I am a Java programmer who has worked in Beijing for 6 years. This article records my experience of being laid off in the cold winter of November 2019, my mental changes, and the journey of finding a new job. (PS: 15 hours after publication, this article had 6,458 views and over a hundred comments, which was truly surprising.)
Unemployment "Arrived as Expected"
Why did I say "unemployment arrived as expected"? It all started on November 18, 2019. That day was the last day of my vacation. Taking a break to go home for 3 days was not easy. After dinner, I started packing my luggage, planning to take the train back to Beijing that evening. Suddenly, a message popped up on my phone. I opened it and saw it was a "secret tip" from a colleague. They said they had received inside information that the company would be laying off employees soon. The news was confirmed and would be announced shortly.
After reading the message, I saw my wife approaching from the corner of my eye, and I could hear the sounds of my child and grandmother playing behind me. I casually turned off my phone, acting as if nothing had happened. I arrived at the train station 30 minutes early. While waiting in the hall, I received a message from another colleague. They also indicated that the company might have issues. The information from both colleagues was similar, so it seemed the layoff news was true. At that moment, I didn't feel "worried" or "unhappy" because I had long experienced the uncertainties of life. My inner state was like a calm sea, undisturbed.
The next morning, I arrived in Beijing. After getting off the train, I went straight to the company. I arrived 40 minutes earlier than the usual start time, so I went downstairs to have a leisurely meal. When I returned, all my colleagues were there, bustling and busy, as if the company's business and everyone's personal development were thriving. The laid-back colleague was still strolling around with a water cup, looking carefree. The colleague who was unaware of anything was still typing away at code.
Around 11 a.m., the colleague across from me left their desk. When they returned a few minutes later, I could see their expression was off. Through their glasses, I noticed their eyes were moist! Yes, they had been called in for a talk. Just like the "inside scoop" I had received at home, unemployment had arrived as expected.
Leave Immediately or Fight for Compensation?
That colleague with moist eyes was a burly guy who had only recently joined and was still on probation. In fact, almost all the colleagues laid off this time were on probation. Some were just one or two days, or three to five days, away from being officially hired. When we joined, we all signed 3-year contracts with a 6-month probation period. Looking back, this 6-month probation period seemed suspiciously deliberate, and the company's attitude confirmed that. They were using professional "layoff tactics," dividing people into batches and negotiating with us one by one, like a wheel battle, to drive us away—the donkeys that had finished hauling the goods. Their offer was "10 days of compensation," which didn't comply with labor laws.
For those of us about to be laid off, we faced two choices: leave immediately or fight for compensation:
Should we seek reasonable compensation according to labor laws? If yes, it meant negotiating with the company, which would take time—an unknown time cost.
With less than 2 months until the end of the year, we had to quickly finish the procedures and continue job hunting. If we kept negotiating with the company, would we end up getting no money while wasting time that could be used for job hunting?
Faced with these two choices, many of us colleagues agreed that "we are the weaker side." We all knew that according to labor laws, laying off employees during the probation period requires compensation of 0.5 months' salary, plus a one-month notice period. If the company wants to let employees go immediately, they can replace the "one-month notice" with payment in lieu of notice, i.e., giving the laid-off employee 1.5 months' salary so they can leave right away.
But what use was knowing these legal provisions? Even though we knew the company was acting illegally, what could we do? Continuing to negotiate meant wasting time. If we went for labor arbitration or something similar, it would be time-consuming and exhausting, with uncertain results. And with less than 2 months until the Spring Festival, news of layoffs was everywhere. We needed enough time to find new jobs before the holiday.
There's no such thing as "stability" in the world. We must always be ready for changes and surprises. Right now, we had to weigh "how to maximize benefits." The best way to maximize benefits at this moment was: take the 10 days' compensation, leave immediately, and start job hunting. If we found a job next week, everything would be more acceptable. So, starting from the 19th, some colleagues accepted the "10 days' compensation," signed the papers, and left, immediately scheduling interviews for the coming days. On the 20th, another group accepted "15 days' compensation" and left.
Should I Keep Studying and Job Hunting?
