A Bengaluru-based techie has gone viral on X after sharing a quirky “I GOT FIRED” button that he claimed could wreak havoc on a company’s systems with just one click. Taking to X, Pankaj Tanwar, who is a software engineer by profession, joked about building the device amid growing discussions around AI-led layoffs and job security in the tech industry.
“ai layoffs are getting out of hands so I built ‘I GOT FIRED’ button,” he wrote on X. “one click, and it makes entire company codebase public, pushes .env secrets to public repo, drops staging db and finally notifies my lawyer. I hope I never need it but it’s ready,” he added.
Tanwar also shared photos of the small multi-button device attached to his laptop. The images showed several labelled buttons, including “Gaslight Them,” “Decode Corporate BS,” and a red-highlighted option reading “I GOT FIRED.”
One picture displayed a pop-up notification that read, “.env secrets committed and pushed to public repo.” Another showed a message saying, “out of office: permanently. contact my lawyer.”
Take a look at the post below:
How did social media react?
{{/usCountry}}How did social media react?
{{/usCountry}}Though the post was clearly shared as a joke, it quickly caught the internet’s attention, especially at a time when concerns over layoffs, automation and AI-driven restructuring continue to dominate discussions across the global tech industry.
Many users reacted to the post with a mix of humour, curiosity and criticism.
“The lawyer call should have happened before you made this post lol,” one user jokingly wrote. “This is the way. Though it’s a federal offense,” commented another.
“Lol you would get sued into obvlivion if not criminally charged, and have a very tough time finding a new job. Cool thing tho,” wrote a third user.
Some users also pointed out how companies typically handle employee access during layoffs.
“You should make it so it automatically activates if your machine receives any MDM commands,” wrote one joked.
“know it's a joke, but this is exactly why credentials are usually rescinded right before a layoff,” said another.