Big Tech Workers Speak Out After Getting Laid Off: 'I Applied to Work Cashier at Target and I Was Denied'

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For years, landing a high-paying job at one of America's biggest tech companies could feel like reaching the top of the industry. But four former Big Tech workers told Business Insider how quickly six-figure salaries and seemingly secure careers disappeared after they were laid off .

Brittney Ball , 37, was earning $180,000 as a documentation engineer at Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META ) after teaching herself to code using a public library and YouTube. Jason Zhang , 25, made more than $200,000 as a software engineer at Google. Joe Friend , 62, spent 23 years at Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT ) and had a $250,000 base salary, while Sriram Ramikrishna , 57, spent 23 years at Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC ) and earned $180,000.

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Ball had survived several previous rounds of layoffs at Meta and thought she was safe. Then, while dropping her children off at school, she received an email telling her she no longer had a job.

"I felt numb," Ball told BI. "Having an hour to say goodbye, you feel like a number."

What followed was even harder. Ball didn't expect to remain unemployed for more than a year. She applied for more than 8,000 jobs and reached roughly 10 final-round interviews, sometimes only to learn that the company had hired internally.

"It kind of feels like a humiliation ritual," she told BI.

Eventually, Ball started looking outside tech, but that didn't work either.

"I applied to work cashier at Target and I was denied because I've been in tech for 15 years," Ball said. "I don't have any retail experience."

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Her experience wasn't unique. Ramikrishna expected to find another job within six months after Intel eliminated his entire business unit in July 2025. A year later, he was still searching. Zhang thought he'd have another job within three months but said he'd applied for about 30 positions without hearing back from any.

More than 127,000 U.S. tech workers had been laid off since the beginning of this year, according to Layoffs.fyi . Equivalent to 532 jobs per day.

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