On the afternoon of November 21, after signing my resignation agreement, I left work early and went home. I knew I wasn't laid off because of my abilities. I also knew I would definitely find a job. Although various media outlets had been beating the drum of "economic winter" endlessly, I had become immune to these mindless, irresponsible, sensationalist, and clickbait-hungry editors. I could assess the current situation based on my own experience and judgment. I knew I could find a job; it was just a matter of time, and a question of how good and satisfactory it would be.
From the moment we were called in for talks, my experienced colleagues started brushing up on interview questions. Yes, "interview for building rockets, work for tightening screws" is common knowledge. Everyone skillfully reviewed the frequently asked questions and began targeted revision. For Java interviews, common data structures like HashMap and ArrayList's implementation principles are almost always asked; concurrent programming tools and libraries must be reviewed; JVM memory models, class loading mechanisms, garbage collection, etc., are essential for both senior and intermediate developers; having used the Spring framework for years, you need to know DI/AOP principles, Spring MVC principles, Spring transactions, some Spring source code, and the usage and principles of Spring Boot. At the senior level, you must understand distributed applications and microservices, right? Dubbo usage and related principles, Spring Cloud's related modules and principles—you need to know them. Have you read Dubbo source code? No? —Useless! What's the difference between & and # in MyBatis? And that's not all. You need to understand caching, Redis master-slave, sentinel, cluster, and basic Redis data types like string, hash, list, zset, etc., answering fluently.
After answering all these questions, are you parched? Don't worry, we go on. MySQL transactions, indexes, isolation levels, dirty reads, plus ad-hoc scenario questions from the interviewer, database sharding, master-slave replication, SQL optimization—there are plenty of questions to keep you busy for another half hour. After all that, you can't just know MySQL; you also need to know a bit about PostgreSQL, and preferably HBase as well. Have you used search engines? Solr, Elasticsearch? OK, let's continue asking about ES principles. Used MQ? Introduce ActiveMQ and Kafka, and maybe touch on some principles. Docker, Kubernetes—do you know them? …
After covering everything, they might ask about design patterns: Which design patterns do you know? Which ones do you use in daily work? Which design patterns have you seen in source code? What are the principles of object-oriented design? Do you agree with TDD? Do you know about DevOps? OK, OK, you answered well. How about this: design an MQ and describe your approach. Here's a piece of paper, write down the rotation of a red-black tree. If you were to design a website that needs to handle 1 million concurrent users, what server configuration would you use? … And then HR seriously asks: Why did you leave your last company? (In reality, they themselves change jobs frequently.) How do you feel about overtime? (In reality, they leave on time or blend into the idle team before getting confirmed to show a positive work attitude.)
This is roughly the current state of interviews. I'm well aware of it, and I understand. Now that the industry is mature and there are many talented people, companies can select the best candidates. If they could put people to their best use, that would be fine. But in reality, it's mostly "interview for building rockets, work for tightening screws." Of course, you can't blame the company; you can only blame yourself. Your various plans and career paths have led you to still be someone who tightens screws.
Frankly, I feel tired. Every time I need to prepare for an interview, I have to go over all this. As someone with 6 years of experience, I've been exposed to and used many of these technologies, read some source code, and through daily thinking, I've developed an understanding of distributed applications and the evolution of microservices. But what's the use? Even if I become a so-called "technical expert," I'm still "working for others" and enjoying the "benefits" of the 996 schedule.
What should I do? Keep studying and job hunting? Join a startup that ruthlessly squeezes young workers, or a stable mid-sized company where I can slack off with greasy managers and laid-back colleagues, or a large company enjoying the 996 "blessings"? I found I had no interest. Should I continue brushing up on questions and job hunting?
Two Days of Leisure
I felt terrible! On one hand, being unemployed was somewhat depressing. When I chose this company, I had considered:
- The product's industry indeed had a market, so if the product was good, it would surely be profitable.
- The company's environment was very good; it already had other profitable businesses and its own funds.
- I actually had a plan for joining this company.
So, being laid off somewhat disrupted my plans, and I was a bit depressed. Combined with the thoughts above, I had no motivation to look for a job. I couldn't seriously write my resume or prepare for interviews. So, I decided to take a two-day break. I wouldn't do anything; just relax and think.
I tried to let go of all pressure and anxiety, cooking, watching movies, shopping online, browsing Weibo and Bilibili, editing a few videos we had recorded together, and reading some non-technical books. It was truly a day of indulgence and laziness. Frankly, forgetting about pressure, self-discipline, ambition, and hard work to waste time and do whatever made me feel relaxed was quite enjoyable. Maybe human nature is to love playing, eating, and being lazy.
