Employee fears she could be next after GovTech layoffs, turns to Reddit for advice

SINGAPORE: After hearing about the recent GovTech layoffs, which saw 93 employees lose their jobs as part of a restructuring exercise, one employee admitted the news left her feeling anxious about her own future. Worried she could be next, she turned to Reddit to ask, “What do I do if I get laid off in this economy?”

“Does anyone have any advice on how to upskill to remain employable after getting laid off? Curious about the tech-specific perspective since the market will likely be flooded with stacked tech talents (the likes of GovTech, TikTok etc…),” she wrote.

The employee also shared that her own role could be “on the chopping board” in the coming months, so she wanted to start preparing now rather than wait until it was too late.

While she knew about the usual technical interview preparation, such as grinding LeetCode questions, she wondered whether the hiring process had changed and what employers in today’s market were really looking for.

“I’m only aware of the typical LeetCode technical skills prep but not sure what’s the new version of technical interviews in this day and age…” she said. “If anyone has any idea on what alternative pathways are there out of tech I’ll love to hear your perspectives too!”

“When one door closes, several others open”

In the comments, several users speculated that the GovTech layoffs could give other companies the confidence to make job cuts too.

“This is giving all private companies the green light to retrench people. They will say that if gov’t sector can do it, then so can they,” one said.

As for preparing for the worst, another commenter said the best thing job seekers could do was to focus on what employers are actually looking for, rather than trying to guess which skills might be in demand. They recommended regularly checking job listings on sites like MyCareersFuture and Indeed to identify any gaps in their skill set.

“Look up My Careers Future, Indeed, etc to see what employers are actually hiring for. Even GovTech is still hiring, and I think I did see job ads from them still. If there is a skill gap between what you can do right now versus what the job ads are asking for, go take courses, build spec projects, and so on to upskill/reskill.”

A third wrote, “I’d say the bread-and-butter of tech interviews is still going to be Leetcode and system design for the majority of interviews. But recently, from what I see, system design is getting more and more prevalent since nowadays most people will just have AI write the code for you, so need to emphasise more on your fundamentals and systematic thinking.”

Meanwhile, a fourth user offered some reassurance, reminding the employee that a layoff doesn’t have to be the end of their career.

“When one door closes, several others open. Keep upskilling, stay connected with the right people, and keep applying. The market is tough, but strong talent is always in demand..”

In other news, an employer has claimed she fired her third helper just four days after she arrived, after realising that the skills listed on her profile did not match reality. 

She alleged the helper couldn’t cook, couldn’t do basic housework, and even struggled to communicate despite claiming to speak Mandarin and English.

Read more: ‘It was my worst nightmare’: Singapore employer says helper couldn’t cook, clean or communicate