Speaker 1 (0:15) Hey there, and welcome to episode 16 of the IT guy show. (0:18) I'm your host, Eric, the IT guy Hendrix, and I am really excited to be joining you. (0:22) I mean, we've spent the last several weeks together talking about everything from Lumiri to working for government entities to to talking about, like, get ups and what that means for for Linux systems administration. (0:38) And one of the things I hope to accomplish with the show is always to provide information, things that I wish I'd known, that I've experienced in my career ahead of time. (0:47) So this is hopefully my chance to help give you a leg up to advance in your career, to be prepared for some of the pitfalls. Speaker 1 (0:56) And until I can figure out how to send this backwards in time, this is this is the best I can do is is pay it forward. (1:03) I I can't send this back to myself when I started in the IT space. (1:08) So here's my chance to try and help all of you. (1:13) So today's gonna be a little bit different type of episode. (1:16) First off, because today's topic is very personal to me. Speaker 1 (1:19) It's happened a couple of times in my career, and it's something that I wanna be prepared for again. (1:27) Second of all, I don't have a guest today. (1:29) It's just me flying solo. (1:31) So I want to give this a try, see what you all thought, as well as give give it a shot, see if if this was something that I enjoyed. (1:39) Or, most of the time, I I prefer to have a cohost or a guest, someone who I can play off their energy. Speaker 1 (1:45) So we'll see how this goes. (1:47) So I I titled this episode very specifically, to say when the layoff comes, and that's what we're gonna be talking about today. (1:54) This sudden removal of a position that you expected was going to be there for a while. (2:00) I I like to I like to define our terms, and and so that's kind of my my definition of a layoff is, well, this is something that happened. (2:10) It wasn't expected. Speaker 1 (2:11) A lot of times, the story is the same. (2:13) I went into work this day. (2:14) I got called into my boss's office. (2:15) A member of HR was there, and I went home that before lunch with a box full of my stuff from my desk and and no job. (2:24) So it's usually abrupt. Speaker 1 (2:25) It's usually unexpected. (2:27) It's usually unforeseen. (2:28) And that's exactly what happened to me earlier this year. (2:32) In fact, I remember the exact moment that I joined the Google Meet meeting. (2:38) I've been with this team for about four months, and I just thought, hey. Speaker 1 (2:41) My supervisor, my boss's boss is is you know, finally had a chance to get connected with me and say hello and welcome to the team. (2:50) And as I joined, my supervisor and a member of HR joined at the exact same moment. (2:58) When that happened, my stomach just dropped. (3:01) My brain went blank because I knew exactly what was going to happen. (3:05) It wasn't supposed to happen. Speaker 1 (3:07) It wasn't going to happen to me again, but it did. (3:11) And I say again because this this happened to me when I first got when I got my first job out of college. (3:17) I was working for a medical software firm, and they like to hire students straight out of college. (3:23) So I got my bachelor's and and started working there about a month later. (3:29) I'd been there for about eighteen months, and I'd I'd elected to join a team that was experimenting with an intranet, basically an internal social social media platform. Speaker 1 (3:41) And they they hired a couple of us. (3:43) And after about eighteen months, I got called into one of the conference rooms, and my supervisor was there and someone I didn't recognize. (3:51) This person was a member of the HR team and they were there to, sign my termination papers. (3:59) They they tried building this internal social network. (4:03) Really wasn't working out. Speaker 1 (4:04) They didn't have any other openings for me, and so I was I was let go. (4:10) And so, you know, eighteen months out of college, I'd already been laid off. (4:13) And I just thought, you know, it was a fluke. (4:15) They had a reputation for that kind of thing. (4:18) It'll never happen to me again. Speaker 1 (4:20) Disclaimer. (4:22) Debate this with me if you want in the comments, but here's here's my thinking. (4:26) Layoffs are inevitable, especially in a job market, in an economy like today that is more unstable and more uncertain than I've ever seen in my career, in my lifetime, in fact. (4:38) We're not sure what's gonna happen next. (4:40) There's so many unknowns between government policies, AI, quantum computing, the use of AI directly in some of our fields. Speaker 1 (4:50) There's just so much uncertainty right now that I've gotta tell you, a layoff is inevitable. (4:55) If you haven't gone through