Stage 2 of 7 · 6 lessons · ~2 weeks
Read the signals and your own exposure
Layoffs rarely come from nowhere. Learn how companies decide who goes, which signs usually come first at company, team and personal level, and how exposed your own role is, so you can act early instead of reacting.
Start: How layoff lists are actually madeLessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order
Do this
- Find out whether your team is a profit centre or a cost centre
- List the company-level warning signs you have seen in the last six months
- Note any team or personal signs, with dates
- Score your exposure on work, tasks, replaceability and evidence
- Pick the one score you will improve over the next quarter
- Check your preparation list whenever a strong rumour appears, and change nothing else
Start with
- GuideFreeThe Pragmatic Engineer
Gergely Orosz
Free posts that explain how tech companies plan cuts, reorganise and decide headcount
Keep handy
Also worth your time
Questions that get your manager talking about priorities and the next quarter
- r/ExperiencedDevsGo deeper
How experienced engineers read reorganisations and decide when to move
Before moving on: A written exposure audit scoring your work, tasks, replaceability and evidence, a list of the warning signs you can see at company, team and personal level, and the stage of this roadmap you will focus on first because of it.
Look at the signals the way an engineer looks at monitoring: one odd number means little, a pattern means act. Acting early is cheap: an updated CV, a bigger cushion, a move towards work that matters. Acting late is expensive. And never resign on a rumour; let the company make that decision so you keep what you are owed.