Thread regarding VMware layoffs

Gotta be honest, if it wouldn't be for the pay I'd totally would.

No , i have family to feed. IT is one of the best pay industry, why would i leave. Layoff is common across all the industries.

I've been a at VMware for nearly two years. I'm not thinking about leaving the tech industry, but I'm eager to leave this company. Frankly, I'd welcome a layoff package. Our Director is focused on doing as much 'busy work' as possible because he's terrified of losing his job when Broadcom closes the deal. In contrast, I couldn't care less if or when the deal closes.

what i have seen change over 20 years is people know tech companies offer great benefits and rsu's. So large tech companies bloat as they attract more groups of non technical or non customer facing people who 'want to get into tech'. Was on training recently spoke to a few who could not really articulate what they do, non tech, non customer facing just seemed internal admin, one a director with one report. I am sure there are some cushy jobs here if you can get one that starts ups to mid size do not have but it has always been a global fast paced grind, dont think ive ever done less than 50 hours week

I left VMW over a year ago to work for arguably one of the most relevant, respected, fastest growing SaaS companies in the industry. While I dont regret leaving, it still f@*&^ng sucks. Simple tasks require a monumental amount of work to complete, most of the extended teams and mid mgrs are inexperienced (for what we do), and it takes 1-3 years to close ANY business.

On top of that, the new "wokeforce" have no idea what it means to grind things out, take no accountability, and will pass the buck more times than not.

After 20+ years I can confidently say this great industry has morphed into a shadow of it itself. Opening up an ice cream stand or pressure wash business doesn't sound half bad anymore.

Yes it is something I consider most days - but I have been working in the industry since 2005 so it's likely time for a change whether I was with VMware or another tech company.

I left it after being in it for decades. It was probably the best decision I've made. Its refreshing to sit in meetings and not have to listen to people go on and on with the non-stop acronyms and smoke and mirror naval-gazing nonsense. The OP is correct. The IT and tech industry is very unstable. I lost my job several times for reasons that I had nothing to do with. Two startups failed. Another large tech firm canceled my contract out of the blue with no explanation. As soon as the BC deal got announced I started looking. A lot of people have a glamorous impression of this industry. To many its all about the free lunch, the millions of dollars to potentially be made and hoodies. The truth is that it sucks. All of it. Its really just about making billionaires even more billions and employees are merely seen as expendable assets.

The "not enough workers" is a misconception.

There are a lot of open jobs, but the industry will only hire low-paid workers. We still get hundreds and hundreds of in-country resumes for every req. The vast majority of open reqs are for low-cost hires.

So jobs that require 10 years of experience and pay USD$80k will sit open for months, then close when the company retasks an internal to do the work. Or company decides they don't really need that role.

My team is a sub-set of IT. Very specialized and high stress work. A job that is always changing and requires the team to be constantly on their game. The burnout across my field is real. When doing your 50 hours/week work also requires weekend hours just to stay on top of new solutions, it is more appealing to open a pressure washing company every day.

News have been saying companies struggling to hire IT workers and near impossible to fill those tech jobs. There's the reason why visas workers been brought in because this country is running out of tech talents. In fact, companies have been lobbying to increase the work visa quotas. You are free to leave the industry, another visa worker will fill the gap in no time. Nearly 500K H1B applications and only 85K approved. 2024 predicted to have 780K applications. While we have many fresh grad out of jobs.

Yes it has crossed my mind many times. Fortunately the industry pays very well that many will still do well outside of it, if they were prudent enough to save during the lavish times.