one, expect that you will. (4:59) If you have gone through one, it's not a one off deal. (5:02) You could very well go through it again. (5:06) It may not happen today. Speaker 1 (5:07) It may not happen next month. (5:08) It may not happen in the next five years, But it is a reality of the industry that we work in. (5:14) Technology is always shifting. (5:15) It's always changing. (5:16) But the good news is most of us got into technology because we like to adapt. Speaker 1 (5:20) We like to learn new things. (5:21) We like to try out new things. (5:23) So we have to be ready to adapt with it. (5:25) So there's a couple of reasons why I picked this topic for this week's episode. (5:29) First off, I have an amazing guest joining us in in two weeks. Speaker 1 (5:34) His name's Jeffrey, and he's been working on cracking the code of using LinkedIn jobs to find work, which when you're out of work is really important. (5:42) But I wanted to prepare you to lay the groundwork now mentally, emotionally for what you might need, in our next episode. (5:50) So definitely hit the subscribe button. (5:53) That way you get notified when when our next episode goes live. (5:56) But the other reason why I picked this topic was it took me months to kinda work through the emotions, to kinda work through the feels, to get a get more than just my own perspective of what happened. Speaker 1 (6:10) So it took me some time to process that and really think through what happened, what I did well, what I would do differently, and some tips that I would share with you. (6:19) So that's that's kind of our agenda today. (6:23) So what what happened? (6:24) A lot of you know that I I spent a lot of my career as a systems administrator, IT operations. (6:29) And then, goodness, about six or seven years ago, I left IT ops and went into the product space. Speaker 1 (6:34) I was in sales for a little bit, and then I found my true love in marketing. (6:38) And I did that with a product, a Linux product that I'd used pretty much my entire career and never expected I'd go to work for for the company that I did. (6:48) Now quick disclaimer here. (6:50) This isn't to disparage my employer. (6:52) This isn't me taking shots at them. Speaker 1 (6:55) This is just me sharing knowledge and experience that I had in the hopes that it helps someone else better prepare for the realities of our industry. (7:04) So it doesn't take much to figure out who I was working for and who I'm talking about and who laid me off, but I'll leave that to you just because as a small attempt to just say, look, this isn't this isn't me attacking anyone. (7:17) This is just me trying to prepare you, my audience, to to be ready for what couldn't come or what may have happened recently. (7:28) So with that disclaimer in mind, I moved into marketing, and I really loved what I was doing. (7:33) I had an amazing product. Speaker 1 (7:35) I had some of the best coworkers that I've ever worked with, several of which I still talk to a couple of times a week or play video games with once in a while. (7:44) So I built some amazing relationships over five and a half years at this company. (7:49) So after about a year at at this Linux company, I moved to product marketing. (7:55) And I wrote blogs, and I attended conferences, and I did meetups, and I hosted not one, but two recurring podcasts, very similar to the way that this one's structured. (8:06) But after almost four years as a product marketer, started to feel like I was stale. Speaker 1 (8:11) Not that I'd run out of things to say, not that we'd run out of work to do, but I just felt like I was stuck in a rut. (8:18) And so instead of trying to shake things up or waiting for things to shake up themselves, I started looking on the internal job board and trying to find a team where I could kinda shake things up and learn new things and grow and stretch myself, which leads me to one of my tips is that if you don't have to find a new job, it may not be a bad idea to stay. (8:38) Because I changed teams and was working in the partner space. (8:46) Looking back, I have to say that the interview process was a failure. (8:49) And I don't say that to be hateful. Speaker 1 (8:51) I say that because the interview process is like dating. (8:54) You spend some time getting to know each other, learning each other's interests, likes, and dislikes, and ultimately deciding if you're going to be a good fit. (9:02) Because let's face it, a lot of us talk to our manager more than we talk to our own spouse. (9:06) So it's very much a both ways kind of conversation. (9:11) So the problem was I went in with some preconceived notions as to what this position was going to be. Speaker 1 (9:16) Their needs ended up being very different. (9:18) So about six or eight weeks in, I was trying to pivot. (9:24) While I was trying