I know this sort of thing is tough for a lot of people. Especially those that have never gone through it. I for one have been impacted by layoff rounds more than once in my career. All three enterprise-sized companies I worked before here have gone through the same thing. This is not uncommon and will happen every now and then. I am actually no longer even able to care of or if I get hit again. I've come to accept this as part of a somewhat normal for-profit business practice.
Sure, I know my words won't help many people, but I would be happy if at least 1 person reading this realizes that the problem is not the company, and that this should not be such a surprise, no matter where you work. I've learned to consider it a possibility. Always.
Besides the times I was impacted in the past, I have "survived" at least 7 or 8 similar rounds in my career, and one thing that seems to make a difference is to be part of an extremely valuable, almost irreplaceable, small team, and work extremely hard and smart. When you are part of a team with those qualities, the business gets more affected by letting you go than by keeping you on the payroll. So that increases your chances of being safe, in case it's not just a matter of saving money, but also, not losing money by getting rid of the wrong people. When the business looks further ahead of just the payroll number, 95% of the time, teams like this remain untouched.
For those of you that are not in peace with the possibility getting laid off, think about this... If you love what you do, you work hard, and smart, leaving one employer allows you to get a new one. If you are valuable, any company that hires you will be lucky. Not the other way around. You are not lucky for working in any particular place. They are lucky to have you with them.
This is so true, that I can only think of one more thing to say... Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Change the world. Don't let the world change you.
Posted by @PzQ6B2O-1mlh.