Senior Engineer Laid Off via Spam Call, Learns AI Codes Faster Than Emotions
KEY POINTS
- ā¢Isaac Casanova, a senior software engineer at Block for nearly three years, was laid off unexpectedly despite good performance.
- ā¢Layoffs affected about 4,000 employees at once, driven by a business shift and intensified AI integration reducing headcount needs.
- ā¢Isaac advises job seekers to separate their identity from employment, stay flexible embracing AI tools, and manage lowered compensation expectations.
Isaac Casanova, a senior software engineer at Block for nearly three years, got laid off on a day when a friend's spam calls were more effective than HR's email etiquette. Despite Jack Dorsey's heartfelt memo claiming layoffs were about business direction and not performanceāspoiler: Isaac never got a bad ratingāthe shock was equivalent to expecting 1,000 layoffs rolled out gradually, not 4,000 all at once. Apparently, software engineers must now 'check their ego' while coding alongside AI buddies like Cursor, Claude Code, Goose, and ChatGPT, who do much of the heavy lifting. Stock grants and bonuses are now 'if they exist' rarities, and new hires face ruthless, stack-ranked performance grilling from day one. Isaac advises survival involves ditching identity fusion with your job and embracing the new role of 'experimenter and builder' over old-school keyboard pounding, because speed is the name of the gameāeven if you haven't touched the IDE in a month.
Share the Story
When your job announcement arrives not via HR but your spam-calling friend, you know the tech gods are messing with you. Bonus: Now your developer role includes getting out-coded by AI sidekicks and lower paychecks for the comedy of it all.
The future of software engineering: less typing, more begging AI to fix your code. Also, layoff hotline: your spam caller.
Stock grants shrinking faster than your faith in corporate loyalty. Pro tip: toilet paper companies might be hiring.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 3/1/2026 | Author: Lee Chong Ming
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