to pivot, the marketing story for our partners was changing as well. (9:30) It was going through some program revamp, some of the messaging was changing, so their needs changed. (9:35) At the same time, I was trying to pivot. Speaker 1 (9:37) So it's like trying to hit a moving target blindfolded. (9:41) Both sides were trying to change at the same time. (9:45) I had mentioned that that I got a meeting request from my supervisor out of the blue. (9:50) It'd been, you know, about three, four months, you know, just enough time to get onboarded and started start doing real work again. (9:58) I was like, oh, you know, just a just a chance to chat. Speaker 1 (10:01) Awesome. (10:01) You know? (10:01) I'd I'd only met my supervisor, like, once at a conference for about seventeen seconds in passing. (10:07) Hey. (10:07) I'm so and so. Speaker 1 (10:08) Hi. (10:08) So and so. (10:09) I'm, you know, I'm so and so. (10:11) It's great to meet you. (10:12) And, you know, we parted ways, and that was that was all the interaction that we had face to face. Speaker 1 (10:19) So you can imagine trying to pivot and pivot the messaging, the work that you were doing, and your expectations all at the same time was was pretty stressful. (10:28) And I was I was kinda burning out. (10:30) I was I was tired. (10:31) I was stressed. (10:32) I was frustrated. Speaker 1 (10:33) It was dragging down my family. (10:35) And but just as I'd committed to give it a year, you know, I was like, you know, I can do anything for a year. (10:44) I'm gonna do it for a year. (10:45) I'll learn some things. (10:46) And if need be, I'll move on to something else after that. Speaker 1 (10:52) Well, a year didn't come because literally thirty six hours after I made that promise to myself and my family that this is what I was doing, I'd moved on from what I was doing, and now, you know, now this is this is my reality. (11:04) I got let go. (11:08) I can laugh about it now. (11:10) The moment that meeting started, I knew what was going to happen. (11:14) And so I steeled myself and kinda shut off my emotions. Speaker 1 (11:18) Not a healthy thing to do, but sometimes necessary. (11:22) So sort of one of the things that I did well was I immediately put put some things into motion. (11:29) Soon as that call ended, I reached out to anyone on my network, anyone in LinkedIn that I knew worked in a space that I could I could I could be successful in and started saying, hey. (11:39) I I, you know, I think this is this is what's going to happen. (11:44) You know, I could use your help. Speaker 1 (11:45) If you know of anybody that's hiring or if your team's hiring, please let me know. (11:50) I I went and signed up for some job boards. (11:52) I went out and polished up my resume, updated my LinkedIn profile that day, and and stepped away thinking, this will be easy. (12:01) I'll have a new job in no time. (12:03) It was the next day that all of the emotions hit that I realized, oh my gosh. Speaker 1 (12:09) I haven't had to job hunt in years. (12:13) That the last several job transitions were on my terms at my pace, And now all of a sudden, I've gotta find a job. (12:22) So I didn't do anything that day. (12:24) I just I went through the emotions up and down and angry and sad and hurt and numb and back to angry and then driven, you know, this is my chance to retell my story. (12:36) This is my chance to build something new. Speaker 1 (12:40) And so so that was something that I wish I would have done better was didn't really give myself some time to grieve because let's face it. (12:51) When you have a job that you love with a company that you identify with, it's a it's it's a loss. (12:56) It's an emotional loss when that goes away. (13:01) You know, I've I've left jobs that I liked for something that I knew I was gonna like even more and it was still painful. (13:06) So when you leave something that you like in a place that you're comfortable against your will, it literally is like a loss. Speaker 1 (13:16) And so not spending the time grieving like I should have, it kinda led to some bitterness. (13:21) It kinda led to some impatience in the interview process. (13:24) So as as I went forward, that's that's something I wish I would have done differently. (13:28) So a week went by, no job leads, not a single interview. (13:32) Two weeks went by, I'd had one interview. Speaker 1 (13:36) Three weeks three weeks went by, hardly any any leads. (13:41) Because the problem was it wasn't just me that got laid off. (13:44) Across our industry, so many companies are doing layoffs. (13:48) It is a reality of our existence. (13:50) Science and technology are not the certainty that we thought that they were going to be. Speaker 1 (13:55) The industry is changing. (13:57) The economic climate across the globe is changing. (14:00) Government