‘Layoffs suck, but…,’ Google employee who lost his job of 19 years calls it a ‘blessing’. Here’s why

In the latest round of layoffs at Google, Kevin Bourrillion, a 19-year veteran and head of a prominent team, lost his job. Despite the challenges, he sees it as an opportunity for personal growth and explore new things.

Kevin Bourrillion posted in X, "End of an era! After 19 years of working at @Google, with more than 16 of them on the team that I founded, I made the tough decision yesterday morning to finally bite the bullet and find out that I'd been laid off overnight."

Despite losing his job, he expressed optimism about discovering new opportunities and hope ahead.

"Layoffs suck, but in my case... it's fine, because I've needed some kind of change in my life for a very long time. And I have no plans to rush into anything else right now. I've got too much to do: cycling, reading, restarting my drum lessons, travel, family time. etc. etc," he added.

“I view my 19 years there and the people I got to work with and things I got to do as an immense blessing. No expressions of sympathy are called for in my case! And with that, I'm off to go figure out how to actually live my life!” he added.

Google hands pink slips to hundreds of employees

Google on Wednesday laid off hundreds of employees in various divisions to reduce expenses and shift focus to artificial intelligence. The job cuts affected the core engineering division, Google Assistant team, and the hardware division responsible for Pixel phones, Fitbit watches, and Nest thermostats.

Google said that most of the hardware cuts affected a team working on augmented reality, technology that combines the real world with a digital overlay.

"We've had to make some difficult decisions about ongoing employment of some Google employees and we regret to inform you that your position is being eliminated," the company told some workers in the division, according to text reviewed by The New York Times.