This is not the post I was intending to write tonight. And, honestly, I’m not sure I’m really up for writing anything. You may have read that Google let go 6% of its workforce this morning. I happened to be one of the almost 12,000 people on that discarded list.
So, here I sit, looking over an outdated résumé and a sudden abundance of “free” time and an apartment full of “Some Day” projects. I know I need to buckle down and land something new relatively quickly (these San Francisco rents are no joke, as I’m sure you know), but at the same time, I also know I need to feel some feelings and work through some emotions first.
Honestly, though, all I’m feeling tonight is acceptance. I always felt lucky to have joined Google. But I know they never owed me anything. Just as I didn’t owe them anything more than the work I did for them. The devotion, I’ve learned, is to the people there, not the corporation. And for them, the emotion is overwhelmingly gratitude. It’s cliché, I know, but there’s a reason all the posts you may come across on LinkedIn over the next few days will be mentioning how much they will miss their teams. I get it. It’s what was special about Twitter. And it is what is special about my team at Google.
If I type much longer tonight, I fear this will turn into a rambling wandering of all the half-finished ideas and partially formed thoughts of a man looking at an unfamiliar horizon, trying to plot a new path. I’ll spare you those for now. Instead, this is just a note to let you know how my day went, and to let my former team know how much I learned from them and how desperately I’ll miss them. Oh, and to let you know I’m looking for my next thing.
Blood on the Valley Floor
20 January 2023
Search me.
This is not the post I was intending to write tonight. And, honestly, I’m not sure I’m really up for writing anything. You may have read that Google let go 6% of its workforce this morning. I happened to be one of the almost 12,000 people on that discarded list.
So, here I sit, looking over an outdated résumé and a sudden abundance of “free” time and an apartment full of “Some Day” projects. I know I need to buckle down and land something new relatively quickly (these San Francisco rents are no joke, as I’m sure you know), but at the same time, I also know I need to feel some feelings and work through some emotions first.
Honestly, though, all I’m feeling tonight is acceptance. I always felt lucky to have joined Google. But I know they never owed me anything. Just as I didn’t owe them anything more than the work I did for them. The devotion, I’ve learned, is to the people there, not the corporation. And for them, the emotion is overwhelmingly gratitude. It’s cliché, I know, but there’s a reason all the posts you may come across on LinkedIn over the next few days will be mentioning how much they will miss their teams. I get it. It’s what was special about Twitter. And it is what is special about my team at Google.
If I type much longer tonight, I fear this will turn into a rambling wandering of all the half-finished ideas and partially formed thoughts of a man looking at an unfamiliar horizon, trying to plot a new path. I’ll spare you those for now. Instead, this is just a note to let you know how my day went, and to let my former team know how much I learned from them and how desperately I’ll miss them. Oh, and to let you know I’m looking for my next thing.
See you tomorrow?