politics are impacting how the job market relates. (14:03) AI and quantum computing quantum computing are two technologies that are on the horizon. (14:10) AI is changing how we do work. Speaker 1 (14:13) Whether we like it or not, whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we agree with how fast AI is being adopted or not, it is a reality. (14:21) And with that comes uncertainty. (14:23) And with uncertainty, companies tend to tighten their belts. (14:27) Sometimes companies have to let go of a few to ensure the stability of many. (14:33) And, yes, all my nerds out there, I heard it too. Speaker 1 (14:36) Spock just said the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one. (14:40) And so, you know, around the same time that I got let go, Microsoft laid off 6,000 employees. (14:46) Around the same time, Intel laid off tons of employees. (14:52) Startups closed their doors. (14:54) VC firms became more selective about the types of technology that they were that they were funding. Speaker 1 (15:03) Companies pivoted. (15:04) Companies changed their job needs. (15:06) It it is a reality of our industry. (15:09) And if you haven't been laid off, be prepared. (15:12) You could be laid off. Speaker 1 (15:13) If you've been laid off, you're not immune. (15:15) This is a this is a virus that can come back. (15:18) There's no inoculation against it. (15:21) People that are very public facing, people that have been in positions for years, even more than a decade or fifteen years, aren't immune to being laid off. (15:32) It's just a reality. Speaker 1 (15:33) And sooner that you can accept that it's a reality, the sooner you can be in a mindset to prepare for that. (15:39) And that's kinda what I wanna talk about a little bit. (15:43) As as I kinda wrap up my story, one of the things I did right was I didn't sit still. (15:51) I stayed active on LinkedIn. (15:55) I kept engaging with people that I knew worked in spaces that might have worked for me. Speaker 1 (16:03) I I engaged with my wife and my kids. (16:06) And then then I did something that at the time felt kind of ridiculous, but also a little desperate, and maybe a little bit like giving up. (16:15) Actually, went to work for a gas station. (16:18) So, yes, I've I'm used to managing hundreds of thousands of dollars of hardware inventory or running multi thousand dollar social media campaigns, and I went to work for a gas station. (16:31) Some of you may be familiar with the brand QuikTrip. Speaker 1 (16:34) They're a convenience store kind of in the Southern to Midwestern states of The United States. (16:41) They're a gas station that pride themselves on customer service, on efficiency, on quality. (16:48) And, you know, they and the funny thing is QuikTrip really helped shape my personality. (16:54) Many that know me know that I'm actually an introvert. (16:57) I would be just as happy hiding in a dark corner, playing on my laptop, and not talking to anyone as I would being in the middle of attention at a conference. Speaker 1 (17:06) Being outgoing is very exhausting for me, and so working at QuickTrip really gave me some tools that I would need at this stage of my career to be able to go into a space and talk to literally hundreds of people in an in an eight hour period, to be friendly and smile and outgoing even if you're exhausted or even if you're recording a segment of a podcast for a second time because you forgot you muted your microphone and then done unmight unmute your microphone. (17:33) Not that that's ever happened or is happening right now. (17:36) But when I worked there in college, I learned how to how to be outgoing despite being an introvert. (17:45) And so that's really helped shape my career now. (17:48) And so it seems seemed like going home a little bit. Speaker 1 (17:51) The only problem was I ended up working overnights. (17:53) Working overnights is not something conducive to applying for IT jobs where those people work during the day. (18:01) It's not conducive to being with a family. (18:03) It was also a significant pay cut, but it was the right call. (18:09) Not just because it meant that I wasn't unemployed. Speaker 1 (18:13) Sure. (18:14) It kinda kept us going. (18:15) It kinda kept kept us from from missing too many loans, loan payments, and bills that we needed to pay. (18:22) As it as it stood, we only missed one loan payment one month, so we had to pay just a single late fee. (18:28) So QuikTrip really helped me out. Speaker 1 (18:29) They they bailed me out. (18:30) They paid me just enough to to kind of help my family get by for a few months. (18:36) I was there for ninety six days. (18:38) The work was grueling. (18:40) The stress was incredible going from being a day dweller to nights, going from sitting sedentary at a desk to to then working at a gas station on