This as told essay is based on a conversation with Felisha Case, a former technical program manager at LinkedIn who was fired in May. She is 40 and lives in the Denver area. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
A week before I was fired from LinkedIn, a colleague told me he had heard something was coming. So I waited.
One morning in May, I logged on to my computer and went to have a cup of coffee while it was starting up. When I got back, there was a meeting on my calendar that hadn’t been there 30 seconds earlier.
I checked my email. Then I realized: If you have this meeting, you don’t have a job.
For the first time in my career, after about thirteen years working at companies like Amazon, Oracle, Twitter and LinkedIn, I had been laid off.
There had been fired from LinkedIn before, but I thought other roles were more likely to be affected. So the news came as a shock.
As I started looking for workI found myself thinking about how I had gotten a job in the past. My first tech job came about in an unusual way: through my wedding.
My wedding unexpectedly helped launch my tech career
In 2013, my husband and I got engaged and we knew we didn’t want a big wedding. I loved our anniversary date of September 26, eleven weeks after our engagement. So we decided to put the wedding together quickly and get married on our anniversary.
My in-laws put us in touch with one of their former neighbors to take our engagement and wedding photos. The photographer too worked at Amazon. She said she was impressed with how quickly I planned the wedding and asked if I would be interested in joining her team as a program manager.
She referred me for the role, which I eventually got. A few months after the wedding, I started at Amazon.
Switching to technology was a huge financial change for my family. Before Amazon, I worked as an hourly employee in a project management role outside of the tech industry. My husband and I didn’t think I would be able to continue working if we had children because my salary wouldn’t cover child care. Technology has changed that.
We could finally start thinking about starting a family.
In 2018, I left Amazon for a position as a technical program manager at Oracle. About a year later, I joined Twitter, where I worked until 2022, and moved to Colorado with my family during that time. I then ended up at LinkedIn, where I worked remotely as a technical program manager. I stayed there until I was fired.
It took me some time to process my dismissal
Under the terms of my discharge, I was technically silent employed at LinkedIn and receive my normal salary for two months, until mid-July. Then I would receive my severance pay.
What surprised me was the range of emotions I went through shortly after being discharged. It almost felt like a grieving process: I was sad, I was angry and I was going through all these different feelings.
After being laid off, I took a week or two before starting my job search. But I knew how long technical interviews could take, so I wanted to get the ball rolling.
Personal connections helped Felisha Case find opportunities during her engineering career. Felisha case
I got all my previous positions through personal connections
Personal connections played a role in every tech job I got, whether it was learning about an opportunity or a referral. I’ve tried to rely on my network in my job search and ask for referrals when I can. But I also apply for jobs where I have no connection.
Mine advice for job seekers If you want to leverage personal connections, don’t be afraid to reach out. Most people are happy to help you, and you probably won’t bother them.
Also, be open about your search with people in your community. You never know who knows someone who is hiring or knows of an opening that could be a good fit for you.
AI has made job hunting feel different
One thing I’ve noticed so far is how much AI seems to be part of the job search process. I think companies use this AI recruiting systems to exclude candidates, which reduces my chances of actually speaking to a recruiter.
I’ve also noticed that some employers seem to be very concerned about how I’m doing used AI in my previous role. I have some examples to share, but on LinkedIn there was a more serious push for employees to do that adopt AI tools just shortly before I left.
For people like me, AI was just starting to become part of the job, and now it can feel like we’re being asked to go back and get a whole new education in AI. Now that my kids are back in school, I’ve started spending more time experimenting with AI tools.
I’m trying to find an advantage to being unemployed
The fact that I am no longer working has been a big adjustment for me. This is the first time I’ve been away from work since I was 16, and the first time I’ve been home with my kids since I was on maternity leave.
While I’ve been apply for jobsnothing concrete has come through yet. I think there are a lot of technical program managers vying for positions right now, whether they have been laid off or are looking for a change.
My advice to anyone going through a layoff is that it’s okay to feel this way about it. Even if it’s not a personal decision, it can still feel personal. But try not to dwell on those feelings for too long. Keep yourself busy, whether that means taking a break or starting your job search right away. Find out what makes sense for you.
It’s a shitty situation. I don’t want to be unemployed. I don’t want to be looking for a job and feeling that pressure. But I also try to see the positive side.
In early August, I took a week-long break from looking for some kind of reset and focused on the last week of summer with my kids. I’ve had more time with them. That part was kind of fun.
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