For 1000’s of tech employees, layoffs have turn out to be one other headline in a protracted season of uncertainty.

However one LinkedIn post from a longtime Meta employee this week hit folks otherwise as a result of it carried each satisfaction and heartbreak in the identical breath.

Gary Tay, an AdTech Enterprise Assist Engineer at Meta, shared on LinkedIn that he had been laid off after spending almost a decade on the firm, simply months earlier than the delivery of his little one.

“Right now. I’m laid off. 3,544 days (9yrs, ~9mths),” Tay wrote in his publish.

Tay stated he was employed in London and later retrenched in Singapore, including that he had stayed on the firm longer than “99.5% of present workers globally” and “99.9% longer than anybody within the APAC workplace.”

Reflecting on his journey, he stated he was grateful for the chance to be a part of Fb’s early years and famous that not many Singaporeans may say that they had labored as engineers at each Meta and Microsoft for over 15 years.

He additionally spoke about spending the previous 12 months retraining himself in AI and constructing methods for groups. In accordance with Tay, these methods helped enhance work velocity by “200-300%” whereas sustaining service-level agreements for main shoppers.

“AI is right here to remain, apparently the human isn’t,” he wrote.

The ultimate line of the publish drew widespread consideration on-line. “I’ll be reassessing my profession choices within the subsequent few months whereas I patiently await my new child to return in July,” Tay stated.

Netizens response

The publish shortly unfold throughout LinkedIn, with professionals from the tech trade leaving messages of help, encouragement and concern over the rising influence of AI-led restructuring and layoffs.

“Your final paragraph is a superb positioning, an important reframe. I’m positive you will see that one thing you’ll enjoy very quickly,” a consumer wrote.

“My coronary heart goes out to you and everybody who obtained laid off. Such a very long time at any firm makes you develop connected,” one other stated.

“They hold telling everybody that AI isn’t changing folks. You simply proved that isn’t true,” a 3rd famous.