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Impostor Syndrome

Funny how “Impostor Syndrome” keeps trending on LinkedIn, as if the real impostors aren’t sitting comfortably in the executive suite polishing their mission‑statement buzzwords. Our Lake Mary Site Lead waxes and wanes almost daily on LinkedIn about personal growth and his random musings on overcoming self‑doubt, meanwhile TheLayoff.com reads like a Greek chorus calling out leadership that’s overstayed its ethical visa. But sure—let’s all meditate on our inner saboteur while the EC perfects the art of staying in the room long after the moral fire alarm went off. Let’s focus more on our personal shortcomings while leadership turns up the midyear gaslighting campaign to identify a new collection of layoff victims.

It’s interesting, really. Employees twist themselves into pretzels wondering if they’re “worthy,” while the folks steering the ship can’t find the compass, the map, or apparently the exit.

If impostors are defined by those who shouldn’t be in the role, the syndrome isn’t in the rank‑and‑file—it’s upstairs in 240G, thriving, well‑compensated, and oddly immune to self‑reflection.

But hey, personal growth is important. Just not that personal, apparently. Give it a rest, James.


Reducing Bloat

How about instead of mistreating the folks actually doing the work at the L1 level, we get rid of a LOT of the fluff at the L3 and higher level?....There are so many L3s who do nothing but host teams calls where they circlej--kand throw out "Insightful" quotes to try to sound intelligent before we spend an hour listening to something that literally could have been an email so they can feign "Collaboration". Someone mentioned that ja----s Louie Lewis earlier in this thread and he has these fu-k a-s "Jam Sessions" weekly where its just him hosting and playing his favorite music before trying to seem Insightful like we all don't have sh-t to do. I swear to god im just waiting to hear back from some roles I have applied to so I can GTFO out of Dallas for good.


All through my years... Hare & Tortoise

All through my years I was just delivering something for Oracle based on company /team requirements from top. Most of these are non-innovative, mundane, repetitive tasks occupying my time, energy, efforts. I have done some valuable things but are not rewarded for those. I was happy with 2% increments.

Here is the problem, your friends in other companies are seeing hyper growth for what you are doing now. Even in small company they grow big and paid more.
Its a hare and tortoise game. We run fast and want to rest in shade of Oracle tree thinking management directions will help us grow and move forward. Where the tortoises are winning.

Oracle is/has become a Political Junk yard.


ISG Ice cream social in hop

Next week there is an ice cream social in Hop. They laid off thousands of people with a stock price of over $450 a share. They’re going to lay off more people in August and Nov.

They’re going to give you an ice cream social. If you are reading this and are in Hopkinton, don’t go. F*ck those guys, they’re the most greedy little pr!cks I’ve ever seen in my life.

Everything went to sh!t once Arthur took over.

They can’t placate us with ice cream. Think about how insulting that is for a second.

Not a bonus, not an increase in your salary for doing great work, not stock, but F*cking ice cream.

Show them your disgust. Don’t go.


The best way?

Many years ago when I heard some of my friends had landed jobs at Cisco I thought "wow Cisco is smart to hire them". I even considered buying the stock.

All of them got laid off.

So when Cisco bought the company I worked for I already knew what was coming. The day the deal was announced I should have updated my resume and left. But I stayed anyway. I lasted longer than I expected but those years were mostly wasted.

I watched good friends and talented people get cut. After about a year I made a decision. I was done working extra hours or giving my soul to the company. If someone asked where I worked I would say Cisco but I always added that it was not the company it used to be back in the 90s. These days I even wonder if it was ever really that great.

In the end I gave them way less than my best effort. Sometimes I felt guilty about it. Then I would see someone busting their a** working weekends and late nights only to get laid off anyway. That made the message pretty clear.

Now it is my turn to be let go and I am still not sure which path was better. Should you work hard on principle even when the system does not care? Or do you push back against a machine that punishes loyalty?

I used every bit of that unlimited PTO. I never worked extra hours. Part of me is glad I fought the system in my own small way.

The other part wonders if it would have been better to go down still believing in the mission like Old Major in Animal Farm.


