Tech Industry Layoffs: Complete Survival & Recovery Guide

The tech industry has experienced significant layoffs in recent years, affecting hundreds of thousands of workers from startups to FAANG companies. This guide provides tech-specific advice on navigating your layoff, maximizing your severance, handling equity, and landing your next role.

Understanding Tech Layoffs

The Current Landscape

Tech layoffs have become increasingly common due to:

• Over-hiring during the pandemic boom
• Economic uncertainty and rising interest rates
• Cost-cutting to improve profitability
• AI disruption changing workforce needs
• Market corrections after inflated valuations

Types of Tech Layoffs

Mass layoffs: Company-wide reductions (5-20% of workforce)

• Often announced publicly
• Usually affect multiple departments
• May trigger WARN Act requirements

Quiet layoffs: Smaller, rolling reductions

• Less publicity
• Often framed as "restructuring"
• May happen in waves

Performance-based: Individual terminations

• Often grouped with layoffs for optics
• May include severance
• Can affect unemployment eligibility

Startup shutdown: Company closure or acqui-hire

• May have limited severance
• Equity often worthless
• Fastest path to job search

Your Tech Severance Package

Typical Tech Severance

Tech companies often provide more generous severance than other industries:

Company Type	Typical Severance
FAANG/Big Tech	4-6 months base + benefits
Mid-size Tech	2-4 months base + benefits
Growth Startups	1-3 months (varies widely)
Early Startups	0-4 weeks (limited funds)

Components of Tech Severance

Base severance:

• Calculated as weeks/months of base salary
• Usually 2-4 weeks per year of service
• May have minimum floors (e.g., 2 months)

Bonus consideration:

• Pro-rated annual bonus
• Retention bonuses (may be clawed back)
• Sign-on bonus clawback waiver

Healthcare continuation:

• COBRA subsidy (3-12 months typical)
• Or lump sum for marketplace coverage

Equity provisions:

• Extended exercise window for stock options
• Accelerated vesting (rare but possible)
• Post-termination exercise period extension

Other benefits:

• Outplacement services
• Laptop buyout or keep
• Career coaching
• Reference letters
• Garden leave

Negotiating Tech Severance

Tech companies often have room to negotiate:

Strong leverage points:

• Proprietary knowledge or relationships
• Ongoing projects you're critical to
• Legal exposure (discrimination, retaliation)
• Long tenure
• Senior position

What to ask for:

1. Extended severance — Ask for more weeks/months
2. Extended exercise window — Critical for stock options
3. Accelerated vesting — Especially if close to cliff
4. Better reference language — Important in tight market
5. Equipment — Laptop, monitor, peripherals
6. Outplacement — Executive coaching, resume services

Full Severance Negotiation Guide →

Stock Options and RSUs

Understanding Your Equity Situation

Vested vs. Unvested:

• Vested shares: Yours; check exercise deadlines
• Unvested shares: Usually forfeited
• Check your equity agreement for specific terms

Stock Options (ISOs and NSOs)

Post-termination exercise window:

• Standard: 90 days after termination
• Ask for extension: 1-10 years is possible
• ISOs convert to NSOs after 90 days

Key considerations:

• Calculate the cost to exercise
• Consider tax implications (ISOs vs. NSOs)
• Evaluate company's likely exit prospects
• Don't exercise options in failing companies

Example decision:

• Strike price: $1
• Current 409A: $10
• Shares vested: 10,000
• Cost to exercise: $10,000
• Potential value: $100,000
• Consider: Company health, your cash, tax situation

RSUs (Restricted Stock Units)

At layoff:

• Vested RSUs: Already yours (shares or cash)
• Unvested RSUs: Usually forfeited
• Check for accelerated vesting provisions

Tax considerations:

• Vested RSUs are taxed as income when vested
• You may have already paid taxes on shares you own
• Consider selling to diversify or fund job search

Double-Trigger Acceleration

Some equity agreements include "double-trigger" acceleration:

• First trigger: Acquisition/change of control
• Second trigger: Termination within 12-24 months
• Results in immediate vesting of some/all shares

Check your agreement for these provisions.

