A DJ who taught himself to code and went on to become a tech lead at Meta has revealed that he was laid off by the tech giant after more than 13 years with the company. In an as-told-to essay published by Business Insider, Henry Chen, 38, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, shared that he joined Facebook in 2012 as a contractor and eventually moved into a full-time engineering role before being laid off on May 20 this year.
"After I left college, I worked as a DJ for a few years, taught myself to code, and eventually found my way to Facebook," Chen told Business Insider.
"I'm grateful for everything I learned during my time at Facebook, later Meta. Overall, it was a very positive experience. But after the company's major layoffs in late 2022 and early 2023, things started to change," he added.
From wedding DJ to Meta engineer
The 38-year-old said that he had initially planned to become a teacher while studying at San Jose State University but left college before completing his degree. He then worked as a DJ before taking up an AV engineering contract at Facebook, where his experience with audio and video equipment helped him land the role.
What began as a temporary job eventually became a long-term career. Chen shared that he progressed from inspecting conference rooms to building them and, in 2015, became a full-time operations engineer working on collaboration technologies used across Facebook's offices.
{{/usCountry}}What began as a temporary job eventually became a long-term career. Chen shared that he progressed from inspecting conference rooms to building them and, in 2015, became a full-time operations engineer working on collaboration technologies used across Facebook's offices.
{{/usCountry}}"I didn't think it would turn into a career - I saw it as a way to earn some money while figuring out what to do next," he said.
Then, around 2017, as the company expanded and the number of conference rooms increased, Chen shared that he began experimenting with Python to solve problems related to scaling the technology. "I wrote a script that made it much faster to update conference room technology, and it changed the direction of my career," he told the outlet.
Over the following years, Chen revealed that he transitioned into software engineering and eventually became a tech lead at Meta.
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Meta layoff
According to Chen, the company's culture and priorities began changing after the major layoffs in late 2022 and early 2023. "Before then, I felt our teams had the resources to build ambitious projects," he said, adding that the focus shifted towards "doing more with less" after the layoffs.
He said that the company's priorities shifted again about a year and a half later, with a renewed emphasis on building. "Between leadership changes and shifting priorities, it became harder to know where my team was headed and what we should prioritize," he added.
The techie said that the changes were particularly difficult for him because he was on paternity leave from August 2025 until the end of the year. "By the time I returned to work, the company was using AI much more extensively, there had been team and leadership shifts, and it took me some time to get reacclimated. After being away for four months, it felt like the whole company had changed," he said.
Chen recalled that it was on May 20 when he learned that he had lost his job, along with many of his colleagues. He said that the layoffs were not completely unexpected, as Meta had already confirmed that job cuts were coming. However, he said that he was still surprised to be among those affected.
(Also Read: ‘Constantly fearing layoffs’: Techie quits corporate rat race to launch startup)
Life after Meta layoff
Chen said that he had already started looking for other roles in the weeks before the layoff, partly because he was feeling increasingly anxious about the possibility of losing his job. However, after being laid off, he decided to pause his job search.
The techie said Meta provided a severance package reflecting his roughly 10 years as a full-time employee. The financial cushion, along with his children's summer break, allowed him to spend time with his family and take a break before restarting his job search.
Now, Chen is working with a career coach to strengthen his understanding of industry-standard system design and prepare for interviews. He has also started searching for jobs on LinkedIn, reaching out to his network and applying for roles. Despite the layoff, he said that he remains optimistic about finding his next opportunity.
Reflecting on his career journey, he said his biggest lesson was to "say yes to problems and look for opportunities to solve them". "Every challenge I took on became a stepping stone to the next opportunity, and that's ultimately what helped me grow from a DJ to a conference room technician to a tech lead," he said.