ERG participation for United Way Campaign

I want people’s opinions on this. The UW Campaign is in October, and the committee is pulling in the ERGs for engagement. They claim the focus is on the people—not Imperial. But let’s be honest: every single thing we do still gets stamped with Imperial’s name, and employees onsite have zero motivation left. I don’t see how we’re supposed to “engage” anyone under these conditions.


PPDM = Pisss Poor Data Management

PPDM was the biggest steaming pile of horse shiiiiit from day #1. Everyone who worked on it should be fired on the spot!

My customers are ripping it out of their test environments, which they could never get to fully work, in droves. What a complete joke of an Enterprise software product. Pathetic.


When you stop rewarding results and start emphasizing attendance, don’t be surprised when people optimize for attendance instead of results.

One of the biggest mistakes this “leadership” made was creating a 5x RTO policy for everyone because of the actions of a few.

The understanding has always been that the push toward 5x RTO was driven, at least in part, by concerns about a small number of people who weren’t meeting expectations under the 3x8 policy. Whether that’s true or not, those people are largely gone. The ones paying the price today are everyone who complied and remained.

Instead of holding poor performers accountable, leadership rolled out a blanket policy that treats everyone like they need to be monitored. High performers, average performers, and low performers all get the same treatment. That’s completely a$$ backwards.

Good people managers manage performance. They don’t replace performance management with one size fits all policies that punish the majority because of the minority.

So, the unintended consequence is the new 8 & skate culture.

People who used to go above and beyond now focus on just checking the box. Badge in, sit for eight hours, badge out. Time that once went into extra work is now spent commuting. Discretionary effort has simply been replaced by compliance.

The irony is that the policy intended to improve accountability has actually reduced it. When you stop rewarding results and start emphasizing attendance, don’t be surprised when people optimize for attendance instead of outcomes.

If someone isn’t doing their job, you deal with that person. You don’t build a policy that discourages the very people you should be trying hardest to keep.


Yall need help

I’m in my late 20s so I assume I’m younger than a lot of you here and I’m also assuming a lot of y'all are probably my parents’ age or even older. Reading some of your hateful words on here Im honestly embarrassed for your kids. I can’t imagine if I saw or heard my mom or dad talk the way you do about human beings and all for what ? DEI? What’s the obsession like give it a rest. Why are you so threatened by who somebody beds down with? How does that affect you in any way? Worried they’ll take your job? Maybe stop being such dinosaurs. Stop coasting just because you think you’ve made it in life because you made it to a JG 3 or above. No wonder a lot of yall are being wiped out of your careers and companies don’t want to hire you and pay you for what you think you’re worth. So entitled. If you hate shells DEI policies so much then leave oh wait you can’t because you banked your whole career on ONE company. The new generations laugh at yall and trust me yes we are taking your jobs and yes we are also making more than you are. Nothing but disgusting sad old people you should be ashamed of yourselves. I’m disgusted to know I walk the halls with you. Grow some ba--s you want to act tough why post anonymously say it with your chest let us know your alias ID, post it on teams, LinkedIn etc or even better I’ll set up a gtky and we can have a f2f chat about how you really feel. We can even grab lunch and you can cry about how you’re all being wiped out by hispanics blacks Asians females g-ys and whoever else you wanna blame for your dead careers.


The Anatomy of an Efficient Office Day

Figured I’d use AI to create this since AI is our future. Thanks copilot!

A chronological descent into corporate madness.

  • 06:30 AM | The Commute of Champions
    Spend 55 minutes staring at brake lights because burning gas and inhaling highway fumes is the ultimate prelude to productivity.

  • 07:25 AM | The Hunger Games: Parking Edition
    Waste 15 minutes circling the concrete labyrinth just to park half a mile away, then walk to the building like a corporate nomad.

  • 07:40 AM | The Hoteling Ritual
    Spend 20 minutes hunting down an unassigned, sterile cubicle and plugging in cords like you're setting up a temporary command center in a disaster zone.

  • 08:00 AM | The Mandatory Weekend Recap
    Endure 40 minutes of grueling small talk about Brenda's nephew's soccer tournament and Dave’s lawn aeration schedule. You cannot escape.

