In a recent announcement, Google revealed that it has laid off a significant number of employees, particularly from the voice assistant team and the hardware teams responsible for Pixel, Nest, and Fitbit. One of the affected employees, Kevin Bourrillion, who dedicated 19 years to the company, took to social media to share his experience.
Bourrillion, who spent over 16 years on the team that he founded, posted on X, saying, “End of an era! After 19 years of working at @Google, with more than 16 of them on the team that I founded, I made the tough decision yesterday morning to finally bite the bullet and find out that I’d been laid off overnight.”
Despite the unexpected turn of events, Bourrillion expressed a composed attitude, stating, “Layoffs suck, but in my case… it’s fine, because I’ve needed some kind of change in my life for a very long time.” He emphasized that he is in no hurry to jump into something new, listing activities like cycling, reading, drum lessons, travel, and family time that he plans to focus on.
Reflecting on his time at Google, Bourrillion regarded it as an immense blessing, appreciating the people he worked with and the opportunities he had. He mentioned, “I view my 19 years there and the people I got to work with and things I got to do as an immense blessing. No expressions of sympathy are called for in my case! And with that, I’m off to go figure out how to actually live my life!”
Google confirmed the layoffs, stating that the restructuring aims to enhance efficiency and align resources with their significant product priorities. The impact extends beyond the voice assistant and hardware teams, with significant roles affected in the augmented reality team and the central engineering team.
As Google undergoes these changes, employees like Bourrillion are navigating the aftermath with a mix of nostalgia for their past roles and excitement for the new opportunities that lie ahead. The tech giant continues to evolve, prompting reflections on the broader implications of corporate restructuring in one of the world’s leading technology companies.
