Back‘Google lost a dedicated employee’: Engineer laid off after 16 years of service
Leitch's entire team was impacted by the layoffs and he expressed shock over why the company laid-off such experienced, talented, high-performing employees
PremiumThe layoff season in the tech-driven sector continues and even the big giants like Google are not immune to it. After laying off around 12,000 employees, CEO Sundar Pichai wrote a letter to employees taking full responsibility for the layoffs. One of the laid-off employees Joel Leitch who was fired after a 16-year stint at the tech giant shared his story on LinkedIn.
Leitch's entire team was impacted by the layoffs and he expressed shock over the fact that why the company laid-off such experienced, smart, talented, gritty, high-performing employees.
“Two weeks ago, my entire team was impacted by the Google layoff. It was a complete shock to me and I am still perplexed as to why Google would let go of so many experienced, smart, talented, gritty, high-performing employees. For me, it has been a slow process to come to terms with my new reality as Google has been my one and only career, starting as an intern in January 2005 followed by 16.5 years in a full-time capacity. Google was (and still is) an amazing company filled with brilliant, talented people building impactful products for users worldwide," Leitch said.
He started his career with Google as an international intern in 2006. Leitch expressed his gratitude to the company and said that it was an absolute honour to work for the company for so many years.
“To Google: thank you so much for taking the risk and bringing me on as an (international) intern many moons ago. It was an absolute honour to have had the opportunity to work there for so many years. The things that I will miss most are the people and the relationships built. Also, it was pretty awesome to work on projects used by XXXM users on a daily basis and present my team’s hard work at Google I/O," Leitch post added.
Joel Leitch also had a message for all employees who were laid off and said that the company has equipped them with wonderful skills which makes them the desirable candidate for most companies out there.
“To the laid-off Googlers: remember that Google has equipped you with invaluable skills and knowledge that will make you a desirable candidate to the many companies out there looking for someone to make a big impact. Hold your head high, remain positive, and keep those connections alive. You’ve got this!," he said.
At the end of his post, Leitch added that Google has lost a dedicated, long-tenured employee. “Google has lost a dedicated, long-tenured employee with this layoff AND a long-tenured corp-issued backpack provided to me on my first day (July 10, 2006)," he said.
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