  • 08:40 AM | The Stealth Hydration Mission
    Take 15 minutes to carefully plot a route to the restroom and coffee machine, attempting to dodge eye contact with anyone who might ask "how's it going?"

  • 08:55 AM | Actual Work (The Rare In-Between)
    A shocking, uninterrupted 60-minute window where you actually perform the tasks you are paid to do. Cherish it.

  • 09:55 AM | The Pre-Meeting Packing Migration
    Pack up your entire digital life 15 minutes early because God forbid you "squat" on a shared cube while you migrate to a different floor for a meeting.

  • 10:10 AM | The Disappearing Desk Era
    Lose 90 minutes of your life to a 60-minute meeting because the first 15 were spent figuring out the conference room HDMI adapter and the last 15 were "organic banter."

  • 11:40 AM | The Power Lunch Sprint
    Shove food down your throat in exactly 23 minutes so you aren't late for the next round of synergistic alignment.

  • 12:03 PM | Sensory Decompression Walk
    Spend 15 minutes pacing the perimeter of the building just to regulate your nervous system after surviving the deafening roar of the company cafeteria.

  • 12:18 PM | The Hallway Ambush
    Attempt to return to a desk but get cornered by a manager for 20 minutes of unsolicited "brainstorming."

  • 12:38 PM | The Cult of Collaboration
    Sprint to the next room because arriving late to a 90-minute slide-deck reading is a sin against the company culture.

  • 02:08 PM | The 443-Minute Meltdown
    Look at the clock. Exactly 443 minutes of your waking life have passed since you arrived at the office, mostly spent pretending to care about things that don't matter.

  • 02:11 PM | The Personal Hogwash Trap
    Try to use the restroom again. Get trapped for 20 minutes hearing about someone's upcoming kitchen remodel.

  • 02:31 PM | The Final Stand
    Sit down and frantically work for 51 minutes, typing at 120 words per minute with pure, adrenaline-fueled rage.

  • 03:22 PM | The Great Escape
    Spend 15 minutes shutting down, packing your backpack, and walking toward freedom.

  • 03:37 PM | The Doorstop Conversation
    Get stopped for 5 minutes right at the exit by someone who "just wanted to catch you real quick."

  • 03:42 PM | The Commute Home (Part II)
    Spend 55 minutes crawling back home in gridlock, contemplating every life choice that led to this moment.

The Hard Truth Math
Total Time Invested: 10 Hours (600 Minutes)

Actual Time Spent Working: 111 Minutes
>
Total Time Wasted on "Culture": 8.1 Hours

If this day happened at home, we all would have finished actual work before lunch, attended the meetings while comfortably and wouldn't need a stiff drink just to survive the evening once you got home.

But hey, at least management got to see your face in a cubicle. Culture!


The Silent Treatment

I worked for other large companies in the West and the Midwest prior to joining GN&T in the Northeast. My Western and Midwestern bosses were friendly and would greet me, ask me how things were going, make small talk etc…

My Verizon GN&T were the complete opposite. Hardly ever greeted me, didn’t make conversation about work or anything else. One ED wouldn’t even answer if you said good morning if you happened to be riding in the same elevator on the way to the office. This silent treatment makes for a pretty unpleasant working environment.

I’m curious what other people’s experiences are like. Is this a Northeast thing? A Verizon thing? Or what? I’m an introvert and I’m not seeking to start long conversations but greeting someone back is basic courtesy.


WARNING TO LEAVERS - DXC WILL GASLIGHT YOU INTO RETURNING STUFF THAT IS YOURS

left for role with soon to be mostly ex client ages ago, had some leftover cr4p that this company never bothered to pick up and they never responded to the original email so thought no bother, I sent my laptop back and thats all that mattered

out of the blue, get an email from "iron mountain" basically instructing me to package EVERYTHING the company sent me, including mice, keyboards, headsets and from covid the desk that Ive built my room around

if you get anything similar just tell them youve disposed of everything already and indicate you have no business with them
they have no power over us now


The People Spamming Are Cowards & Low IQ

They don't want to hear certain opinions that differ from their own.

