Like a Slap In the Face: Software Engineer Sacked by Google days after his Mom’s Death

A software engineer is feeling like a ‘slap’ on his ‘face’ after being sacked by tech giant Google, days after his mother’s death. In his emotional LinkedIn post, Tommy York, Ex-soft engineer at Google said that ‘there will be more opportunities to work at exciting companies, but a parent dies only once.’Like a Slap In the Face: Engineer sacked by Google days after his Mom’s death

“I’ve certainly heard worse stories, including layoffs of expecting parents and of Googlers on disability leave. But it still feels like a slap in the face, like being hit when you’re down,” Mr. York wrote.

He also admitted that he would have written have had written about the ‘benefits of honestly talking about mental health was a positive part of the culture at Google, but instead, I’m tired and disappointed.’

“It’s unclear how the lay-offs were determined, and perhaps the year I had may have nudged me more towards being laid off,” he said.

In its latest layoff, Google last week reduced 12,000 jobs after years of growth while some of the employees learned about their sacking when they were able to access the systems.

Mr. York recalled that he started at Google in December 2021 and his mom was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer the following February.’ He further revealed that onboarding at Google is a challenging process as there are ‘lot of “just figure it out.”

“It was even more difficult when also dealing with my mom’s chemo appointments, moving her in with family, or the extremely challenging last few months of her life,” he mentioned. However, he concluded by stating that ‘culture takes years to build, but breaks quickly and easily.’