There are No Guarantees
Late yesterday, a friend of mine was laid off. It happens, but he was on a new project at a new company... probably hadn't been there three months, and the project was cancelled. He was the only US-based employee for the company, and so that was it. No new project. No other opportunity in the company. Gone.
While a part of me understands this logic - you hire for a project, and if it is cancelled, then you don't need the people you hired for it, and so they can go. This makes perfect sense to me as a business owner. There is no fat. But at the same time, when the company has more than 50, or so, employees, and you find a good one, you have to wonder why they didn't plan for the possibility, and find a place for a good person to do good work?
I'll never know why they didn't, and how close they were to pulling the plug when he hired on, but it seems like the relationship between tech worker and employer is at an all-time low. The workers expect the world from the employer - tons of money, ping-pong, meals, stock, etc. and in return, they seem to want to work 4 hrs/day and be treated like royalty. Employers want to hire who they have to, and then drop them when they don't need them.
I suppose it's only fair, but it's sad at the same time. We're getting more like nature where the strong survive and thrive, and the weak, or unlucky, are eaten. Kinda harsh.