They want to silence voices when CDW already does that in exchange for letting us keep our jobs.

Go ahead and copy and paste a long winded nonsense to ratio other coworkers opinions and thoughts. Maybe another poem about across the pond or about the winters in NY. Maybe spam with foreign languages posts.

Great people and culture.

Spew this to customers and see what happens.

YOU ALL SHOULD KNOW CUSTOMERS CAN VISIT & READ EVERYTHING ON THIS SITE AS WELL!!!


What I Wish Someone Told Me Before Joining EM

I’ve learned more about ExxonMobil’s policies and the unwritten, dirtier rules outside the office than inside it. I’m sharing what I’ve picked up so far. If this helps even one person who walks blind. Feel free to add to it and keep it a live threat:

  1. Be friendly, but don’t trust anyone. EM is not the place to build deep friendships. Surface level professionalism is safer.
  2. Keep your academic network alive. You never know when you might need an adjunct role, consulting, or a fallback path.
  3. Don’t share your goals. People we-ponize information here. Your ambitions become someone else’s leverage.
  4. Don’t share anything personal. Many people cannot tolerate seeing someone else happy or progressing. Protect your privacy.
  5. If you’re underutilized, speak up formally. Do your best, document it, and clearly inform management you need a project. Silence gets interpreted as complacency.
  6. If you’re paired with a senior person in your area of the same skill, set boundaries immediately. Define your tasks, your ownership, and how credit will be split. Otherwise, your work becomes “their contribution.”
  7. In team meetings, don’t rush to speak first. Read the room, understand the tone, then contribute. But don’t stay silent. You don’t want to leave labeled as “the one who didn’t participate.”
  8. Document every idea in writing. Don’t let anyone “zoom call” your idea away and then repackage it as theirs. Put things in email, timestamp them, and confirm ownership clearly.
  9. Don’t over acknowledge or admire people. The moment you over praise someone, they start acting like you owe them something. You don’t. Keep compliments minimal and neutral.
  10. Never let them think you’re desperate for the job — even if you are. Desperation is blood in the water. If they sense it, you become the easiest person to throw under the bus.

New hires posting and trashing current and former coworkers

What is going on at CDW?

We have new hires and overseas contractors fighting with current and former coworkers.

We have current and former coworkers fighting with new hires and overseas contractors.

So much for being a "family" working together to gain market share and making things better.


I think Managers/PL know more than what they are letting on....

......as my manager told us last Monday that an important update about the VSP was coming and he was referring to the date change to rescind your application.....the email that was only sent to those that applied for the VSP. So, either my manager applied for VSP and got the email, or managers are getting more information than what they are sharing with the plebes.


downvoting is suspicious. Keep comments coming.

What's up with all the downvoting suddenly? It's likely Centene the company themselves doing it or company boot lickers (get a life). To employees: never complete those manipulating and invalidating voice surveys but speak your voice here safely and don't be discouraged. Ignore downvoting and negative scores. Fk em. It's not that serious to be downvoting.


A few thoughts 3,5 years after leaving ATT (RTO)

First I'll say that I genuinely enjoyed my small team at AT&T with whom I worked the last 20 years of my career there. I have no resentment to the time I spent there, so this isn't a complaining post, just some perspective after some time away. I was in management, doing technical work and app development for sales support.

Most of my team, about 80%, was laid off for not moving to Dallas (most of the rest were already there; one or two moved there). We were in various focus cities supporting our local sales teams, but the senior leadership didn't understand that and did not make exceptions. I found another position doing similar work for another company and started 3 weeks after my final day at T. The new company has fewer than 1000 people, for comparison.

So here are some of my takeaways, in case someone with a long career at AT&T might be thinking about making the jump, or who might have it forced on them.

  1. Surprising that this is the first one, but honestly it's such a difference that I wanted to call it out: I have not opened Powerpoint once since I left T. At T, powerpoint was basically the language of business. We wasted so many cycles "making a deck" to try to communicate to the ever-changing field of senior leadership that I probably spent the plurality of my time in Powerpoint vs. any other program. I got a new laptop at my new job, and realized as I deleted the pre-placed icon from the desktop that I've never once used Powerpoint. We use Teams, sometimes demos, sometimes a mockup or diagram...but I've never had to "make a deck."