However, after a day of playing, I felt empty, with a sense of guilt for having no gains. That evening, I chatted with my roommate, exchanging views on personal careers and other aspects. My roommate works in interior design and drawing. I asked him: "How did you decide to work remotely from home like this?" He said: "I didn't deliberately choose it; it just happened naturally. I currently work remotely for two companies, occasionally going to the office or construction site."
I asked him this because I had considered remote work myself—wanting to "work but not commute"—but never put it into practice. On one hand, remote opportunities are rare. I often see front-end remote jobs, but very few for Java, making it hard to find reliable remote work. On the other hand, from what others have told me, remote work isn't necessarily easier than office work; it's just more freedom, and pay is often much lower than a regular job.
The next day of leisure wasn't entirely relaxing. I occasionally pondered what I truly wanted and what I really wanted to do, sorting through my notes on side projects and product development. In the evening, I went out to meet with my laid-off colleagues. During the gathering, we vented our dissatisfaction with the company's layoffs without proper compensation, expressed our frustration at working hard on product development only to be ruthlessly let go, shared our life pressures and hopes for the future, told jokes and stories, and expressed our appreciation for the good times we had working together.
Humans are emotional creatures. Communication and interaction with each other are very important. In this cold winter, we ate, drank, talked, and laughed happily. Gradually, everyone seemed to let off steam. A relaxed, happy smile bloomed as we clinked glasses, and was buried in the lively noise. It was certain that we were very reluctant to part ways. This gathering in the cold winter allowed us to express ourselves and brought us closer. We renamed our previous work WeChat group to "Little Buddies," and a colleague said, "This group can never be disbanded"—like the heartfelt vows of first love.
The Responsibility and Pressure from My Phone Lock Screen
After two days of leisure, a new week began. When I woke up in the morning, I glanced at my phone. The wallpaper was a photo of me and my daughter, taken a few days earlier during my vacation. The photo had no filters, but it was perfect. Neither of us had our eyes closed, and our expressions were so natural, happy, and joyful.
Suddenly, I felt a sense of responsibility and pressure. I needed a job, I needed to earn money, and I needed to provide security for my family. No matter how confused I was, no matter how conflicted, no matter if I was tired of my current job, no matter what thoughts I had, I couldn't stop… I had to keep going and keep looking for a job. Why should I be any different? Why could I find a way to balance work and life, avoid the 9-to-5 grind, avoid wasting 3 hours commuting on the subway, and have freedom in such a short time? Why could I find a direction, create a product, make money, and have independent control over my work and life? No, I couldn't do it yet.
I needed a job. That was the most practical thing. My family and my child needed me to provide security for them. All men do this. I couldn't be an exception, and there was no better way to be a different exception. Yes, I needed to start looking for a job.
Just Use Up These 5 Resumes
When I decided to start preparing for job hunting, my colleagues were already busily interviewing, and some were even ready to start a new job. I wasn't in a hurry, but I did start taking action. I prepared a resume and uploaded it to the Boss Direct Hire app. I sent out several applications in one morning, but there was no response. That version of my resume had helped me find a job before, but I remembered that interviewers had said my resume layout wasn't as intuitive as the conventional table format. So, I rewrote a resume in Mac's Pages document, tweaked the layout, adjusted skill keywords, carefully optimized the project descriptions, and modified margins, font size, and line spacing to condense the content to just two pages, but included everything necessary.
Finally, I saved it as a PDF and previewed the print. Ignoring whether the projects were impressive or the educational background was strong, I thought the overall presentation of the resume was quite good. So, I updated my resume and selectively applied to companies based on their requirements, business, distance, and salary range.
However, I didn't get any effective responses in the first two days. Many recruiters questioned my layoff experience; many didn't even read my messages; many read but didn't reply; some replied coldly, "Sorry, your education doesn't match"; others asked for my resume attachment and then went silent. I started to feel anxious and worried, under great pressure. I knew my education wasn't competitive, and while my technical skills might outperform a large portion of applicants, they weren't overwhelmingly competitive either. Without exact data, I could imagine: there are tens of thousands of Java engineers at my level. Why am I better than them? What is my advantage, my highlight?
