This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Emily Pitcher, a 26-year-old game developer and content creator based in Los Angeles. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
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When I was laid off from my job as a content designer at Meta in 2023, all I wanted was to be rehired. It was my identity, and without it, I lacked purpose. But it was a blessing in disguise.
Rejection after rejection in the job market pushed me to pursue entrepreneurship full-time as an indie game developer and content creator. Now I’m partnering with a publisher to launch my game, “Lily’s World XD,” around the end of the year. I’m working on projects I’m truly passionate about, and I know there are people who would do anything to trade places with me.
If I could go back to when I first got laid off, I’d tell myself things will be OK.
Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you
I had a small social media following before my layoff, but I’d never done a brand deal before. After my layoff, I made a spreadsheet of all the brands I’d ever dreamed of working with and went down the list, reaching out to them to partner.
I got my first few brand deals that way, which taught me a lot about the social media landscape, including how to negotiate rates, send invoices, and correspond with brands. Now, social media brand deals are one of the core ways I make money.
You don’t have to go with the obvious path
I felt despondent for so long after my layoff. It was hard for me to get out of bed in the mornings. I acted out of fear, not joy.
It was hard seeing news come out so often about more tech layoffs, so the prospect of finding a new Big Tech job felt hopeless. Sure, I had a Big Tech name on my resumé, but so did everyone else who got laid off from one. I wish someone were there to tell me that if there aren’t opportunities in front of you, it’s possible to create your own.
However, I don’t have a mortgage to pay or a family to take care of. I’m very grateful to be in this position, and I don’t know if I can tell people it will all be OK just because it worked out for me.
Sharing my experience created more opportunities than I imagined
I posted a video about my layoff on TikTok, and it’s crazy because to this day, a lot of people who recognize me in public tell me it’s the first video they saw of mine.
Being open and authentic about my situation gave me a bit of a boost and pulled my community and me closer together.
A few months later, I posted a video about how I was still struggling after my layoff. I talked about lacking friends, lacking a purpose, and not knowing what I was supposed to do. I woke up the next day to probably one hundred DMs from people saying they were in a similar situation.
Someone who reached out to me actually became my friend and helped me get into voice acting. It was a field I never thought I’d go into, but now it’s another way I make money.
Learn the skill you’ve been putting off
When I started making “Lily’s World XD,” I’d never coded in my life. I just always told myself my brain didn’t work that way.
It was only after my layoff that I realized that if I wanted to self-start my own projects, I should learn how to program. I had a friend teach me the basics, and I learned the rest from YouTube and online forums.
If I hadn’t taken that leap to learn a new skill, I would’ve never lifted my game up off the ground.
Share what you’re working on before it’s ready
I think a lot of people, after being laid off from Meta, had dreams of pivoting into entrepreneurship or a passion project, but most I’ve seen have gone back to corporate.
One reason I was able to pivot is that I got advice from another game developer: Share your project before you think you’re ready. When I came up with my game idea, all I had were a couple of mockups and Figma. I hadn’t even started my journey of learning how to program. I posted a video showing what I had, and it got a few million views.
It was really validating to me that the idea was appealing to others and gave me motivation to continue. It also allowed people to share their thoughts, which helped inform the direction I took.
Start before you second-guess yourself.
There are people who wish they could be in my position
I put so much of my identity into my job at Meta. Going out in public, saying I worked for this Fortune 500 company, made people take me more seriously and assume I was smart without doing anything to prove it. It gave me a huge boost of confidence.
Losing the thing I thought made me valuable to other people and not having many friends around for support put me in a really dark place. Then I met someone who was still working at Meta, and when I told him I was making video games now, he said he wished he could build projects he was really excited about and not just feel like a cog in the machine.
Hearing those words made me realize I should be proud of myself. Perhaps I’ve set the foundation for something great.
Do you have a story to share about getting laid off from Meta? If so, please reach out to the reporter at [email protected].