  2. It really hit me just how many people at AT&T did literally nothing of value. This is not a dig against most colleagues, but rather just that significant subset who didn't have discernible skills, so got placed into positions to just spin their bureaucratic wheels but otherwise stay out of the way. I recall two dozen names off the top of my head that were just there to make people jump through hoops, document workflow (for no followup reason), design a new process that was jettisoned as soon as they moved somewhere else, or just attend meetings and throw in their two cents without really contributing. Outside of T, there are people of various skill and contribution levels, but nobody whose job is simply to fly under the radar. When I read stories about T employees logging in and leaving their laptops in lockers, or sitting in the cafeteria watching TV, it makes me glad to know that where I'm at now, everybody is giving a fair day's work without making work for others.

  3. Leadership at AT&T is toxic. I'm not just talking the Stankey/Stephenson types, who, yes, have ruined the company through unfathomable incompetence. I'm talking the people in the mid-level, director-like positions and above. Almost all (not all) of them at T seemed like they got there based on the Peter Principle or otherwise nodded their head enough. Only in the beginning of my career in the late 1990s did I feel any executive director or above at T (SBC at the time) was there due to being a practitioner of their craft, for being respected, or for being a good manager. And that class began to dwindle as time went on, replaced by hollow, empty suits who could spew buzzwords and claim empty victories by cherry picking their numbers. It's like an ever-shifting field of grifters.

  4. The hiring process at ATT is irreparably broken. I was a hiring manager, and trying to get someone competent in the door was inexplicably difficult. HR gatekept candidates and had no concept of the hard and soft skills we needed. We got sent batches of candidates who faked their resumes, faked their interviews (even before AI was big), faked their legal ability to work in the U.S., and so on. There were times that it took 9 months to find an entry level programmer because HR kept whiffing. HR gets a lot of flack everywhere, but at T, I believed they were truly a cesspool of rejects.

Maybe I'll think of more but these hit me just this week. There are things I miss about T, mostly dealing with colleagues, but these are definitely things I do not miss! The day-to-day stress and friction they cause isn't always evident when you're in the middle of it. Only after the ATT shackles are thrown off do you realize how bad of an environment it can be!


VEC-Business Development AD's

Some of these leaders only have 4–5 direct reports, yet they carry themselves as if they're God's gift to the program. Instead of leading, it feels like their job consists of asking Gemini to write emails and forwarding them.
What's even more concerning is that some Assistant Directors seem to lack fundamental leadership skills. It appears they earned these positions through politics and bootlicking rather than proven performance, yet they're still trusted to make important decisions.
Even worse, several have never consistently come close to hitting quota, but instead of taking accountability, they blame the frontline teams. Leadership is about owning results, developing people, and setting the example—not shifting responsibility.
If someone can't effectively lead a team of five, it raises serious questions about the standards for leadership.


Bout time

Before I quit two years ago, I remember it taking 15 minutes just to log in every morning. To say the place was a mess would be an understatement. Not to mention, the whole Genpact deal destroyed already low morale. I was so happy to leave it all behind. Have things improved at all since then?


Story time from New York

The morning began quietly, with a cool breeze drifting through the open windows and carrying the scent of fresh rain across the neighborhood. Birds gathered on telephone wires, taking turns singing while the streets slowly came to life. A delivery truck rolled past, cyclists waved to one another, and the first customers entered a small café where the smell of coffee and warm bread filled the air. People hurried to work, students gathered outside schools, and gardeners watered flowers that had begun to bloom after several sunny days.

Across town, a public library welcomed visitors looking for a quiet place to read or study. Shelves stretched from floor to ceiling, holding books on history, science, art, engineering, literature, and countless other subjects. Some readers searched for novels to enjoy over the weekend, while others researched topics for school or personal projects. In a nearby room, children listened carefully as a storyteller described distant mountains, mysterious forests, and adventurous explorers who traveled across oceans in search of knowledge and discovery.

