Techie 'Super Scared' After Microsoft Offers Exit Packages To 60,000 Staff: 'I Couldn't Sleep'

Microsoft's decision to offer voluntary buyouts to approximately 60,000 employees across the US, Canada, Britain, and India has spooked professionals across the industry. A techie with nine years of experience said they were 'super scared' about their future and could not sleep, as other companies might follow suit as well.

Microsoft announced the decision on Monday (Oct 26), stating that employees at vice president level and below were eligible for voluntary exit offers. It's the second voluntary buyout offer that Microsoft has offered employees this year. In April, the company reportedly offered around seven per cent of its US workforce the option to retire early.

"I'm not a Microsoft employee, but I'm a Software Engineer with nine years of experience. Yesterday's voluntary exit option announcement by microsoft has made me restless. What the f*ck are we heading towards man?" the techie wrote.

The techie said 'infinite money' had been dumped into AI, which had not been profitable yet. Despite this, employees were being fired while the job market was in a terrible shape.

"Layoffs have been going on since 2022 now, infinite money is being dumped into AI which hasn't proved to be profitable yet and still everyone is trying to achieve non-existent AI efficiency," they said.

"I really could not sleep last night. I kept thinking about what would I do if my company announces something like this or if i'm just simply laid off. I have no answer to be honest because I do not know anything else except software engineering."

Check The Post Here:

Microsoft Voluntary exit announcement has made me super scared.
by u/captainrushingin in developersIndia

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As the post went viral, social media users highlighted that the only way to cope with the situation was to upskill and maintain an emergency fund covering six to 12 months of expenses.

"You can't survive just by coding skills, understand the business domain which you are working. AI will become more powerful going forward. Stay calm and ride the AI wave by increasing the efficiency of the products which you are building," said one user, while another added: "Hold it out for a few years, and this shall pass. Right now the supply has outpaced demand in the IT space and hence follows the job cuts."

A third commented: "Your anxiety is understandable, but the best antidote is preparation. Build an emergency fund covering six to twelve months of expenses if you can. Knowing you can survive a gap between jobs takes away a lot of the fear."

A fourth said: "The fear is real but nine years of experience is a solid foundation. Even if the landscape shifts, someone who actually understands systems and can debug real problems is not easily replaced by an agent. The people most at risk are the ones doing repetitive work that can be cleanly described as a task."