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As Job Cuts Roil Silicon Valley, Workers Confront Post-Boom Reality

Not long ago engineers job-hopped with near impunity. Now recruiters don’t answer their calls.

Meta announced more than 11,000 job cuts in November.

Meta announced more than 11,000 job cuts in November.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

When Ryan Stevens joined Meta Platforms Inc. as a product operations manager for WhatsApp in August of 2021, he was enticed by the opportunity to help shape a messaging app used daily by 2 billion people.

He also figured tending to a service that touches so many people would translate to a degree of job security. That belief shattered when Stevens awoke around 3 a.m. earlier this month to an email from Meta management, informing employees that layoffs were coming. After tossing and turning, Stevens, 39, received another missive at around 6 a.m.: He was one of more than 11,000 workers who had lost their jobs.