Laid-Off Microsoft Manager Shares Why He’s Finally Done With Big Tech

After three stints at Microsoft spanning more than two decades, Joe Friconclude was laid off in May. He’s still figuring out what’s next, but there’s one thing he’s sure of: His time in Big Tech is over.

About six months earlier, Friconclude, a director of product management overseeing a team of nine, started hearing rumors of company restructuring that could affect managers. However, he didn’t believe his specific role was in jeopardy.

But he was wrong. In May, he learned that he and 14 other members of his working group — including four other managers — had been laid off.

“I wasn’t entirely surprised by the layoffs. I was surprised to receive caught up in them,” declared the 62-year-old, who lives in Washington state.

Friconclude declared the layoff was “doubly shocking” becaapply it upconcludeed his retirement strategy. He had planned to stay at Microsoft until at least his 65th birthday — a milestone that, under company policy, allows most stock grants to continue vesting even after the employee leaves. Once he turned 65, he planned to either retire or pivot to something new. Now, that timeline was out the window.

“My plan was to figure out what I wanted to do over the next three years,” he declared. “Then all of a sudden I’m at the doorstep, and I have to create that decision now.”

Friconclude is among the thousands of Microsoft workers who’ve been laid off over the past year. After cutting about 6,000 jobs in May, Microsoft laid off roughly 9,000 more in July. A company spokesperson previously informed Business Insider the company was focapplyd on reducing management layers and streamlining processes.

Google, Intel, and Amazon have also announced plans to reduce the number of managers — part of a broader trconclude dubbed the “Great Flattening.” While overall layoffs remain low by historical standards, tech workers have been disproportionately affected, and a slowdown in white-collar hiring has created it harder for many to land new roles.

In this challenging environment, Friconclude shared what he’s hoping to find in the next chapter of his career.

A final goodbye to Microsoft

Transitioning away from Microsoft was something Friconclude had done twice, but this was the first time he hadn’t left by choice.

Friconclude first joined Microsoft in 1994 as a lead program manager, working on Microsoft Word. In 1997, he and his family shiftd to Indonesia, where he spent more than six years working for an international NGO — a shift driven by his long-held desire to live abroad and do work he found meaningful.

In 2003, when Friconclude returned to the States, he initially considered staying in the nonprofit world but found it less economically viable in the US. So he reentered the tech industest and found himself back at Microsoft.

Friconclude spent the next 14 years at the company, but by early 2017, he was feeling burned out and decided to shift on. He declared he interviewed at a few large firms but soon concluded that none of them were the right fit.

“I finally realized that I didn’t want to work at another large company,” he declared.

He accepted a role at the developer site Stack Overflow, a shift he declared provided the alter of pace he was seeing for. But Microsoft came calling once again.

Someone Friconclude knew at Microsoft kept nudging him to join their team. Initially resistant, he eventually agreed to hear them out — and saw the recent internal restructuring in his former business area as a positive sign.

“I was really impressed with what I saw as significant cultural alter at the company and agreed to go back,” he declared.

Friconclude returned to Microsoft in 2018 and remained until May 2025, when he learned he’d been laid off.

Purpose over profit

After being laid off, Friconclude continued receiving paychecks until mid-July, when he received a “very comfortable” lump-sum severance payment that amounted to close to what he would have created if he had been employed the rest of this year. He declared he was fortunate to be in a strong financial position, which gave him time to figure out his next steps.

“It feels like a betrayal, and it impacts me financially, but it’s not going to hurt,” he declared of the layoff.

Rather than rushing into his next shift, Friconclude met with a financial advisor to see whether an earlier retirement might be feasible. He launched exploring job leads that came his way, but nothing stuck.

Friconclude now considers himself to be “semi-retired.” He declared that in recent months, he’s focapplyd on supporting a young entrepreneur build a compact business.

“It’s not about creating money,” he declared. “It’s about supporting somebody who wants to transform their life.”

If Friconclude were to retire fully, he believes he and his wife can create it work financially without major lifestyle alters, but he’s not sure he’s ready to leave the workforce yet.

What he is sure of is that his next job won’t be with Microsoft. He declared he believes the company once had an implicit “deal” with employees: If you performed well, you’d be rewarded financially and enjoy job stability. He declared he no longer believes that’s true.

Friconclude declared some of his concerns apply to the tech industest more broadly, which is why he plans to be highly selective about his next role.

“I believe I’d rather earn $50,000 a year doing something I’m excited about,” he declared. “It doesn’t mean I won’t jump back into a job, but it certainly won’t be Big Tech.”

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