Former Meta tech lead shares how he went from DJ to coding before being laid off after 13 years

Published 10 August 2026 · india

A former Meta tech lead who spent more than 13 years at the company has opened up about his journey from working as a DJ

A former Meta tech lead who spent more than 13 years at the company has opened up about his journey from working as a DJ to becoming a software engineer, and how shifting priorities at the tech giant eventually culminated in his layoff. Henry Chen, 38, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, joined Facebook as a contractor in 2012 before moving into a full-time engineering position. He was among the employees affected by Meta's latest round of job cuts on May 20, Business Insider reported. Chen said he remains thankful for the experience and skills he gained during his time at Facebook and Meta, describing most of his tenure as a positive one. However, he said the workplace changed considerably after the company's major layoffs in late 2022 and early 2023. Meta's priorities changed after mass layoffs According to Chen, teams had greater resources and freedom to pursue ambitious projects before the earlier rounds of job cuts. Afterwards, the emphasis appeared to move towards “doing more with less”, he said. Around a year and a half later, Chen noticed another shift, with the company once again placing greater emphasis on building products and projects. Leadership changes and evolving priorities made it increasingly difficult for teams to understand where they were headed, he said. His return from paternity leave made the transition particularly challenging. Chen was away from work from August 2025 until towards the end of the year. When he returned, Meta was making much greater use of AI, while teams and leadership structures had also changed.

Also Read | Meta says its AI model hacked another company, adding to worries about bots going rogue After four months away, he said, it felt as though the organisation he returned to was very different from the one he had left. On May 20, Chen was informed that his employment was ending. Several of his colleagues were also laid off, the report added. He had started searching for a job before being laid off The latest layoffs did not come completely unexpectedly, as Meta had already announced that job cuts were on the way. Chen, however, was still surprised that he was among those affected. During previous rounds of layoffs, he had felt relatively protected because he believed his work was important to the company. This time, although he had no particular indication that his position was at risk, he said the atmosphere felt different. Chen had actually begun exploring other opportunities in the weeks before the layoffs. Growing uncertainty about his position prompted him to consider whether he was ready to move into a new phase of his career. After losing his job, however, he decided not to immediately jump into another role. Meta's severance package, which reflected his roughly 10 years as a full-time employee, gave him enough financial breathing room to take some time off. With his children's summer holidays also beginning, Chen chose to spend time with his family, unwind, and postpone his job hunt for roughly a month. From DJ to Meta tech lead Chen's career in technology was not something he had originally planned.