Thread regarding AT&T layoffs

@Xsnlb43-2tarq Wow. You did the exact same thing and got a job with AT&T and then turned that into a great job with great pay. So, your advice is to not do that. Genius.

Graduated TDP and joined Flexforce.

I advise people not to waste your youth at AT&T. Zero growth, underpaid, disgusting politics and dumb leadership metrics.

In the end, I left AT&T for a real tech job with 2x the pay. Never looked back.

If I were in your shoes, I would recognize that AT&T is now a cash cow to be milked/butchered in support of Stephenson's and Stankey's media mogul dreams.

There will be little room for a data scientist in the telco side of things. If you can get a gig on the media side, it might make some sense to stay, but you're probably never going to have access to the metadata AT&T owns and keeps forever, which is the only reason for a data scientist to stay here.

Save as much money as you can, and "Go west, young man," as it's expensive to live in Silicon Valley, but that's where you will want to be for the really interesting jobs.

While AT&T has the San Ramon Collaboration Zone out there, it's not going to be a growth company going forward, and there are MANY companies there which are, so I'd just use my AT&T experience on my resume, and look for interesting work from the firehose available for data science folks in Silicon Valley more generally.

To the O.P.,

I laid off last Sept, but I asked my 2nd to lay me off. I'm in silicon valley and am just about 60 so I really retired. If you have the degrees you say you have you need to go to a high tech company somewhere. You will lose your skills at AT&T. If you were here you would probably start at $150,000 a year at a true .com company.

As a recent college grad with your whole life ahead of you, WHY IN THE WORLD would you want to waste another day working for AT&T??? Get out now and start building useful skills with a quality company that will enhance your resume and your future.

Working for the AT&T Corporation (until they lay you off) is a waste of valuable time.

Head for zee hills kid. You'll be far better off. Those of us that stared here at your age and are now sitting around here for 25 years or more don't have the flexibility you do. Throw a kid or 2 in college into the equation and the discussion changes dramatically. Toxic and unhealthy as the culture is, we're kind of trapped here. There's no upside here anymore.

Get the heck out as soon as you can.

Horace Greeley was a mo--n.

Become a plumber or electrician because at the end of a day you can actually say you've done something. Also, don't come west as you'll become a useless hipster,

I am sad the talent wants to leave but i am not surprised folks feel this way . This company has changed so much in the 24 years i have been here. This was a great company to work for for many years.

Thanks all for the advice, this is the original poster. I thought AT&T was a place I could stay awhile, but everyone’s consensus seems to be mirroring my fears. In regards to the comment about “AT&T eating it’s young”, I noticed that pretty early on. Almost everyone I know that’s within 10 years of my age in the company is a fellow TDP. Young talent does not stay. Yes, I am a millennial. No, I am not lazy. I work my a-- off. But the changing workplace, especially for those of us “techies” is a prioritization on flexibility and freedom. Now with this recent round of cuts they’re telling us we pretty much can’t WFH and we have to live where they basically tell us to. That is not a strategy to compete with the other tech giants and to retain talent. Maybe they’ll get it eventually.

RUN!

Looking back on the 40years I spent as an employee of "Ma Bell", I can say with conviction the new AT&T eats its young.

To take a world class company that was dominant in its industry, a company that was the embodiment of what it meant to be an American company, a company that provided lifetime employment (and was proud of it). To take that company to where it is today and how it is looked upon in the present, is an example of how workers rights are just so much lip service.

AT&T's whole focus from the cord boards to one person test has been to automate and create efficiencies. Until recently they did that using their own employee's but that is no longer the model.

Find a job that treats you as a person, if you can tolerate the dis-honest corporate environment ( it's about not telling the truth), then you can benefit monetarily. That is all you have from AT&T.

I had to lay off level 1's and the only ones I had were TDP so they made me let them go

Get away from AT&T as fast as you can. All of Corp. America is sick. So watch where you go...get all promises in writing one year at a time. Only make bets on yourself! Start putting 25% away for your retirement!

do you read news? do you talk to other US employees? do you hear Randall? Why are you asking questions? by now should should know what to do

Move on. Not a place for a young talented guy/girl. With all the layoffs they will pile a lot of work on you, setting you up for failure and/or burnout. Best of luck!

It would be good for the Board to read all these reply’s and let it sink in. The best and the brightest want out at the beginning of their career!

Run

TDP Graduate here as well. The corporate culture here is sickening but I don’t know any different. From my class, I’ve seen a handful of poor performers quit on their own, top performers chosen for surplus, and other top performers lost climbing over themselves to volunteer for the MVO voluntary severance offer last year. None of us feel safe after exiting our TDP phase even all in Collaboration Zones.

If you want to relo to a different CZ, you’ll have no immediate pushback within TDP or Flex Force. It’s not an uncommon move and is quick and easy.

If you want to relo outside of a CZ, you need to find a different job internally or externally. I know TDPers who joined different organizations to make moves because Flex Force leadership told them they’d be moving away from their job. This is made more difficult as many more internal organizations are using location as a business criteria whereas before they did not care one iota.

If your move is for sure, do it before you settle down with a spouse and kids and a house. It is infinitely easier to move at this point of your life.

I got chopped a year ago. I was top performer in my team but did not live near collaboration zone. Funny thing, a much younger guy on my team with an Ivy Degree, and a minority too, told me how upset he was about the way I was treated. He quit the company about 8 months later. Made me feel good. Believe me, everyone on every team knows the abysmal failure of today's AT&T leadership. Somebody will make good money someday writing MBA books about all the strategic and tactical blunders by AT&T leadership the past 10 years. Can't make this stuff up!

Get out while you are young and have a skill that others will pay for.

Update your resume, references, etc. TAKE Interviews. It's much easier to find a job when you don't NEED a job.

Good Luck.

I came from the TDP program and got sold the dream too and saw some of my peers get let go as soon as they left the TDP program. Some got let go months after. You did the right thing by pursuing your masters, now it's time for you to leave once you no longer have to pay back that money. When I saw people being let go the majority of my time was spent self learning in demand skill sets. I put AT&T work on the back burner. I make over six figures now. They wanted me to take on more work with no promotion, I just laugh and did the bare minimum lol. Imagine your peers with senior title leaving and you take on their work load with no promotion.

I would never see that type of salary at AT&T until I am gray . The only thing I'd advise you is to not waste time working on AT&T specific jobs. ...the PLE non sense is some feel good b.s to keep you busy that means zero internally and externally.

Anyways, don't stay at AT&T, you can probably make way more money elsewhere.

Go west young man