If you’re a tech worker, let’s face it—2024 has probably been a shit year for you. Massive waves of layoffs have rolled through the industry worldwide, and Indonesia hasn’t been spared. It’s brutal out there.

And honestly, as an industry, we fucked up big time during COVID. Yeah, I’m including my own company in that mess. We got greedy. We grew too fast. And there’s always a price to pay when you bite off more than you can chew. The shitty part? That price is usually paid by the people we hire.

Back in 2020, we grew the company by 40% year-over-year.

Forty. Fucking. Percent.

Sure, there were companies that grew 100% or more. But let’s be real—it’s not sustainable. It never is. And the truth is, we paid for it. We didn’t hire as carefully as we should have. We let things slide. And the burden hit us hard the very next year, and the year after that. Some people we hired? They didn’t fit. They didn’t belong at SoftwareSeni. And yeah, maybe they deserved to be let go. But you know what? It still fucking sucked.

At the end of the day, people lost their jobs. People I hired. People who trusted us.

I keep telling myself it’s normal. “This is business,” I say. “We’re not family. Everyone’s replaceable.” Hell, even I’m replaceable. I’ve been running this company for ten years, but the second I become a liability? I’m gone. No hesitation.

That’s just how it works, right?

A few months ago—February or March, I think—I had to let someone go. He’d been underperforming for months. When we told him, he admitted he’d been lying about being sick. Turns out his wife didn’t want him leaving the house for work. The nerve to telling this in front of my face.

Look, the guy was unprofessional. He deserved to be fired. Maybe even punched. But knowing that doesn’t make it any less painful. There’s guilt. Guilt toward our clients. Guilt toward the team. We put so much strain on everyone, all in the name of growth. And for what? To watch it all unravel?

Deep down, I think we all want to save everyone. We want to be the heroes. But sometimes, we just can’t.

So here’s the takeaway, Ganis—don’t be a greedy asshole. If you’re riding high, enjoying a purple patch, remember this: you don’t have to devour everything in front of you. Share the load. Grow smarter, not faster. Learn from my mistakes. Because if you don’t, the cost isn’t just numbers on a balance sheet—it’s people’s lives. And that shit stays with you.