Suddenly, I realized how ordinary, mediocre, common, and insignificant I was. Even though I had countless ideas in my mind, considered myself somewhat talented, and had received recognition from many, at that moment, no one was inviting me for an interview. I even pictured the HR manager on the other side of the app shaking their head, sighing, and throwing my resume into the trash—feeling utterly worthless and insignificant.
Finally… I received my first interview invitation. I was thrilled. I double-checked the interview time, confirming I wasn't mistaken. I checked the map multiple times to ensure the distance and schedule were fine. I carefully read the job requirements of the company that invited me, briefly researched the company, and organized my knowledge map.
During a break from interview preparation, I went to the community office in my neighborhood to ask them to print a few copies of my resume. The staff asked how many copies I wanted. I thought for a moment and said, "Print 5 copies."
At that time, I thought: Just use up these 5 resumes! Prepare well and seize every opportunity.
No Choice Left
My first interview went quite well. I arrived at the interview location at 10:30 a.m. and found many other candidates like me. They were sitting politely, talking with interviewers humbly and affably. From their answers, I realized some people were just wasting time by coming to the interview, while others were strong competitors. After two rounds of interviews, it was already past noon. The interviewer said the next round would have to wait until 2 p.m. They didn't dismiss me, but since I had to wait an hour, they took me out to eat. The afternoon interview went smoothly, and we reached the salary negotiation stage.
On the third day, I received a reply. The HR girl called and confirmed my salary expectations, then added me on WeChat. I was really happy at that time—a win in the first battle! My previous disappointment, anxiety, and self-doubt all vanished. To avoid being undercut, I replied to the HR girl on WeChat at the agreed time with a number slightly higher than my current salary, waiting for further response.
Later, I received a few more interview invitations, but there weren't many opportunities, so I cherished each one. After all, my goal for the past few days was to "use up the 5 resumes." The following days plunged me back into a low point. I received no new interview invitations, and the company from the first battle had stopped responding. Clearly, that opportunity fell through. I was just one of their suitable candidates, and while they weren't responding, they probably found a better value candidate.
Time came to the morning of December 9. It was my 19th day of unemployment. How was my job search going? First, excluding second-round interviews, I had interviewed with 6 companies in total. For 2 of them, I felt the company seemed unreliable when I walked into the lobby, so I didn't give them my resume. So, I had 1 resume left. What about the opportunities I had? The first one: salary negotiation fell through. The second one: after the initial interview, I went home and watched the CEO's speech online; I didn't like the boss's philosophy, so I skipped the second round. The third: after a detailed conversation, I found it was related to overseas blockchain business. The HR told me, "The salary may not be as high as you expect now, but in the cryptocurrency world, wealth grows exponentially in the future." Two days later, the HR was still contacting me on WeChat, and I politely declined. The fourth: we had previously discussed salary once and didn't agree, but it wasn't completely dead…
Time was running out. I only had 2 new interview opportunities left. It was almost mid-month, and if I didn't start a job this week, I'd have to handle social insurance payments myself. The weather was getting colder, and the cold wind was hurting my forehead on the way to interviews. The situation was clear: I had no choice. I had to accept the fourth company. In this predicament, I seemed to have no choice; getting the fourth one was already a blessing. So, on the noon of December 9, I responded to the fourth company, saying I was willing to join at the originally discussed salary. They agreed and said they would start the offer process, sending the offer by the next day.
Temporary Pause
December 9 afternoon and all of December 10 were filled with anxious waiting—fearing the offer wouldn't come through. I kept refreshing Boss Direct Hire and sending out resumes, just in case I needed new opportunities. But as I refreshed, I saw many familiar companies—the ones I had applied to before, and they hadn't responded. I had to shamelessly send new messages. But they were "read" and still no response…
Finally, on December 10, I received the offer. With that, my job search had come to a temporary end. I calculated that I was unemployed for 19 days.
But what about the future? I don't know. It's only a temporary pause.
Additional Content
I didn't expect that after publishing this article on Blog Park, I would receive so many likes and comments. From the comments, I could see many peers are facing the same issues I experienced, and they empathize with my experiences—whether it was anxiety or pressure. Perhaps our stories and journeys are all different, but they converge in the end. What would happen if I wrote your stories too? Interested readers are welcome to leave a comment.