Here’s the worst part of being laid off from Big Tech.

Alienation, despair, anger — that isn’t even the worst of it.

Losing your job is never easy, but finding out that you’ve been laid off from a big tech company in a way that leaves you feeling alone and rejected can be particularly traumatic.

For me, it started with a sudden loss of access to company systems. I was in the middle of a project and had no idea what was happening. As I tried to reach out to my coworkers for support, I quickly realized that no one was willing to offer any. They all seemed to know what was happening, but no one was willing to tell me what was going on.

I was in the middle of my workday when I received the news. My manager pulled me into a conference room and told me that my position was being eliminated and that I would be let go immediately. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me.

As I was escorted out of the building, I started to feel a tightness in my chest and my heart was racing. My hands were shaking and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I knew that I was having a panic attack.

For me, the panic attack was a physical manifestation of the emotional turmoil that I was feeling. The sudden loss of my job felt like a personal rejection and I couldn’t shake…