Senior Growth Marketing Manager

I've slowly started checking out at work

I've been noticing a pattern recently with me. My personal life is kind of going downhill due to a lot of stuff I had to face within a short term like the death of a family member, dad losing his job (I luckily have mine) and all of this is slowly eating into my work performance. I feel like I've started not caring about deadlines and stuff at work and this is slowly raising concerns from my manager. It's like I've checked out pretty much and I don't want to enter this dangerous path since my family is kind of dependant on me and sometimes I also have an existential dread about what's the point of all this. Do you guys have any advice to deal with this. I haven't let it affect my performance much only by a little so I can still be salvaged and my social skills are dwindling as well half the time I'm in stress about my personal life which I won't be able to solve and is dependant on other people and just life circumstances

Sometimes Getting Fired Is the Best Thing That Can Happen To You

About 7.5 months ago, I was let go from a startup in one of the worst ways possible. I was abused (yes, abused) by the founder for not working on a Saturday. This was a job where I commuted 50km daily — 25km one way — and even Saturdays were working days. I left on terrible terms, and for weeks, I carried the weight of shame, confusion, and anger. When I joined this company, I was full of hope. I thought I’d finally found a place where I could grow professionally. The co-founders seemed impressive they had sold their previous company for a multi-million dollar amount (undisclosed, but rumored to be around $5-6M). The founder took a chance on me, possibly because he saw my side projects, I’d built websites, done SEO, and freelanced. I was eager and hungry to prove myself. But what I didn’t expect was the culture of fear. The founder had serious anger issues. People were yelled at, insulted, and discarded at a moment’s notice. Co-founders left quietly, and so did team members. HR was powerless. Glassdoor reviews made sense after I joined. When I completed 1 year, I got a 2% hike. I sent a respectful email to HR, expressing my disappointment. That’s when everything went downhill. I was the only one forced to show up at different coworking spaces while everyone else worked from home. I was micromanaged, publicly criticized, and constantly made to feel like I wasn’t enough — all because I spoke up. And one day, after working late and submitting deliverables on a Saturday night, I was screamed at for not working the “full” Saturday. That was the last straw. I was fired in a vulgar, degrading manner — asked to return the laptop and leave. It took 2 more months of follow-ups to even get my final paycheck and experience letter. But you know what? That toxic layoff was the best thing that happened to me. It forced me to slow down, attend my sister’s wedding, and rebuild my confidence. A month later, I landed a great job in a B2B SaaS company just 5km from my house. The culture? 10x better. The people? Supportive. I have time for my family, and for once, I have a life outside of work. I started picking up hobbies again — gaming (got myself a second-hand PS4), learning UI/UX design, and just being present in the moment. If you’re reading this and stuck in a toxic workplace, hear me out: It’s not your fault. You are not what your boss says you are. And yes, it gets better. It won’t happen overnight, but trust that you’ll find a place where you’re valued, respected, and treated like a human being. Being let go isn’t always a failure — sometimes, it’s just life pushing you toward something better.

Feelings & learnings from seeing your product division shutdown?

Experienced fellow PMs: How does it feel to see the product division you worked with getting shut down or kept on just life support? Not at a pod or charter level - like higher level where the head of product suddenly leaves or is asked to leave. This usually happens with all the team members re-staffed to other division. How did you feel, react & how long did you stay with the org? What was the key learning from it that you will always carry with you as a red flag identifier?