At that time, the team I joined was engaged in internet medical projects, and the start momentum was good. I also got the first round financing of $3 million from Allen Zhu. Business expansion is also very fast, covering more than a dozen cities across the country. But by 20 17, investors have realized that the problem in this direction is the profit model, and you can't make money just by having scale. It is precisely the disadvantage of this project that both the B-end and the C-end are difficult to achieve, so the B-round has been dragged on. In May, the boss began to get nervous, leaving 5 million in his account. If the monthly expenses can be reduced by half, we can persist for another year. So several of our partners had several meetings with him to discuss cost control, and eventually it was inevitable to cut people's heads off. At that time, it was decided that R&D would be cut in half and operation would be cut in half.
The specific list is decided on Monday of that week, and then announcements and individual talks will be held on Friday. I worked hard for a few days in the middle, knowing that people will leave in a few days, watching these boys continue to work overtime, and having regular meetings with them to review the development progress.
By Friday, I am no longer the boss of R&D. The real boss is the founder of technology, but he is softer and more introverted than me, so he wants to arrest me and start cruel layoffs together. We found a small room, called the guys on the list one by one, explained the company's current difficulties, thanked him for his efforts, and then told him how difficult the decision was. Many friends were shocked, and one of them cried on the spot, not because he felt wronged, but because he was reluctant to leave the team. After staying up all morning, we finally finished talking. No one blamed us or embarrassed us. We've finished talking about the other side of the operation.
The atmosphere in the afternoon was a bit heavy. We booked a restaurant and KTV next to us, and we had a farewell dinner together in the evening, and finally had a good time. I remember that everyone was crazy that day and everyone who could drink was drunk. I don't know what we are celebrating. It was not until the last break that an operation girl who often mixed with us squatted on the side of the road and cried, which brought us back to reality.
Of course, we won't just throw people out. We will try our best to help. The technology founder used the relationship to find a home for several small partners, and then because our team's training atmosphere and technical taste are good, and the level and learning ability of the people from the team are good, they all found jobs smoothly. The funniest thing is that a young man directly joined another project on our floor (we are the place where * * * enjoys the office), picked up his bag and took a few steps to join the company, but he still looked up and didn't see it.
Well, as a programmer, we should keep our technical taste and competitiveness, and not be satisfied with the stagnation of our existing business. Many times being laid off is not your level, but someone may be better at this project than you. If you are strong enough and capable enough, you can still find a new home after being laid off.
Maybe a little surprised, maybe a little secretly pleased.
Friend company closed down in September 2020. They have their own branches in Wuhan and Hangzhou. Headquartered in Wuhan, Wuhan is the place where the company started, and its sales, operation and market are all located in Wuhan. When the company develops to a certain scale, it expects a mature technical team to support it. In the early days, technology was outsourced because the business was not stable enough. The advantage of outsourcing is that the ship can easily turn around. Once it feels that this product cannot be recognized by the market, it will immediately cut off this product and start new development. The disadvantages of outsourcing are low level of development engineers, nonstandard code, many use frameworks, difficult iteration and high reconstruction cost. The boss has been exploring the business for two years and thinks that this business can support the future development, and it is not a problem to support a technical team of 20 people. After analysis, the boss found that Hangzhou has a high level of scientific and technological development, engineers are good at tricks, and the overall cost is much lower than that of Beijing and Shanghai. So a technical team was established in Hangzhou, and a branch company was established in Hangzhou, which existed as the technical support of the head office.
On June 20 19, the branch was formally established in Hangzhou. By June 2020, after more than three months of development, the branch has formed a team of nearly 20 people, including front-end, back-end, product, testing, UI and design, which can undertake most of the development tasks of the headquarters business. The Spring Festival is getting closer and closer, and the boss still wants to expand after the year. After all, the business of the whole 20 19 company is developing very well, and the boss is also full of ambitions.
Who knows that the COVID-19 epidemic broke out in May 438+10 at the end of June 2020, and the company's business could not be carried out normally until the end of April. During this time, the development team did not expand, but maintained the original team to continue working. Everyone is looking forward to the end of the epidemic and the resumption of business. Finally, in June, merchants began to test the water in a small scale, but at this time the market no longer bought it. The sales in the three months from June to August are less than half of the sales in any month of the previous year. A large number of people need to support, and all kinds of expenses should be carried out normally, but the company has been sitting on empty seats.
By the beginning of September, there was only enough money left in the financial inventory to maintain the salary of all employees for two months. At this time, the company decided to cut the technology first, and the R&D team in Hangzhou was laid off. On the morning of the layoff, colleagues in the technical department still went to work at 9 o'clock. As soon as the heads of Hangzhou Company arrived at the company, they started talking one by one. After talking about compensation, everyone continued to write unfinished code in the company and then uploaded it to the server. No one spoke, and then they packed their personal belongings, left the computer and other company supplies, and left the company one by one.