{"id":700749,"date":"2026-06-13T00:56:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/700749\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T00:56:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T00:56:21","slug":"laid-off-by-amazon-and-microsoft-millennial-focused-on-future-of-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/700749\/","title":{"rendered":"Laid Off by Amazon and Microsoft, Millennial Focused on Future of Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Lewis had what it took to land jobs at some of the most sought-after Big Tech companies<\/a>. But after getting laid off twice in three years, he found himself grappling with where he fit into the future of tech.<\/p>\n

Lewis spent a decade at Google, was laid off by Amazon<\/a>, rehired by Amazon, and eventually left for Microsoft \u2014 where he was laid off again.<\/p>\n

After the second layoff, the Montana resident thought hard about what came next. He’d spent much of his career in roles that required regular travel, most recently as a sales executive at Microsoft, and wanted to spend more time at home with his family.<\/p>\n

Lewis, who is in his 30s, also wanted long-term career growth. But with AI rapidly reshaping the tech industry<\/a>, he knew finding the right path wouldn’t be easy.<\/p>\n

He kept coming back to one question: “How do I make sure that I’m optimizing my career search for the next five years of what the industry’s going to be, not the five years that have brought me here?”<\/p>\n

Over the past year, I’ve spoken with dozens of tech professionals like Lewis who have been laid off and forced to navigate a challenging job market. Many were affected by cuts intended to address overhiring during the pandemic<\/a> and streamline operations.<\/p>\n

While the broader labor market has seen slow hiring and low levels of firing, tech has been different. Workers are competing not only with a growing pool of laid-off professionals but also with recent graduates and currently employed tech workers looking for new opportunities.<\/p>\n

Looming over everything is AI. While economists have debated what impact the technology has had on tech company layoffs<\/a> and hiring, it’s undeniably reshaping the industry \u2014 and influencing how workers like Lewis think about the future of their careers.<\/p>\n

Business Insider is speaking with workers who’ve found themselves at a corporate crossroads \u2014 whether due to a layoff, resignation, job search, or shifting workplace expectations.<\/p>\n

Share your story by filling out this form<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why he left Google after a decade<\/p>\n

Lewis said he was excited to join Google as a digital media manager in 2012 because it was one of the leading companies in his industry.<\/p>\n

Years later, during the pandemic, Lewis and his wife moved from New York City<\/a> to Montana \u2014 not ideal, as some of his largest clients had been just down the street from the company’s New York City office.<\/p>\n

At the same time, he was looking for a new challenge.<\/p>\n

“I was working on individual, complex problems instead of large industry ones, which is where I do my best work,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/p>\n

Dave Lewis left his role at Google for Amazon but was later laid off by both Amazon and Microsoft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dave Lewis<\/p>\n

He decided the best move for his family was to stay in Montana and find a role that would support remote work. Amazon seemed like a good fit, and the role would help him grow, moving from an individual contributor role in sales into a broader product strategy role.<\/p>\n

In July 2022, Lewis joined Amazon as a product lead. Less than a year later, he was laid off as part of Amazon’s workforce reductions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amazon laid him off \u2014 and hired him back<\/p>\n

Lewis stayed in touch with his former managers and colleagues who had also been laid off, and learned about a new team that was being formed. In October 2023, Lewis rejoined Amazon as a technical product manager.<\/p>\n

“It was different getting hired back versus being hired new because I had some built-up goodwill, and people were familiar with my work,” he said.<\/p>\n

Earlier that year, Amazon had announced that corporate employees would be required to work from the office<\/a> three days a week. When Lewis rejoined, he said he was expected to make roughly monthly trips to Seattle, with the understanding that the arrangement would be revisited after his first year.<\/p>\n

Why he left Amazon for Microsoft<\/p>\n

Shortly before his one-year mark back at Amazon, policy shifted to five days a week in office.<\/p>\n

This time, it was clear to Lewis that his exception was going away. He and his wife discussed spending at least a year in Seattle while keeping their home in Montana, but ultimately decided it wasn’t the best fit for their family.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Lewis was looking for a new professional challenge. His team had reached many of the goals it set out to accomplish.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, the same month Amazon’s five-day office mandate<\/a> took effect, Lewis left the company to start a remote partner sales executive role at Microsoft. While the role required some travel, it also offered a new professional challenge.<\/p>\n

Ten months later, Lewis’ role at Microsoft<\/a> was eliminated. For the second time in less than three years, he found himself looking for work.<\/p>\n

How he found his next role<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Lewis had enough savings to be selective about his next opportunity. He spoke with a former Google colleague who had founded the AI startup Emberos, which helps businesses optimize their digital footprint for AI-powered consumer search.<\/p>\n

Lewis was already interested in how AI was changing the way people find information online, and soon accepted a full-time position as head of partnerships. He said there is no office requirement for his role, though he expects to make regular trips to the company’s office in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

After taking April off to welcome his son, Lewis started working full time in May.<\/p>\n

For anyone navigating a layoff, Lewis said it’s important to think carefully about what you’re looking for before starting a job search.<\/p>\n

“The market is drastically changing every day,” he said. “Think about roles that leverage your experience, challenge you to learn more about emerging technology, and offer long-term growth potential.”<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to share about how you’re navigating a career crossroads? If so, please reach out to the reporter via email at jzinkula@businessinsider.com<\/a>, or via Signal at jzinkula.29.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave Lewis had what it took to land jobs at some of the most sought-after Big Tech companies.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,960,181,507,270,3426,303093,275,3006,1281,303094,16178,4990,303095,172,5935,74,23250,2394],"class_list":["post-700749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-amazon","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-business-insider","tag-company","tag-dave-lewis","tag-day","tag-family","tag-microsoft","tag-montana-resident","tag-office","tag-role","tag-second-layoff","tag-tech","tag-tech-industry","tag-technology","tag-worker","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}