Fired After 11 Years At Amazon, Indian-Origin Techie Reveals How He Bounced Back

After more than 11 years at Amazon, Indian-origin techie Hemant Virmani found himself facing an unexpected situation when the company sacked him in October 2025. While the 47-year-old Washington-based professional was initially shaken by the decision, he found the strength to pivot and bounce back, largely thanks to the perspective and wisdom shared by his daughter

"Amazon was part of my daily life for 11.5 years, and suddenly it was gone. When I received an email in the middle of the night in October 2025 saying I'd been laid off from my senior software development manager position, I was shocked," Virmani stated in an as-told-to essay published by Business Insider.

"I felt attached to the layoff for the first few days; however, I knew there was no way to control what happened — I could only control how I reacted to it."

It was then that Virmani's daughter, who is a senior in high school, inspired him. Virmani revealed that his daughter faced an adverse situation in school last year that required recovery.

"How she reacted in that difficult time inspired me. Her mental model was: "Challenges don't have to keep me from showing up for myself or for others." Her positive attitude was an inspiration for me to do the same," said Virmani.

“I kind of learned from her that I had to take this layoff with positivity, keep my cool, and focus on what was next,” he continued.

Also Read | Indian Techie Reveals How They Secured New Job Within A Month Of Sudden Layoff

'React Positively'

Weeks later, Virmani recalled facing another personal loss when his father died. He travelled to India to support his family and took about a month to reflect on his career and priorities. Despite the challenges, Virmani said the time away from work allowed him a new perspective on his career and life, in general.

"It's been a very refreshing change to think about what I want next in my engineering career. I'm less focused on the size or name of the next company I work for, and more on what I'd be doing there," said Virmani.

The techie admitted that he needed new artificial intelligence (AI) skills to make it big at the next workplace, as the tech was being widely adopted in the industry.

"I started working on a hobby AI project a couple of weeks ago, to go hands-on with AI and be more grounded in the reality of what the AI landscape is like right now."

Virmani advised those going through a similar situation not to take layoffs to heart, as it wasn't about them but the environment, as companies were looking to find the thin margins. He suggested that instead of looking back on the past, people needed to move forward in life and react positively to changes happening around them.