Hacker News Reader

Comment by codebeaker | Hacker News Reader

Posted by an hour old throwaway account referring to a pseudonymous Medium writer discussing an anonymous company's two year old laying off procedure.

I wonder how this made it to the front page, and what we are supposed to take from it other than "company lays people off after assuring them it wouldn't, employee wasn't given much notice and online accounts were locked out during the dismissal call" all of which, in my experience on both sides of the table is completely normal.

It is standard corporate hedging and damage control, and it doesn't make it right, but it is pervasive.

View on HN

Are you sure you read the whole thing? You completely missed the point. They writer has turned getting fired from their "perfect dev job" into realizing their skills had grown out of date and they had simply gotten complacent. Now they are trying a new role, and finding it more fulfilling. I thought i was interesting, and understandably anonymous.

It's a well written blog post. People like reading well written stuff. So it gets upvoted. It speaks for HN that anonymous articles get upvoted as well, not just PR pieces from well known folks.

The point of the article was if the person didn't lose their "perfect job" they would never have forced themselves to look for other, better, and more enjoyable opportunities.

I think that happens to a large number of people who have lost a job and found something else. Specifically, if you are laid off, and assuming the entire company / division didn't fold (i.e., they cut 15% from all departments), then chances are that you and the company weren't a good fit for each other. And it is during the job search process that you start to re-evaluate your skill set, what you can do, and what you want to do. Often that will then lead to a better opportunity in which you have improved (if from nothing else than a change of scenery).

The story wasn't about "Company A laid people off." It was about "I got laid off and here's what I learned from it." The intention of the story is not to shame the company, but to put into perspective how the writer felt at the time and what they discovered during their job search and as part of their new team.

I liked it. Refreshing.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com