Stage 3 of 7 · 7 lessons · ~4 weeks
Be hard to cut at work
Nobody is layoff-proof, but some people are much harder to cut than others. Put your effort into work the business cannot do without, make your impact easy to see, and keep relationships beyond your own manager.
Start: Work close to money and customersLessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order
Do this
- List your projects and mark which earn, save or protect money
- Move at least part of your time towards work close to revenue or customers
- Start a brag document and add to it every Friday
- Send your manager a five-line monthly update
- Book a skip-level meeting and ask what matters most to the department this year
- Ask your manager how your work is rated today and what would move it up
- Learn the two or three numbers leadership watches and how your team affects them
Start with· follow one of these
- GuideFreeGet Your Work Recognized: Write a Brag Document
Julia Evans
A template for writing down your impact every week, so it is ready when someone asks
- GitHub repoFreePath to Senior Engineer Handbook
Jordan Cutler · Intermediate
The sections on ownership, impact and working with your manager
Keep handy
Also worth your time
Before moving on: A one-page note of your work ranked by how close it is to revenue or customers, a brag document with at least six entries, one skip-level conversation held, and a clear answer from your manager on how your performance is rated.
Nobody is safe in a layoff, and anyone who says otherwise is selling something. But the people who are hardest to cut have something in common: they work on things the business needs, people can say what they did, and more than one senior person would argue to keep them. You can build all three in a quarter.