my feet for nine hours carrying around 60 pound crates for hours. Speaker 1 (18:57) I lost 15 pounds in ninety six days. (19:01) I don't recommend it as a diet and exercise plan. (19:03) But needless to say now, I've hired a personal trainer, and I'm trying to stay in shape, because I don't wanna do that again. (19:11) And so after ninety six days well, I'm just shy of ninety six days because I gave two weeks notice. (19:15) I actually got two jobs in two days. Speaker 1 (19:18) The first, I'm back in product marketing. (19:20) I'm making content. (19:21) I'm recording videos. (19:22) I spoke at a conference not too long ago, writing blogs, and and I'm back to doing the kinds of things that I enjoy doing. (19:30) I'm still in the Linux and open source space. Speaker 1 (19:32) Wasn't where I was, but, you know, this is a new chance to kinda build an to build something fresh, to to kind of expand and change my my own career path. (19:45) And the second job wasn't something that I would consider, but it's kind of pivotal to my success story over the past few months because someone on my LinkedIn network sent me a job posting for an adjunct professor, which is basically a part time teacher here at Johnson County Community College here in Kansas City. (20:07) So I'm actually now in the early weeks of teaching my first ever class, and it has been so fulfilling. (20:16) A lot of what I do in marketing is is basically the role of a teacher. (20:21) And in fact, I've used that in in job interviews for marketing positions is I feel like a technology teacher, a translator, someone who takes product information and translates it into customer problem statements. Speaker 1 (20:35) And I feel like that's what I'm doing as a teacher. (20:37) I'm taking knowledge and I'm translating it into things that students can adjust to. (20:42) And that's that's been so fulfilling. (20:45) And and so because of my LinkedIn network, I never would have considered it. (20:51) It got sent to me and I blew it off. Speaker 1 (20:53) It was like, teacher. (20:54) No. (20:55) I'm not a teacher. (20:56) I slept on it and woke up the next day and went, hey, dummy. (21:02) Yeah. Speaker 1 (21:02) You you are a teacher. (21:03) In fact, you talk about teaching being a passion of yours, learning something new and sharing it with somebody else. (21:08) That's what that's what all this is about. (21:10) And I wouldn't be there. (21:13) I wouldn't be teaching right now if it weren't for this layoff process and if it weren't for my network, if it weren't for being engaged with people. Speaker 1 (21:22) It's it's an amazing situation to have been in. (21:27) So what does that mean for all of you? (21:30) Learn from my mistakes. (21:33) Learn from my experiences. (21:35) Some things that I did right. Speaker 1 (21:36) I reached out to my network early and often. (21:39) I engaged with people. (21:41) I collaborated with people on opportunities. (21:44) I talked I I checked in with people that were going through similar things or had recently gone through similar things. (21:51) I got support that I needed. Speaker 1 (21:55) And, eventually, that network came back with with not one, but two different jobs. (22:02) The other thing that I did well is I didn't do it like I wanted to do and just shut everything off, just leave everything. (22:13) I posted a few times. (22:14) I shared what I was feeling on LinkedIn. (22:16) Some of the other social media platforms, not as much, but definitely stayed engaged on LinkedIn. Speaker 1 (22:20) And then especially after I was working overnights with QuickTrip, I built a consistent daily rhythm. (22:25) I didn't need to go to the gym because I was getting plenty of that working overnights, but, you know, I I would spend some time reading. (22:34) I would spend some time job hunting. (22:35) I would, of course, spend time working. (22:37) I would spend some time intentionally catching up with my kids and my wife. Speaker 1 (22:43) And eventually, about halfway through that ordeal, I started setting aside time to do nothing. (22:49) You know? (22:49) Wednesday nights and Thursday nights were were my weekends. (22:52) So Wednesdays, I would sleep in, which for you all would look like sleeping through the day. (23:02) I would play Call of Duty, or I started rewatching, like, key episodes of Stargate s g one. Speaker 1 (23:11) You know, just little things to kind of help keep me in the fight. (23:15) And then Thursday overnights were my major job push. (23:19) That's when I would work on my resume. (23:20) That's when I would put on job applications, all that kind of thing. (23:23) And then Friday night through Tuesday night were my shifts. Speaker 1 (23:27) So I'm trying to have a consistent daily rhythm. (23:31) It took me a couple of months to find it, especially switching my my