Latest / DevQuestions with Tim Corey / 223. Protect Yourself From Layoffs, Downsizing, and Losing Your Job

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223. Protect Yourself From Layoffs, Downsizing, and Losing Your Job · DevQuestions with Tim Corey

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Job certainty is mostly a thing of the past.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't already been laid off or downsized, the odds are it's going to happen to you at some point.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Even if your employer doesn't force you out, your position at work might get to the point where you feel you need to leave.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: So how do you protect yourself from job uncertainty?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: What can you do to ensure that you are in the best position possible before the inevitable happens?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about it.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Dev Questions podcast with Tim Corey.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Software development is more than just writing code.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about the rest of it.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, let's talk about protecting yourself from job uncertainty.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you own a house, you get home insurance in case something bad happens.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you own a car, you get car insurance to protect yourself in case of an accident.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: While there isn't something you can buy, there are ways to protect yourself against losing your job.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, be a good employee.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now this sounds like, oh, yeah, that makes that's obvious, right?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: But really, it's not always obvious.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: People often tend to overlook that.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: They think that their employer is just something to be mad at, and they should just, you know, try to get away with as much as possible.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what happens then when when layoffs come, your employer knows who to lay off.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So try to solve problems rather than create them.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And don't complain unless it's very important.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Having people that are complaining all the time, that are a drain on the team, you may be right about everything to complain about.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: But if you always complain about everything, you're not helping the team.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: You're not helping your manager, you're not helping your department, you're just making everybody miserable.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So pick your battles.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Don't try and die in every hill.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Try to pick the ones that are most important.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then work hard.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I do want to put a big asterisk there, within reason.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because the other side of this is your employer is going to want you to work as much as possible and to pay you as little as possible and to get the most out of you.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And while that's understandable, it's on you to make sure that you have clear boundaries and that you don't push yourself beyond those.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: When it starts with, oh, hey, can you stick around for an extra hour or two?
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: That might be okay.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: But if it becomes a habit, well, then all of a sudden your employer is taking more from you without really compensating you for it.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's when you have a conversation.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: So again, don't complain about every little thing, but when it's important, make sure that you set clear boundaries.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So work hard still and try to solve problems rather than create them.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: But be careful with your boundaries.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that's number one, just be a good employee.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes with layoffs, people have to choose which employees to let go.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And they often let the ones go that they are the least happy with or that are the ones that are the most frustratation, frustrating.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're the one that they go, we can't live without that person, well, then you're protecting yourself and your job as much as possible.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, number two is to keep your skills current.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's hard to get up to speed after the fact.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say that you're working for an employer who is using.NET framework.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: It happens.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: They're still out there, there's still quite a few that are working with a.NET framework, and you're working with you know, um back end only.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: But you get laid off and you say, really, I want to be more front-end focused.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: I want to work in a job that is working with maybe full stack or even front-end C work.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe that's the jobs you find in the area.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, guess what?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of hard to go from.NET framework and back-end coding to working in the front-end or full stack without some training.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: For example, I would encourage you if you're going to do that.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, go through the web development master course.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's 43 hours.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Go through the bootstrap course, bootstrap five course.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's seven hours.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And go through the Blazor course on in.NET 8, that's 14 hours.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And go through the web API course in.NET 8.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's 18 hours.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: 82 hours of video.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I recommend if you're trying to upskill into web or full stack development for C sharp.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: So 82 hours.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's already if you have the solid skills, you don't need to add a C Sharp master course, which is another 72 hours.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got a lot of work to do, and that's just the actual video hours.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have to put in four times that much, probably, of study work.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you can't just work eight hours a day studying.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's really hard to do.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: So you're already behind.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: But if you keep your skills current, well, then you've already done that over the course of a year or two years, and you continue to sharpen your skills so that you're ready to go, so that maybe you do lose your job, but you're ready to move into that new job.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, build new portfolio items.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is one that I see people failing to do, and it becomes the it goes to the point where why do you have a portfolio?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually doing more harm than good.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: A portfolio is supposed to prove what you can do to employers.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: So prove that you can do the job.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: But your code today should be much better than it was six months ago or a year ago.