Laid-Off Metaverse Engineer Shares His Experience of DoorDashing and Living in a Trailer

A software engineer has disclosed that, although he once earned a six-figure salary at a metaverse company, a recent layoff has thrust him into a life of relative instability, involving DoorDashing, selling items on eBay, and residing in a trailer.

Shawn K’s layoff about a year ago (his legal name is “K”) has landed him in a situation that would have seemed unusual for an experienced software engineer just a few years back. However, in the AI era, Shawn fears that his circumstances may soon become more common, as tech companies compete to replace human workers with algorithms.

In an email to Gizmodo, Shawn shared more details about his layoff, which appears to have occurred at a company called Virbela, owned by eXp Realty. Virbela claims to provide metaverse solutions for remote work by creating “engaging virtual spaces that reflect real-world dynamics and social interactions.” Shawn mentioned that, in the months leading up to his termination, his work at the company became increasingly focused on AI.

“Different organizations evolve at varying rates with technology, and within our company, we were quite innovative and early adopters of AI,” he explained. “In the first year after ChatGPT was released, the average developer on the team experienced productivity boosts of 3x-10x with AI assistance,” he added, remarking that it “became increasingly obvious that it was no longer going to be ‘business as usual.’”

“On my team, we made a significant shift to have nearly every developer focus on integrating AI features into our existing software product,” Shawn disclosed. He noted that shortly afterward, during a “frenzied peak” of enthusiasm around AI, the company “let go of a portion of developers across all teams, including my own.” He shared: “I couldn’t provide an exact percentage of developers laid off, but it was coinciding across multiple teams.”

It’s unclear whether AI was the specific reason for Shawn’s termination. Gizmodo reached out to Virbela for further clarification. However, if that were the case, it wouldn’t be surprising. In the past two years, tech companies have seen historic layoffs as many pivot towards automation. Numerous reports indicate that software workers at firms like Panasonic and Microsoft are losing their jobs as these companies seek tools to automate code-writing.

Shawn has documented his unfortunate “displacement” due to automation on his personal Substack, ShawnfromPortland, which highlights his struggles since being laid off. He mentioned he earns less than $200 a day through food deliveries and has also turned to selling various personal items on eBay.

Shawn’s situation is complicated, as he owns multiple properties. He clarified, though, that owning property doesn’t automatically make him wealthy. His mother, who is disabled, lives in one of the properties and has nowhere else to go. The other properties, purchased when times were better for Shawn, present financial challenges if he were to consider selling them now. He currently resides in a small trailer on one of the properties in upstate New York.

“I’m now in the trailer because something has shifted in society over the last 2.5 years,” Shawn writes. “Something has led to myself and many talented dev teams being let go during a time when our company and parent corporation were thriving.” That “something” appears to resonate with what Shawn calls the “great displacement,” an economy increasingly leaning towards automation rather than human labor.

AI also seems to be creating hurdles for Shawn during his job search, as he suspects his resume is being filtered by algorithms that search for AI-related keywords. “Over the past year, I’ve interviewed with nearly 10 companies, making it to the 4th round twice and several second and third rounds, yet no job offers,” Shawn explains. “I suspect my resume is getting filtered out by some rudimentary AI ‘candidate finder service’ because it doesn’t feature enough hyper-specific cutting-edge AI terminology.”

Shawn has been compelled to study AI to enhance his competitiveness in the current job market. “I’ve dedicated 2 to 5 hours daily over the past year to consume AI news, papers, and podcasts, constantly reflecting on the latest AI trends,” Shawn reveals. “I’ve built about 10 small, entirely AI-generated codebases in the last year as personal learning projects, and I make it a point to try any new AI tools with free access.”

Even so, Shawn feels like he’s sending applications into a void, approaching his 900th application with no job offers in sight. “This article isn’t meant for sympathy or to excuse myself,” he writes. “I’m sharing my real-life account of how I transitioned from a highly valued technologist to virtually nothing in just a year or two with the rise of AI.”

In an email, Shawn also expressed that the job market in the software industry has never felt more disheartening. He noted that he’s “been in the game for a long time, and it’s never felt this way before.”

Alarmingly, he added: “I don’t believe my story is unique; I think I am on the early side of a bell curve reflecting the impending social and economic disaster that is already underway, which began with knowledge workers and creatives. It’s coming for practically everyone in due time.”