sleep schedule, but, you know, it it helped having a daily rhythm. (23:39) How does that apply to you? (23:41) Maybe you're looking for a job or maybe you're without a job and you're really looking for a job. (23:46) Have that daily rhythm. Speaker 1 (23:48) Have those processes. (23:49) Have those breaks built in because let's face it. (23:52) Job hunting is a job. (23:55) It is the worst job I've ever had. (23:59) You have the worst boss you'll ever work for, and the pay is atrocious. Speaker 1 (24:04) Job hunting is a brutal, brutal discipline, but it is just that. (24:09) It's a job. (24:10) And so you have to build boundaries. (24:11) You have to schedule these things. (24:13) Schedule some time to just put in the slog of resumes and job applications, and then have a lunch break. Speaker 1 (24:20) And then spend the afternoon learning a new skill. (24:23) You know, sign up for Udemy course or something. (24:25) They different courses go on sale for ridiculous discounts. (24:28) Pick one up. (24:29) Invest in your future. Speaker 1 (24:30) Learn a new skill. (24:32) Shore up an existing skill. (24:34) And then another another afternoon, spend some time spend some extra time working out, going taking yourself out to lunch. (24:45) Another afternoon, spend it preparing for job interviews. (24:49) My my Git repo on GitLab still has different projects from companies that I was going through their getting started guides, learning their products, getting ready for job interviews. Speaker 1 (25:04) So what would I do differently? (25:09) Earlier in the process, I wish I would have taken more time to process. (25:12) Let's face it. (25:13) I had a job I liked at a company that I loved. (25:16) And when that was suddenly when that suddenly went away, it was a loss. Speaker 1 (25:24) It was an emotional I don't wanna say trauma. (25:27) I don't wanna over oversell this. (25:30) But it was an impact. (25:32) It was a loss. (25:33) Take time to process. Speaker 1 (25:38) I I've used a journal for years. (25:41) I write things down. (25:42) I think things through, and I process through it. (25:47) Take the time to recover. (25:49) Take the time to grieve. Speaker 1 (25:51) Take the time to reestablish your own identity. (25:58) Another thing that I would do differently is be more strategic on the applications that I do put in because the interview process is brutal. (26:06) And AI and the job screening software that's out there makes it really, really hard to get an interview. (26:14) So don't just go out and shotgun approach, you know, scatter your resume wherever and just hope that something happens. (26:21) Spick just pick more specific targeted jobs to apply for. Speaker 1 (26:27) Quant quality over quantity. (26:30) And then the other thing that I would do differently is to reaffirm who I was. (26:36) Be a part of who I was. (26:39) I I stepped down from a pod a community focused podcast I was doing in in the Linux space because I didn't feel connected to the content anymore. (26:48) And with that decision, I started to feel more like I just I hadn't been true to myself that, like, that part of myself was was was dying off. Speaker 1 (27:01) But I needed to reestablish who I was, and that's that's part of the driver behind revamping this podcast and restarting it, gosh, seven episodes ago. (27:09) So fourteen, fifteen weeks ago, I relaunched the show because I want to stay grounded in my identity. (27:16) I wanna remember who I am, what I bring to the table, and not allow myself to to fall into that that period of doubt. (27:25) So just because today's a solo episode doesn't mean that it wasn't contributed to by others. (27:30) There were people in my own network that contributed some of the ideas for for the section. Speaker 1 (27:36) There I looked at blogs and people's own stories, you know, things that I drew upon during my own during my own season of of layoffs. (27:48) First off is optimizing your LinkedIn profile. (27:52) That was huge. (27:53) More and more companies are looking at LinkedIn as a as a portfolio, as a resume. (27:59) In fact, a lot of job opportunities that you get, you can actually import your LinkedIn profile as part of your application. Speaker 1 (28:07) So in fact, Jeffrey Ullman, who's done a ton of research on this topic, will be on the show in two weeks to talk about this. (28:15) So that's kinda why we're doing this episode. (28:17) I I kinda want to stage the conversation with with Jeffrey with some some of my own story. (28:26) So optimizing your LinkedIn profile, you know, get your resume ready. (28:29) We'll talk a little bit about that in two weeks. Speaker 1 (28:32) So if you wanna catch that episode, if you want some tips from Jeffrey who's done a ton of research, make sure you hit that subscribe button. (28:39) That way you get notified when