A tech professional has shared their emotional journey on Reddit after discovering that the position they once held at a public tech company was retained — and even upgraded — following a corporate merger.
The worker said they were laid off a year ago, after surviving two previous rounds of layoffs and spending three years at the company. It took them eight months to find a new job. While browsing LinkedIn, they saw that after the merger with one of the company’s subsidiaries, the role they had been vying to be promoted to for over a year was given to someone from the subsidiary soon after their exit.
‘Not About Performance,’ But Doubts Remain
The company had told the worker their layoff “had nothing to do with performance,” noting that about 20 people from their team were let go, along with around 80 more in the earlier rounds. Leadership reportedly claimed the decision was based on “vision and the future” and that neither their boss nor director had any say in who stayed or left.
“Every day after the layoff I’ve found that harder and harder to believe, and today’s finding hit really hard,” the worker wrote. “I gave so much to that job, to the company, and to the people there… It just goes to show that literally none of it matters.”
“I’ve been laid off four times in my ten-year career. Each time it ‘wasn’t personal’ and was just a ‘business decision.’ It doesn’t ever get easier”, the user added,
Community Weighs In With Perspective and Advice
One user commented on the thread, “One of the reasons for layoff during restructuring especially when jobs do stay in US (assuming you are from US) is the compensation range. It could be the case in the situation you described. With. merger and market adjusment they lowered the job profile requirement and the range. It really isn’t personal. At least in big corporates. People really need to stop tying their identity to jobs/roles and giving their heart & soul. Treat it transactional.”
Another offered brief but direct encouragement: “Don’t get stuck at what happened in the past. Move forward.”
The discussion highlighted the complex emotions tied to job loss, the perceived gap between corporate messaging and reality, and the importance of detaching self-worth from professional roles.