There are PE's and people that have been there for years even decades that have lots of power and clout to do things associated with revenue and not get canned on multi-year or multi-month projects. Then there are the thousands of new hires that are just fodder to try to quickly get a select few managers and engineers promoted before they are canned. They essentially don't get anything of value done and do throw away work. A lot of it has to do with perceptions.

Initially you get small tasks on a small project. In a few months you are quite settled in for your position. (Let's say some integration service maintenance.)