Hi friends!
I don't like repeating topics, but welp... Google, Spotify, PagerDuty, Reddit (why do I even bother listing companies, there are too many 🙈), and others have made significant layoffs just within the last seven days. And since I cut out a couple of thoughts from last week's newsletter, I'm gonna say them now:
The smaller the company, the blurrier the line is between your employer and colleagues. If you join a small <10-person startup and work directly with the founders, you'll probably get pretty darn close to your actual employers –– the people who make final decisions about your benefits, equity, employment, and company policies. There are tremendous pros to this: the best way to level up in skill and title is to have decision makers witness your potential firsthand. (Networking, amirite?!) Especially if you're early in your career and hungry. Especially if you want to become a founder yourself one day! But beware, things can get thorny when they make business decisions you don't agree with. It'll feel more personal, and sometimes, it really is personal... 😬
When you work at a big company and don't eat lunch with your CEO every day, it should be easier to separate your employer from your actual job. While you might grow close to your immediate team members, they won't be the ones making final decisions about who gets laid off, and the bigger the company, the further away they are from having influence on those decisions. If VPs are are tasked with reducing their teams by X or Y%, they probably can't consult the people who actually know who the best performers are. So don't take it personally. It's never perfect, but there are valid reasons for who goes and who stays –– you might just be too close to see them. 🙈 (Apologies if it's too soon to hear this, btw!)
Getting laid off can be the most precious gift. This is obvious for anyone who was already considering quitting their job, but for those who weren't, lemme remind you of how great it is to be let go. You're basically getting fully funded to introspect and get the all too elusive Me Time! It is so difficult for people to hit the pause button that most never do. Severance packages in tech are pretty generous, too, and you now have the ability to take a step back and reflect on what you really want in life... while getting paid. You can soul search in Southeast Asia, spend time with your kids, teach yourself data science, or really do whatever your heart desires! So even though you might have been blindsided, remember that sometimes the adventure chooses you, and you might as well buckle in and enjoy the ride!
And when you're ready to begin a new chapter in your career, I gotchu! 😏 I'm comforted by how many companies are still hiring and excited to tell you alllll about it. In some cases, folks are eager to make new hires (even though I featured Lumafield recently, they asked me to please spread the word about their open frontend role!) and in other cases, companies are adjusting their practices in order to avoid making layoffs (Zapier has a reassignment program to give folks new projects instead of letting them go). All in all, there are a lot of silver linings here, we just gotta see them!
More below!
|
|
|
Qualified (profile) 📍 San Francisco, CA or Remote (US/Canada)
Does not provide relocation support. Sponsors work authorizations.
Qualified builds data-driven tools that help companies generate their B2B pipeline, faster. Engineers own projects end-to-end and keep an open dialogue with other departments. While many companies slowed hiring in 2022, Qualified grew to meet market demands and more than doubled in size from ~70 to ~180. We loved this interview with former-Microsoft software engineer, Nine, about why she joined! 🤗
|
|
|
Zapier (profile) 📍 Remote (Global)
No need to relocate folks –– they're remote! Does not sponsor work authorizations.
Zapier makes it easy to automate your work across 5k+ app integrations without code. (I use Zapier to run Key Values!) They screen for EQ during interviews, take mentorship seriously, and also have a career coaching stipend. I have so much respect for their secondment program, which avoids layoffs by allowing teammates to temporarily move to roles different from the one they were hired to do. 🙌
|
|
|
Mudflap (profile) 📍 Remote (US)
Does not provide relocation support. Sponsors work authorizations on a case-by-case basis.
Mudflap is a mobile app providing drivers of diesel-fueled vehicles instant diesel discounts at thousands of truck stops across the U.S. They're helping drivers and putting mom-and-pop shops on the map (literally) to grow their customer base. Truck drivers have been key in transporting goods during the pandemic, and this strong market fit helped Mudflap go from 0 to 1,000+ stops since launching in 2020.
|
|
|
Instacart (profile) 📍 Remote (US, Ontario, British Columbia, or Australia)
Provides relocation support. Sponsors work authorizations.
Instacart makes grocery delivery convenient, affordable, and accessible. In just the last year alone, they helped customers save more than 600 million hours (that they would’ve spent walking store aisles and waiting in checkout lines). Plus, with their acquisition of Rosie in September, they now have big plans for 2023 to expand their partnerships with local grocers. If you're a generalist, peep their open roles!
|
|
|
Aptible (profile) 📍 Remote (PT through ET time zones)
Does not provide relocation support. Does not sponsor work authorizations.
Aptible empowers developers to use any cloud resource securely. As a remote company, they’re big on transparency and avoiding silos at all costs. In fact, they encourage questions that aren’t “perfectly polished” and have established norms (like distributing agendas before meetings) for communication. While they work hard, they also make time for the “life” part of the equation, too. ❤️
|
|
|
CareMessage (profile) 📍 Remote (US)
Does not provide relocation support. Does not sponsor work authorizations.
CareMessage is a patient engagement platform that helps underserved populations by providing access to healthcare info, preventive care reminders, and health coaching. Internally, they place a premium on wellness with nine days that can be taken for self-care, and half-day Fridays year-round. They also recently received a $500k grant to support patient engagement for Federally Qualified Health Centers!
|
|
|
I think we're entering a really interesting season in tech. I'm not sure how the rest of 2023 will play out, but I'm foreseeing a lot of cultural shifts and movements as a result of this economic downturn. Sure, many companies will grow and thrive in the new environment, but given so many layoffs, I'm guessing a lot of new companies will be born. Or maybe folks will finally address their burnout en masse! This could also turn into a gigantic game of musical chairs where people are forced to reshuffle and find the chair they'd be happiest sitting in. Whatever happens, I suppose we can all take solace in the fact that we going through it together!
On a more personal note, I'm having another home birth and am officially playing the waiting game. Baby sister will arrive any day now and when she does, I'll be taking some time off, so expect me to go quiet for a good while! And when I'm swallowed up in newborn madness (the good, the bad, the ugly...), I'll be thinking about what really matters in life and hoping that everyone else can do the same. Life is a wild adventure, and it's pretty spectacular we were all given the opportunity to experience it, you know?
To appreciating life and everything that comes with it!
✌️,
Lynne (@lynnetye and @keyvaluesio)
|
|
|
|
|
