me off by hiring a third party contractor.

Which means none of the @npmjs 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!