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Experience
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Oct 2025
·
London
My journey after layoff – Part 2(Positive)
74 upvotes
28 replies
Interview Experience
Thanks for all the positive comments and DMs on my previous post(<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/s/w3hdFmLIVuh
Full Details
Thanks for all the positive comments and DMs on my previous post(<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/s/w3hdFmLIVu)
![<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/s/w3hdFmLIVu](https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/s/w3hdFmLIVu" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="text-emerald-400 hover:text-emerald-300 underline">https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/s/w3hdFmLIVu](https://www.reddit.com/r/leetcode/s/w3hdFmLIVu</a>)). I even got a referral from someone here, which I’m really grateful for. After that, things were a rollercoaster again. **TikTok** ended up rejecting me, even though the manager had said “see you soon.” **Microsoft** also passed, saying they went ahead with a more experienced candidate. Stuck in team match hell with **Meta**. Interviewed with several **YC Startups in EU** where they were ready to sponsor Visa but they went ahead with someone who was already in EU. Eventually, I got an offer from another company (let’s call it Company A) for an SDE II role. It’s a great place with a good culture, but the compensation came with about a **20 % pay cut**. I accepted it anyway, I was honestly just relieved to have stability again. Still, I had one more interview process left (Company B). I went through the full loop, 4 of the 5 rounds went well, but the frontend round was my weak spot. I didn’t make it through. At that point I’d accepted that I’d be taking a pay cut. Then, out of nowhere, a recruiter from Company C (one of the earlier ones where I had cleared the debrief) reached out saying I’d entered team matching. Only one team was available and somehow, by sheer luck and a bit of persistence, I converted that call. I got the offer **19 % higher** than my previous salary before the layoff. After months of uncertainty, that feeling was indescribable. It’s been 3 weeks since I joined my new company and it still feels surreal. To say I am over the moon, is an understatement. The pressure and grief I went through this year probably outweigh the last five years combined (or maybe that’s just recency bias, idk). But in all that chaos, I learned a lot about myself, about patience, and about how unpredictable life really is. And if it weren’t for my close friends and family, who supported me and listened to my endless rants, I don’t think I would’ve made it through. **The war is finally over, at least for now.** **And maybe it’ll take time before I get to work abroad in a FAANG or a fast-growing startup somewhere in London or Zurich.** **Maybe it’ll take time before visa laws ease up and I find myself in Silicon Valley, building something worth millions.** **Or maybe none of this shit happens and I end up like Citizen Kane, haunted by the echo of a high I can never quite reach.** **But even if I do fail again and again and again** **A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.** Thanks for reading. [Aleksib's CS2 Copenhagen Major winning moment](<a href="https://preview.redd.it/3he441ix3vuf1.jpg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dbed68fa52a4f272c5e2ade8134bed246a71a608" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="text-emerald-400 hover:text-emerald-300 underline">https://preview.redd.it/3he441ix3vuf1.jpg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dbed68fa52a4f272c5e2ade8134bed246a71a608</a){kind=link}
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