as an ex-Google tech lead.

So there I was just minding my own business, right?

Going around eating my free food, drinking my free coffee

and I must have been on like, my third cup of coffee here,

when suddenly, I get an email from HR.

And normally, I would have just ignored this,

except I was pretty much done with my coffee

and I thought fine,

why don't I just go have a friendly chat with HR?

Like I always do.

And what happened was, they tell me

that they didn't really like my YouTube show

where I'm always talking

about how I'm an ex-Google tech lead

and they were wondering, why couldn't I mention

that I'm also an ex-Facebook tech lead?

And they wanted to see that happen.

So they told me that it would be a conflict

of interest if I remained

because I could not fulfill that portion of the bargain.

So I needed to leave and so I did.

Which is pretty cool because that makes me

not only an ex-Google tech lead,

but also an ex-Facebook tech lead.

Now, I know that everybody is shocked

and at a dire time like this,

I feel like what we really need to do is just take a pause,

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Now, the timing could not have actually been better

because I was starting to actually saturate

on that ex-Google tech lead keyword.

And you know, the YouTube algorithm

just needs more content here.

And also, there are a few pros and cons here, right?

Actually, one of the good parts

is that since my wife recently left me,

I don't have to explain any of this to her.

Normally, I would have to put on some sort of charade,

in which I would have to pretend

that I would still be going to work everyday.

Where instead, I would actually go to like, a cafe

or something like that and read up on classifieds,

but I don't have to do that.

You know, there's no explanation needed.

You know, in a sense I'm almost glad that my wife left me

before any of this happened,

so I just don't have to explain any of this.

Now, on the other side, the con

is that I've lost my job.

So here's what happened.

I was called into this room with HR, the director,

and all the windows were blacked out and they told me

that they didn't really like my YouTube show.

Which is absolutely surprising, right?

Like, who doesn't like this stuff?

So here's what I was told at orientation,

that if you're currently running a blog, podcast,

YouTube show, whatever it is,

then go ahead and continue running it,

they don't have a problem with that.

But they told me that since I was starting to monetize,

then that would not be okay.

So as long as your blog, podcast, social media

is not popular, as long as it's pretty bad

and nobody's watching it, then that's fine,

they don't care about that.

But if you start getting some success

and you start getting views and you're monetizing,

then you know, that's going to be a problem.

And then we were in this debate

about whether podcasts are monetizing or not.

And I would say, "Well, I think podcasts

"are monetizing, most are."

And they'd say, "No, they're not, they're not monetizing."

And I tell them, "Look, I don't work for free,

"and I don't do open source."

For a social media company that is always encouraging people

to post about themselves, I find this surprising

when they don't like social media.

And overall, I think that just sends

the wrong message, you know?

In tech, we have a talent shortage

and in my opinion, there's nothing wrong

with telling people about what they need to know,

what requirements they need.

You know, about like, data structures, coding, algorithms,

teamwork tips, communication tips, how to work with people,

all of this general advice and letting them know

what it means to have good communication skills,

what does it mean to have good teamwork skills?

Now, take note that I have never leaked

any confidential information

and I work very hard to not leak that stuff.

I have access to so much of it

and I never reveal any of that

because number one, I don't think it really helps anybody

to know the pure specifics,

but I do think it helps people to know general information

that I may have picked up

over my personal years of experience.

It is really what a good career coach

or mentor may be able to do

to help guide young people

along their career paths, just to make sure

that they're learning things properly, right?

Learning the right frameworks,

learning the right technologies,

having better understanding of what interviewers

and companies are looking for.

So by the way, if you want to learn that stuff,

check it out, techinteviewpro.com,

I'll get you guys set up, fast track your career.

So you know, I took great care

in never misrepresenting the company,

I made sure all of the views were my own.

So I was just dismayed to hear that,

hey, if you work in tech

and you have a Twitter, a LinkedIn, a Facebook,

a blog, a podcast, YouTube show,

then you could be in danger of losing your job.

And they didn't even give me a warning about any of this,

they just told me, "You're done."

And to be on the safe side,

you could run your blog, but it better not be about tech,

your passion, coding, right?

Make it about cooking, skiing or five-minute DIY crafts.

Which I might just start getting into now.

But whatever it is, if you're passionate about coding

and that's all you wanna talk about,

we don't want you, right?

They don't want you.

Now, there's something you need to understand.

I was working as a staff software engineer.

The salary was north of 500k.

I was honestly getting a little bit worried

that I would be working until I died

because they got death benefits too.

So there was no way out for me.

Like, I'm not just going to walk away from a job like that.

I'm too cheap, I can't leave that much money on the table.

And I was just thinking, how can I get out of this?

So when the problem or opportunity presented itself to me,

I didn't even bother arguing it or fighting it.

You know, I just said, "When do I get started," right?

"When can I get outta here?

"Is it in two weeks?"

And they said, "No, today."

I was like, "Okay."

And I actually felt a bit of relief.

I mean, these are golden handcuffs,

they're called that for a reason.

So I had been working 80-hour weeks, which was crazy

like, it was just not sustainable.

In my mind, the writing was probably on the wall.

For the past few months, I've just had no time to relax,

play games, watch movies,

I wasn't able to do any of this stuff

and I had no free time.

Now, I've been thinking

that maybe I should just jump straight back

into the job market,

maybe find a smaller company that's not so paranoid.

But I'm not sure I wanna do that quite yet

and I think that overall, a company like Facebook or Google,

these two companies have prided themselves

on transparency, internally, right?

They're not like Apple, where they just silo employees off

because they can't trust the employees.

If you're going to hire someone, you should trust them.

So I mean, come on, we're not Apple here.

But overall, you have to remember

that I have been working about five years straight.

Before any of this began,

I have been like, traveling the world.

So I really began to miss my free time

and quite likely, I will be taking a break

for a while, at least.

And you have to also remember

that I am financially independent, you know?

I retired like ten years ago, actually.

And I can just sustain myself indefinitely,

within this car, I could just sleep here, live here,

like, this is shelter.

So overall, I knew that coming into a job like this,

it would not be something I could walk away from

and the only way out would be

either getting laid off or fired.

So somewhere in my mind, I always knew

that this would be the way that I would go.

Now, I have a question for you guys.

Seeing that I have lost my wife and my family and my job,

have I hit rock bottom?

Let me know in the comments below

'cause I really wanna know,

did I hit rock bottom here?

Because there's always further that you can fall

and in every problem, there's some opportunity.

But if there's just a little bit more to go,

then I might be willing to go down to reach that

before I begin my ascent back up.

But let me know what you think I should do.

I'm thinking I'll take a vacation, maybe take a break.

And I wanna say, if this is concerning to you,

if you fear that this could happen to you someday,

then I really want to encourage you

to look into starting a side business, some side hustle.

That is, in my opinion, one of the only ways

to really safeguard yourself against life events like this.

Potential layoffs, being fired,

some issue cropping up at work

or maybe, if you just want a voluntary career change.

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That'll do for me.

Give the video a like and subscribe,

I'm really going to need those likes and subscribes now

because this is my only source of income.

Someone has to sustain me, that's gonna be you, so.

(light switch clicking)

(sighs)

I can't believe I have to make my own breakfast.

So how do we do this here?

(bag crumbling)

You just pour this thing?

(cereal jingles)

(cup tapping)

(water trickling)