H-1B and Visa Considerations

Critical Timeline for H-1B Holders

If you're on an H-1B visa, time is critical:

60-day grace period:

• You have 60 days to find new employer sponsorship
• Or change to another valid status
• Or depart the United States

Immediate steps:

1. Confirm your I-94 expiration date
2. Consult an immigration attorney immediately
3. Inform prospective employers you need sponsorship
4. Consider alternatives: H-4, B-1/B-2, F-1 (if returning to school)
5. Document your status for future reference

Finding H-1B Sponsors Quickly

Companies known for fast sponsorship:

• Large tech companies (FAANG, etc.)
• Consulting firms (Accenture, Deloitte, etc.)
• Companies with established visa programs

Resources:

• MyVisaJobs.com — search by company sponsorship history
• H1BGrader.com — sponsorship approval rates
• Lever, Greenhouse job boards often indicate sponsorship

Alternative pathways:

• O-1 visa (extraordinary ability)
• L-1 visa (if you have qualifying foreign employment)
• EB-1A green card (self-petition for extraordinary ability)

Other Visa Types

L-1 holders: Similar urgency to H-1B O-1 holders: May have more flexibility F-1 OPT: Check your unemployment limits Green card in process: Consult attorney about implications

The Tech Job Search

Current Market Realities

Market conditions (as of 2024-2025):

• More competitive than 2021-2022 boom
• Longer hiring cycles (2-4 months typical)
• More rigorous interview processes
• Return-to-office requirements at some companies
• AI skills increasingly valued

Updating Your Tech Resume

Key elements:

• Impact metrics: Revenue generated, costs saved, users served
• Technical skills: Languages, frameworks, cloud platforms
• Project highlights: Scale, complexity, business outcomes
• Leadership: Team size, cross-functional work

Avoid:

• Listing every technology you've touched
• Generic descriptions of responsibilities
• Buzzwords without substance
• Outdated technologies prominently featured

Resume Writing Guide →

Preparing for Tech Interviews

Types of interviews:

Technical interviews:

• Coding challenges (LeetCode-style)
• System design
• Technical deep dives on experience
• Take-home projects

Behavioral interviews:

• STAR method stories ready
• Failure and learning examples
• Conflict resolution examples
• Leadership moments

Resources:

• LeetCode, HackerRank, AlgoExpert
• "Cracking the Coding Interview"
• System Design Primer (GitHub)
• Pramp for mock interviews

Interview Preparation Guide →

Where to Find Tech Jobs

Job boards:

• LinkedIn (still dominant in tech)
• Lever, Greenhouse company pages
• Hacker News "Who's Hiring" (monthly thread)
• AngelList (startups)
• Dice (tech-specific)
• Indeed Tech

Direct applications:

• Company career pages
• Many roles aren't posted on aggregators
• Check companies you admire directly

Networking:

• Former colleagues (most effective)
• Tech meetups and events
• Twitter/X tech community
• Discord/Slack communities
• Alumni networks

Networking Strategies → LinkedIn Optimization →

Working with Tech Recruiters

Types of recruiters:

Internal/corporate recruiters:

• Work for one company
• Best for specific company interest
• Often reach out directly

Agency recruiters:

• Represent multiple companies
• Paid on placement
• Useful for market insights

Executive recruiters:

• For senior/leadership roles
• Relationship-based
• Worth cultivating long-term

Working with Recruiters →

Alternative Paths After Tech Layoff

Consulting and Contracting

Benefits:

• Faster to find work
• Bridge during job search
• Network expansion
• Diverse experience

Platforms:

• Toptal
• Turing
• Gun.io
• Upwork (higher-end projects)

Considerations:

• Self-employment taxes
• Healthcare costs
• Less stability
• May extend job search

Starting Your Own Thing

Options:

• Indie hacking / bootstrapped startup
• Consulting practice
• Technical agency
• Content creation / teaching

Resources to explore:

• Indie Hackers community
• Y Combinator Startup School (free)
• MicroConf (bootstrapped startups)

Starting a Business → Freelancing Guide →

Career Transitions

Common pivots from tech:

Technical → Management:

• Product management
• Engineering management
• Technical program management

Technical → Adjacent fields:

• Developer relations / advocacy
• Technical writing
• Sales engineering
• Customer success (enterprise)

Complete transitions:

• Teaching / education
• Real estate
• Finance (fintech especially)

Career Pivot Guide → Transferable Skills →

Financial Planning for Tech Workers

Your Runway Calculation

Tech workers often have higher expenses. Calculate honestly:

Monthly expenses:

• Housing (often high in tech hubs)
• Healthcare (COBRA or marketplace)
• Student loans
• Lifestyle expenses
• Savings rate you want to maintain

Available resources:

• Severance (net after taxes)
• Savings and emergency fund
• Vested equity (liquid?)
• Unemployment benefits (state max)

Example:

• Severance: $50,000 (after tax: ~$35,000)
• Emergency fund: $30,000
• Monthly expenses: $7,000
• Runway: 9-10 months

Budget Planning Tool → Emergency Fund Calculator →

Geographic Arbitrage

Consider temporarily relocating to:

• Lower cost of living area
• Extend your runway significantly
• Work remotely when possible
• Family support systems

Unemployment Benefits in Tech Hubs

California: Max $450/week (low relative to tech salaries) Washington: Max $1,019/week (highest in US) New York: Max $504/week Texas: Max $563/week Massachusetts: Max $1,033/week

State Unemployment Guides →

Mental Health in Tech Layoffs

The Identity Challenge

Tech workers often closely identify with their jobs and companies. Layoffs can trigger:

• Identity crisis — "If I'm not a Google engineer, who am I?"
• Imposter syndrome — "Maybe I was never good enough"
• Community loss — Colleagues were your social network
• Status concerns — Tech culture often ties worth to employer brand

Healthy Perspectives

Remember:

• Layoffs are business decisions, not performance judgments
• Many exceptional people have been laid off
• Your skills remain valuable
• This is temporary

Avoid:

• Obsessing over LinkedIn announcements
• Comparing yourself to those who weren't laid off
• Rushing into the wrong next job out of fear
• Isolating from your network

Staying Healthy During the Search

• Maintain routines (wake time, exercise, work hours)
• Set boundaries on job search hours
• Stay connected with friends and family
• Consider therapy or coaching
• Take breaks and maintain hobbies

Coping with Job Loss → Building Confidence →

Tech-Specific Resources

Communities

For support:

• Blind (anonymous tech community)
• Levels.fyi (compensation data)
• r/cscareerquestions
• Hacker News
• Tech Twitter/X

For learning:

• Coursera, Udemy, Pluralsight
• YouTube tech channels
• Documentation (always free)
• Open source contribution

Job Search Tools

Tracking:

• Notion or Airtable job tracker
• Huntr.co
• Teal

Preparation:

• Pramp (mock interviews)
• Interviewing.io
• LeetCode Premium

Salary research:

• Levels.fyi
• Glassdoor
• Blind salary threads

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Key Takeaways

1. Tech severance is often negotiable — Ask for more, especially equity terms
2. Handle stock options immediately — Know your exercise window and costs
3. H-1B holders have 60 days — Consult an attorney ASAP
4. The market is competitive — Prepare thoroughly for interviews
5. Network actively — Most tech jobs come through referrals
6. Consider alternatives — Consulting, startups, career pivots
7. Protect your mental health — Tech layoffs hit identity hard
8. Your skills are transferable — Tech experience is valuable everywhere

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Related Resources:

• First 24 Hours Checklist →
• Severance Negotiation →
• Resume Writing →
• Interview Preparation →
• Unemployment by State →
• Career Pivot →
• Mental Health Support →