This as-told-to essay relies on a dialog with Vishwanath Eswarakrishnan, a software program engineer who joined Meta’s Menlo Park, California workplace in March 2024. It has been edited for size and readability. Enterprise Insider has verified his employment historical past.
I’ve been laid off twice, each throughout essential occasions in my private life.
Two years into my software program engineering profession, I used to be impacted by a discount in power at a knowledge infrastructure firm. I used to be laid off on March 1 and had 30 days to seek out one other job that may sponsor a piece visa.
I managed to get a proposal from Oracle, and the corporate recommended I work from one other nation till they might sponsor my H-1B in a 12 months. However it wasn’t an choice for me — I used to be about to get engaged to my now-wife and wanted one thing safe.
I obtained one other supply from a knowledge storage startup days earlier than my keep within the US expired. I labored there for shut to 5 years and moved to eBay in 2020 after which to Cruise in 2022.
My second layoff got here in December final 12 months after a Cruise robotaxi was concerned in a pedestrian accident in San Francisco. (The corporate laid off 24% of its workforce.)
I used to be up for a promotion, and the workforce was making ready my new bundle. However I used to be let go from Cruise, and I obtained the information sooner or later earlier than my spouse had our second youngster. There have been problems, and my job was the very last thing on my thoughts.
As soon as issues began settling, I up to date my LinkedIn to mirror “Open to work” and began receiving messages from recruiters.
Listed below are three issues I did earlier than my layoff and two steps I took after that helped me land a software program engineer function at Meta inside a month.
1. Sustaining relationships with recruiters
I by no means meant to be well mannered to the recruiters who reached out to me whereas I used to be employed simply so they might assist with jobs down the road. However, I all the time responded to their attain outs on LinkedIn and replied that I am not searching for a job proper now, and requested them to communicate. Being responsive and staying linked could have helped the truth that recruiters for AirBnB, Meta, Uber, and Snowflake reached out with alternatives proper after my layoff and restricted the businesses that I needed to apply to myself.
2. Specializing in being an excellent engineer
All through my profession, I made it a precedence to ask questions and never do my job like a mechanical activity. Asking why issues work, and why issues are completed the best way they’re made me a greater engineer, and made it a lot simpler for me to reply each technical and management questions at interviews though my schedule was packed to the brim.
I used to be additionally capable of attain out to an ex-manager from my time at eBay who moved to Meta and ask him to refer me, as a result of he remembered me and was completely satisfied to vouch for my work.
3. Area selection
Even after my first layoff, I by no means examined the market each few years to gauge my price. Switching firms was all the time a final resort, and I solely moved after I felt like I had exhausted my studying or after I now not noticed a work-life stability match.
I requested for inner transfers and joined rising firms the place I might hone varied domains. I moved from safety to core infrastructure after which to infrastructure for working simulations, which made me an excellent match for a lot of completely different openings and elevated the possibilities of recruiters approaching me.
4. Not stressing over the massive image
One mindset that helped me keep calm through the course of was specializing in what I might management, which was preparation for the interviews. Enthusiastic about the hundreds of different tech employees who’ve been let go would solely have been demoralizing. Every time ideas of the layoff crossed my thoughts, I ended enthusiastic about it and centered on practising my coding and system-design interviews.
5. Organizing
Vishwanath Eswarakrishnan
Having a calendar the place I famous all my interviews, together with the names of the recruiters, was a lifesaver throughout that point interval. Jotting down all my appointments helped me plan every day, particularly since I gave a number of interviews on the hospital throughout physician visits for my new child.
Writing down the names of the individuals I used to be interviewing with gave me context and rang a bell in my memory about what had been mentioned with the corporate or the hiring supervisor earlier than.
Do you’re employed in tech or administration consulting and have a narrative to share about your profession journey? E mail this reporter at shubhangigoel@insider.com.
