A former Meta tech lead who joined the company as a DJ turned conference room technician now faces unemployment after 13 years. Henry Chen, 38, lost his job in May as part of the social media giant’s latest workforce reduction.
The San Francisco Bay Area resident represents a growing wave of long-tenured tech employees navigating sudden career disruption. Layoffs that once targeted newer hires now sweep through even senior technical staff.
Chen’s path to Meta began in 2012 when he landed a contract role inspecting conference rooms. His audio and video background made him a natural fit. What started as a stopgap paycheck evolved into a full-time operations engineer position by 2015. A Python script he wrote to accelerate conference room technology updates changed his trajectory entirely. Within a few years, he had transitioned into software engineering and eventually became a tech lead.
The company’s culture shifted noticeably after the mass layoffs of late 2022 and early 2023. Teams that once pursued ambitious projects found themselves stretched thin. Chen watched priorities swing between efficiency drives and renewed building pushes. Meanwhile, his four month paternity leave ended with a jarring return. Artificial intelligence tools had proliferated, leadership had reshuffled, and the workplace felt unrecognizable.
The timing of his dismissal on May 20 still stung, despite advance warning from company announcements. Prior rounds never shook his confidence. This one felt different. He had already begun exploring other opportunities weeks before the news arrived, sensing his chapter at Meta might be closing. The severance package reflecting his decade as a full time employee provided breathing room. Summer break with his kids sealed the decision to pause.
After a month of preparation, Chen resumed searching in June. He now works with a coach to strengthen system design skills, since many Meta tools were proprietary. The job hunt continues, though he remains optimistic. His guiding principle: embrace problems and seek solutions. Each challenge he accepted became a stepping stone, transforming a DJ into a tech leader.