whenever I go live. (28:42) But LinkedIn is a huge piece of the job hunting process nowadays. (28:47) And it's kinda funny because he and I were talking as we're planning the the next episode that it's it's kinda hard to to remember sometimes that Microsoft actually bought LinkedIn. (28:56) They they hardly do any any branding on on their own on their own site. Speaker 1 (29:01) So it's great that that that fear years ago oh my gosh. (29:05) I still remember. (29:06) LinkedIn is dead. (29:07) Microsoft bought it. (29:08) Run away. Speaker 1 (29:08) And how that hasn't happened. (29:10) Anyway, optimize your LinkedIn profile. (29:13) We'll talk about that in two weeks. (29:15) Use job loss as a chance to reassess your goals. (29:19) I would be lying if if I didn't say that there weren't days where I thought about staying as an assistant manager at QuikTrip. Speaker 1 (29:25) Going from just talking to people and working with my hands and and not being stuck behind a computer screen all day was really appealing. (29:33) And my wife and I talked about it seriously on a number of occasions. (29:36) Do I go back into IT? (29:38) Do I go back into product? (29:40) Use it as a chance to reassess your goals. Speaker 1 (29:42) What do you want for your life? (29:43) What what do you need income wise? (29:46) How how comfortably can you live? (29:52) So use that opportunity. (29:54) Use that layoff. Speaker 1 (29:55) Use that job loss as a chance to reassess. (29:58) I almost went back into systems administration. (30:00) I actually had a job interview where I thought about being a sys admin again And, you know, kinda kinda kick back a little bit. (30:08) Get it and find a nice little Linux network somewhere, build up some servers, build in some automation, and just kinda kick back for for a few years. (30:18) So use it as a chance to reassess. Speaker 1 (30:20) What do you need? (30:21) What do you want? (30:21) And where are you going? (30:22) And then with those things in mind, you can figure out how do I get there? (30:26) Something else that that has come highly recommended is build something, a podcast, a network, a project, contribute to open source, work on a portfolio. Speaker 1 (30:39) I'd started working on, like, some sample messaging guides to attach to my to my website to basically show, you know, work samples. (30:47) One of the nice things about being in marketing is that all my work is public. (30:52) You know, about ninety ninety to 95% of my work is public, so it's easy for people to just go out, find my blog, find my podcast, and go, oh, okay. (30:59) That's that's that's who we're hiring. (31:01) But if if you're behind the scenes, if you're a developer, if you're a sys admin, if you don't have that kind of stuff, start a personal blog anyway. Speaker 1 (31:11) You know, several people that I know have started their own blogs and that blog turned into a community and that community started building projects. (31:20) And now there's multiple people involved with those projects. (31:25) You know, that that one came from from a gentleman who actually almost got me a couple of different jobs. (31:35) And he his his home lab work, he documented it in a blog and people started finding it, and and it just grew and grew. (31:45) And so build something. Speaker 1 (31:47) Build anything. (31:47) Contribute to open source. (31:49) Build a home lab project. (31:50) Something that you can use, maybe not even for for a job application. (31:54) You know? Speaker 1 (31:55) Maybe if you're a sys admin, you're not building a home lab just so you can say you have one. (31:59) Maybe you might find that it's a fun hobby. (32:03) Another tip that I saw everywhere that I had people reaching out to me for to check on me was asking for help and say yes when it's offered. (32:14) Don't just don't just, you know, ask for help and then blow it off. (32:20) It's a trying time. Speaker 1 (32:21) It's difficult, especially if you're the breadwinner in your family, to go from providing to not. (32:29) You know, my wife is amazing. (32:31) She stepped up and she got a second job working part time as a grocery store to kinda help soften the blow while I was looking. (32:39) And she stayed on for a bit longer while while I was getting into the rhythm of a different pay cycle. (32:46) And as we tried to pay down the credit card that we we were buying groceries and gas off of to kinda help us reestablish. Speaker 1 (32:54) So ask for help. (32:56) Don't be too proud to say, hey. (32:57) I'm hurting and I need some help. (32:59) Don't be afraid to say, hey. (33:00) I'm without a job and your company's hiring. Speaker 1 (33:03) Can you put in some can you put in a good word? (33:06) Don't go through this alone. (33:09) And then lastly, point number five is don't let your identity get too tightly tied