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are improving, that'll be the case.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever looked back at your old code and went, man, who was the idiot who wrote this?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And go, that was me.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've done that, I do that a lot.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: But then why are you putting that in your portfolio?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Why is that two-year-old code in your portfolio?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you showing off the stuff that you're like, ooh, that's not great code?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And yet you're saying to an employer, here's what I can do, because they're gonna say the same thing.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: So show off your best work by continuing to update your portfolio with new examples.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: That goes back to continue to improve your skills.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, this kind of goes along with it, update your resume.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Have your resume ready to go.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So if you get laid off on a Friday where your boss calls you in at 4 p.m.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: and says, hey, you're done, you should be able at 4:30 to send your resume out.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Walk out of the building, jump on your laptop, and say, Go.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Are you ready for that?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if you say, well, no, I'll take the weekend and I'll be ready by Monday or Tuesday, well, first of all, what are you doing in your resume?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Are you just putting your new stuff that you just did, or are you trying to say, ooh, let's fill some skill gaps here back to number three and number two?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: I've got to do some work on upskilling and portfolio.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're ready, you say, okay, it's already got my latest skills, already got my latest information, so I can send it out right away, which gets you ahead of the crowd.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you work in an organization that has, let's say, a hundred developers and they lay off 50, well, there are now 50 developers in your area looking for jobs.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of competition all at once.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're ready to go, if you have updated skills, if you have an updated portfolio that shows off what you can do, and you have an updated resume that points to your skills and how you can accomplish those for an organization, you're ready to go right away.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: You can get ahead of the crowd.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can put yourself in first to be the comparison that people look at instead of the thing that they say, oh, there's one more, but we already have somebody good.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you want to be the person that's the somebody good they've already found.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, number five, maintain industry connections.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Word of mouth can get you lots of opportunities.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And an internal recommendation increases your odds of success.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: We talked last week about what employers are looking for when they hire somebody.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that internal recommendation can get you past or at least help you on step two, where they're looking at can you do a job?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because that internal recommendation can say, hey, this person could do a job, and they already have that in the back of their mind.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: So word of mouth can be really helpful.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: This might just be mean your old coworkers, people that have left the organization before you that are now in different places.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: They are industry connections.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: It may be people you've met at user groups, it may be people you've talked to maintain industry connections.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not just I found something on LinkedIn and we connected.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what does this.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that doesn't hurt, but that's not what I'm talking about.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm talking about is a deeper connection where people actually know you.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that's number five.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the number one excuse I hear for why people don't take this advice is because they think it's too hard.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Following this plan is going to take some time and effort outside of work hours.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy to put off.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is that when layoffs come, they don't often come with a one-year warning.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, often people say they were surprised they lost their job.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And at that point, it's too late to be ready.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: You've missed that window.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Your next best bet is to do what you can to polish your resume and put it out there.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Your portfolio won't be that great and it won't put you in the best light.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: You probably also won't be the first to apply for positions in your area.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: So you're competing with your coworkers.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: You won't be able to add to your current skills for a while, which means that you either won't be able to land the job that you at all, or you won't be able to get a job that you're looking for.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have to work in that older technology or things you've been already using.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that might not set you up for long-term success.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: That might make things more difficult for you.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Treat these five steps as a cross between insurance and investment.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: The more time and effort you put into them, the better your insurance.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And as a bonus, you will also become more valuable to your current employer, making it more likely that you move up the ladder and you'll avoid layoffs.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, you can have more choice in who you work for.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: This is kind of like the golden opportunity, that the time you go, oh wow, this is so much better.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's a time you'll hit in your life if you follow this plan where you start to be able to make choices about where you work.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of employers saying, I guess we'll offer you a job, you'll have multiple employers saying, Would you take our job?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: That is liberating.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: But the way to do it is to work through these five steps.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how to protect yourself from layoffs, downsizing, and losing your job.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you won't be able to avoid the actual act of being laid off, but what you can do is protect yourself and allow yourself to have be in a better position to take the next job and move up and move forward rather than struggling to figure out what next to do.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: As always, I am Tim Corey.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us for this episode of Dev Questions.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: When you're ready to learn to think and code like a professional developer, head over to IamtimCorey.com and enroll in a course.