US tech workers react to layoff axes with shock, and ‘more pain’ is coming

Scroggy – at her home in Martinez, California – is a technology trainer who was laid off from her remote job in October and is now doing contract work for less pay. — Bay Area News Group/TNS

SAN JOSE, California: The ax fell suddenly and out of the blue for technology worker Nitesh Donti. Less than a year ago, on the networking platform LinkedIn, he’d expressed excitement over his new job as an engineering manager at robot-vehicle company Nuro. Then last month, Nuro laid off Donti and around 300 others as it slashed 20% of its workforce.

“It was a complete shock,” said Donti, 30, of San Francisco, who’d spent five years as a software engineer at Google before moving to the Mountain View-based Nuro.