to your job. (33:17) Let me try that again. (33:18) Don't let your identity get too wrapped up in what you do. Speaker 1 (33:22) You may work for the best company and the best job with the best people and the best product ever, but in the end, it's still a job. (33:30) It's a source of income. (33:33) And especially as I've gotten older, as I've gotten married, as I've had kids, I realized that my job is a core part of my identity, yes, but it's not all that I am. (33:42) If I never worked in IT again, if I was cleaning gas pumps and scrubbing floors for the rest of my career, I'd be okay with that because my career is only part of who I am. (33:53) And that's something I really struggled with early on in the layoff process was I was so wound up in who I was in that job that that when that ended, part of me felt like it ended too. Speaker 1 (34:09) So if you have any advice on for for others, because I didn't learn this lesson well and I'm still struggling with it. (34:17) But if you have advice on how to keep your job and and your home life separate to keep your identities your work identity and your personal identity separate, you know, share that in the comments. (34:28) Shoot me an email. (34:29) Contact at IT guy eric dot com. (34:32) I'd love to hear your thoughts. Speaker 1 (34:33) I'd love to get your feedback. (34:35) But probably the biggest lesson that I needed to learn was not to let my identity get too tied up into my job, into my employer, into the product that I was working on, on the types of content that I was working on. (34:46) You you quickly learn how to let that go when your job identity is scrubbing toilets. (34:53) So take my advice. (34:55) Try to put some mental distance between you and your career. Speaker 1 (34:59) I don't mean I don't mean prioritize work any less. (35:03) I don't mean to to give any less of yourself at work, but to remember that in the end, you are more than the sum of your job. (35:11) So if you've recently gone through this or if you're going through this now, you are not alone. (35:17) I hear you. (35:19) I hear you loud and clear. Speaker 1 (35:20) I know all the feels. (35:22) I know all the thoughts, the doubts, the experiences. (35:26) I've been there. (35:26) I feel it, I hear you. (35:28) Going from being a provider with a successful career and five plus years at a company, I get it. Speaker 1 (35:35) I get what you're going through. (35:37) And if you need to, reach out. (35:39) I am available. (35:40) Contact at I t guy eric dot com. (35:43) Leave a message in the comments. Speaker 1 (35:44) I hear you. (35:47) Don't let yourself become isolated. (35:49) Don't give up. (35:50) Keep fighting. (35:51) Keep walking. Speaker 1 (35:52) Even if you take one step a day, even if you put in one application, even if you even if you take a day off, an intentional day off, and say, I'm not going to look at anything with an electronic circuit today. (36:06) Just take the next step. (36:08) That's all you've gotta do, and you will come out on the other side stronger, more resilient, and with a refined sense of purpose than when you went in. (36:16) I'm always here if you need to talk, if you want if you want some advice, if you want a referral, just reach out to me. (36:23) I'm more than happy to talk. Speaker 1 (36:25) In fact, if this episode has helped you, hit that like button. (36:28) Make sure you subscribe. (36:30) Especially if you're going through a layoff, you'll wanna join my next episode episode f, 17. (36:36) We'll be talking about a reality based approach to LinkedIn jobs with Jeffrey Ullman, who spent years working for major companies like, like IBM and and others that that I know you'd recognize. (36:48) So I'm really looking forward to my conversation with Jeffrey. Speaker 1 (36:51) So if you want practical advice on navigating LinkedIn and standing out in the job market, don't miss our next episode. (36:57) Trust me. (36:58) You'll wanna take notes. (37:00) Just in the in these, call it, a screening call I had with Jeffrey, I was already taking notes and went more than once went, man, I wish I would have thought of that when I was when I was job hunting. (37:11) So definitely looking forward to my conversation with Jeffrey. Speaker 1 (37:14) Definitely looking forward to continuing to bring you new content every couple of weeks on YouTube and audio podcasts. (37:21) So make sure you subscribe. (37:22) And until then, thank you so much for joining me. (37:25) Let me know what you think about the change in format and the solo approach to this episode. (37:30) Of course, the more interactions I get, the better I can see what resonates with all of you. Speaker 1 (37:34) And until then, on behalf of myself, no guest, on behalf of myself, Eric, the IT guy Hendrix, thank you for joining me, and I will see you next time.