This narrative, told in the subject’s own words, is based on an extensive interview with Sriram Ramkrishna, a 56‑year‑old professional currently seeking employment in Portland, Oregon. Over the span of more than twenty years—though not consecutively—he dedicated the majority of his career to Intel, ultimately serving as a senior community manager and a specialist in developer relations. He is now among the many experienced employees affected by Intel’s recent wave of workforce reductions, a development that has disrupted the lives of thousands across the company. Business Insider reviewed and confirmed both his employment history and the documentation verifying his layoff. The recollections presented here have been thoughtfully edited to ensure clarity and conciseness while retaining the integrity of his experiences.
In July, I experienced my second layoff from Intel—an event that carried both familiarity and new kinds of uncertainty. Although I was informed several weeks in advance and offered the opportunity to apply internally for another position, I made only modest efforts to pursue a new role within the organization. After spending so many cumulative years at Intel, a quiet intuition told me it might finally be time to turn the page and embark on a fresh professional chapter, even though I was fully aware that the broader job market had become increasingly competitive. I began exploring opportunities almost immediately after receiving the news, but at first my attitude remained calm, even measured. Over time, my wife and I had built a modest yet reassuring financial cushion, which granted us temporary peace of mind and softened the urgency that often defines a job search.
That sense of stability shifted abruptly at the end of July, on what was officially my last day at Intel. In a twist of unfortunate timing, my wife also lost her job that same day. Suddenly we were both unemployed—a situation that transformed my casual approach into something more determined and focused. The lighthearted idea of finding a job when it felt right quickly evolved into the more pressing realization that I needed to secure employment as quickly as possible.
My professional ties to Intel stretch back nearly three decades. I first joined the company in 1996 as a young software engineer, newly graduated and eager to prove myself in a thriving industry. For twenty years, I learned, grew, and navigated multiple roles within the organization until 2016, when I faced my first layoff. What followed was a difficult sixteen‑month job search—an emotionally and financially taxing period that eventually ended with a new engineering position at a different firm. Yet in 2022, fate intervened again, and I found myself without a job once more.
Not long after, an opening at Intel reappeared on my radar. My feelings were complicated: on one hand, the idea of returning to familiar territory, surrounded by people and technology I understood, carried a certain comfort; on the other hand, many employees laid off in 2016—myself included—had been deeply disappointed by how those job cuts were handled. The experience had left behind a residue of frustration and mistrust. Still, necessity has a way of dispelling hesitation, and knowing that I needed stable income, I accepted a new position in developer relations when it was offered.
Three years later, I once again found myself facing the same reality. At first, the looming threat of layoffs reached us indirectly in June, when our division was informed that our entire group would be dissolved. Leadership explained that the company would spend the remaining weeks of the month attempting to integrate our projects into other internal teams. If no such match could be found, we were told that our employment would end. By early July, the verdict came: there was, unfortunately, no fit elsewhere within Intel. The company would allow us roughly three weeks to pursue other internal opportunities before finalizing our separation with severance packages.
Before plunging fully into uncertainty, my wife and I chose to take a long‑planned trip to Europe, combining long‑overdue rest with an industry conference I had already committed to. During that journey, between sightseeing, professional networking, and late‑night reflections about the future, I started casually browsing job boards and responding to a few inquiries that arrived through LinkedIn recruiters. My intention wasn’t to secure a position immediately but to gauge the pulse of the market—the types of roles available, the frequency of postings, and how my experience might align with current demands. Initially, the landscape didn’t seem overly bleak for the kind of developer relations work I sought.
However, when we returned home in late July, the full scope of our new situation became apparent. Within days, my wife received her own layoff notice. The combined loss of both incomes added financial and emotional weight to a search I had previously treated as exploratory. Once the reality settled in, I felt both rested from travel and refocused on the task ahead: rebuilding our professional footing from scratch.
Over the following months, my optimism was tested. Despite my experience, strong professional network, and refined skill set, the job search proved far more arduous than I had anticipated. While I secured several interviews, they often fizzled out in rejection or silence. Compared with my first post‑Intel search in 2016, I recognize that I’m better prepared now. Back then, it had been two decades since my last interview, and I lacked a clearly defined professional identity. Today, I have a firmer sense of who I am professionally—a seasoned developer relations expert—and this sharper focus helps me target roles more effectively.
Even so, the current hiring environment has grown brutally competitive. Every attractive listing seems to attract hundreds, sometimes over four hundred, qualified applicants. Securing attention from hiring managers has become an exercise in strategy and perseverance. One of the approaches I’ve adopted involves using artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT to refine the language and keywords on my résumé so it aligns with applicant tracking systems. Intel’s severance package conveniently included access to a career counseling firm, which has provided additional coaching in this area.
Nonetheless, I understand that relying on résumé optimization alone is insufficient. Throughout my career, I’ve learned the profound power of professional connections. I’ve reached out to my network—former colleagues, community peers, and acquaintances from conferences—and joined private industry spaces such as invitation‑only Slack groups and Discord servers devoted to developer relations professionals. These online communities have proven invaluable not only for emotional support but also for circulating job leads and offering direct channels to hiring managers. Through referrals arising from these circles, I’ve been able to approach potential employers more personally and meaningfully.
A particularly heartening aspect of this period has been the solidarity among my fellow Intel alumni who were laid off alongside me. Many of us have stayed in touch, sharing openings, offering résumé feedback, and even putting in referrals where possible. I’ve personally helped a few younger colleagues secure interviews—individuals for whom this was the first real experience of professional loss—and it has been rewarding to pay forward the mentorship I lacked during my own earlier layoff. This time, unlike 2016, I feel part of a communal network of resilience rather than an isolated job seeker battling uncertainty alone.
Fortunately, Intel’s severance package has provided a temporary financial buffer. Yet with two simultaneous job losses in our household, that buffer inevitably feels thinner by the day. While I am far from panic, the sense of urgency grows stronger as the months pass. My goal is to secure meaningful employment by early next year—a timeline that feels both ambitious and necessary. If domestic opportunities remain limited, I am open to exploring positions abroad, particularly in Europe, where increased investment in technology may generate new momentum and possibilities for someone with my background.
For now, my plan is to continue leveraging every available channel: staying active in professional forums, attending networking events, maintaining visibility in digital communities, and never losing sight of the small unpredictable factors—timing, chance encounters, a single conversation—that can alter a career’s trajectory. Ultimately, every job search contains an element of luck, but perseverance, I’ve learned, creates the conditions that allow that luck to find you.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-layoff-job-search-challenges-tech-interviews-software-engineer-2025-11