As the afternoon arrived, parks became busier with families, joggers, photographers, and people simply enjoying the weather. A group of musicians practiced together beneath a large oak tree, filling the air with melodies that drifted across the walking paths. Nearby, artists sketched landscapes while children built elaborate sand structures in a playground. Conversations shifted from everyday routines to dreams of future vacations, new hobbies, favorite meals, and memorable experiences shared with friends.

Meanwhile, technology continued to connect people around the world. Engineers collaborated on complex projects from different continents, teachers held virtual classrooms for students thousands of miles away, and researchers exchanged scientific discoveries in real time. Farmers monitored weather forecasts before planting crops, doctors reviewed medical images with specialists in other cities, and volunteers organized community events through online platforms. Small innovations combined to make daily life more efficient while creating opportunities for creativity and collaboration.

As evening approached, the sky gradually transformed into shades of orange, pink, and deep blue. Lights appeared in homes and businesses, restaurants welcomed dinner guests, and families gathered around tables to share stories about their day. Some people relaxed with books, others watched movies, practiced musical instruments, solved puzzles, exercised, or planned future goals. Before the night ended, many stepped outside for a moment to admire the stars overhead, appreciating the quiet stillness that contrasted with the busy hours that had come before.

Although every day follows a familiar rhythm, no two days are ever exactly the same. Small conversations, unexpected opportunities, changing weather, new ideas, and simple acts of kindness all contribute to experiences that shape our memories over time. Curiosity encourages people to continue learning, exploring unfamiliar places, meeting different individuals, and discovering perspectives they had never considered before. Through patience, persistence, and a willingness to adapt, ordinary moments often become meaningful stories that are remembered for years to come.


POSITIVITY CORNER 🌞

This board could use a little balance, so here goes.

Yes, restructuring is hard — and if you were impacted, you're talented and any company would be lucky to have you. But for the rest of us: take a breath and zoom out.

We work at a company that's been trusted with the world's most important data for over four decades. The biggest banks, airlines, retailers, and telcos on the planet run on what we build. That doesn't happen by accident.

And credit where it's due — the ELT isn't hiding from hard decisions. They're making the tough calls to keep Teradata lean, focused, and built for the long haul. That's what real leadership looks like, even when it isn't popular.

The sky isn't falling. The mission is intact, the customers are still here, and so is the team. Choose to see the opportunity.

Proud to be here. 🧡


One year post CPM, much more meaningful work, key is savings to create escape velocity

I had a long and mostly good career at Intel. I remember the early days, when it was demanding, but in exchange, there was a meaningful employer/employee relationship. Towards the end, and sadly like so much of tech, it is now just transactional, you are here for the moment, then not. In the last chapter of my career at Intel products side (DCG), I felt our mission and goals were always shifting with the rotation of VPs, job clarity and purpose were low, and you spent as much time navigating politics, turf and survival as you did actually focused on delivering anything to our customers. Still, I always saved, maxed out 401k, additional savings along the way.

When our team was hit a year ago, I took the money and ran. We only have one shot at our lives, so for the next chapter, I focused on finding a job and organization that had more meaning to me, and not about the pay or title. I landed a role that pays about 1/3 of what I made at Intel (was double digit grade level), but I have very clear job clarity, ownership, accountability, I have direct line of site where my contributions add value, there isn't a re-org every quarter, the management is stable. This is a much better space than the nonsense of working on ever shifting goals, and one day you are told what you do matters, and the next day the team is CPM'd.

The key, if you are there navigating Lip-Bu's 'you are born to suffer and work hard' mindset, is save, save, save, and as you have more and more socked away, your options beyond Intel, and beyond tech, grow, grow and grow.

I am grateful for the wealth accumulation Intel provided my family and I over the years, and I do wish the remaining Intel colleagues the best of luck, I hope Intel and those that are there succeed (still have stock), but have to say the employment experience - from the perspective of meaning and purpose - decreased significantly from the Intel I joined in times past.


Fake job postings

I see so many job positions open for only 2 days or less than a week. Are those genuine openings. I was told by a friend in HR that those positions are there just for formality. Managers have already made up their mind as to who to promote but they have to post the job for HR purposes. Any insights?