I'm making an exit plan. Given my age (40+), I'm pretty sure I'll be the target for the next round of layoffs, and I'm pretty worried about whether I'll find a new job easily. I'm interested in what other things do you think will most influence the decision on who will be the target of the cuts?
9 replies (most recent on top)
Culture is also about pushing products that don’t work or takes 10 thousand hours to set up (and also don’t work or or no customers want to buy).... keep up the good work Cisco!!!!
There’s no target per age group, that’s plain nonsense. It’s purely cost optimisation.
Age is a by-product of cost optimization. The older you are, the more you make which puts a target on your back. If you make more than the median wage for your pay grade, you have a target on your back. The more you make above the median, the bigger the target.
There’s no target per age group, that’s plain nonsense. It’s purely cost optimisation. Your product range isn’t doing well? You’re a difficult employee with outdated skills? You’ve got a target on your back. Keep your skills up to date. If by now you can’t launch cloud instances, secure them and load-balance them for internet access it means you’re behind and need to catch up. Learn public cloud, get certified on AWS, Azure and GCP.
Perhaps management gets bonuses for cutting headcount also.
White Males Over 45 are the usual target group. Thinking of playing the trans game by putting on some lipstick and walking like a si--y. And don't forget THE flag, I will hang one on my desk at home and make sure it is visible during virtual meetings.
I work for a competitor and 70-80% of the people I interview are from Cisco. The resumes look good but most of the interviews are disappointing. We get a lot of “I didn’t personally actually create/implement/develop/test/automate/or work with customers on (this item on my resume that’s a requirement for the job) but I worked on a team that did”.
Prior to leaving you need to increase your skill set beyond the cult that seems to be Cisco. There are openings out there, but the picking for qualified candidates aren’t all that great. Landing a job at my company is easy if you appear to qualify in the interview. Age plays 0 part in our decisions. I’d rather interview and hire a 40-50 y/o who is still ambitious and hungry to learn and upskill than a person of any age whose motivation to learn has stagnated. That seems to be the majority of candidates I’ve interviewed within this demographic. I am in this age range myself.
It is pretty common for them to lay off solid employees by giving them low ratings during their reviews while bumping up ratings for others that are less deserving. That’s their way of getting rid of you. It’s all a game. How to influence you ask? If your not respected or recognized for the quality of the work you bring, then they don’t deserve having you there. Seems the culture is more about influencing rather than doing real work. If you have to influence your manager to keep your job, then it’s time to go as you are not recognized for your skills and talent. Greener pastures elsewhere. May the force be with you!!
Doing real work is not respected... leave while you can.
Focus on doing anything but real work and you will still have a job. Be a good suck up and you will still have a job. Do real quality work and you will NOT have a job.