I got fired 🥲

I got fired, chat. How cooked are we? 😱

It's never a good time to lose a job - but to lose a job in this economy? No thanks!

So... What happened?

Background

About 4 and a half years ago, I joined Omnia to kick off a new team responsible for building customizations and integrations. The idea was to have a small, highly skilled team that could take care of the most complex and critical customizations and integrations for Omnia's customers - and do it in a disciplined and repeatedly successful way to improve customer satisfaction.

And the bottom line, of course 😁

And improve both we did!

To be fair, a lot of the work was quite repetitive - while most customization and integration projects themselves are unique, there are still many commonalities between them, and obviously the setup and maintenance cycles are similar. And I wanted to make sure we were doing things in a way that would always make the next project easier and faster to implement than the last!

Which led to the obvious: one of my main focuses has been to automate as much of the team's day-to-day work as possible. Personally, over the last year or so, AI has enabled my team to simplify our specification work and parts of development work in ways that finally feel like the first glimpses of the future are actually here. Most of the work that I used to do manually, I can now do in a fraction of the time, and with better quality than before.

In the past year, I've gotten my hands dirty, due to AI making the development work so much less time-intensive. You write a prompt (or specify changes otherwise), wait 20 minutes for GitHub Copilot or Claude to finish, and then review the resulting specification, documentation, or code.

The feedback loop has gotten shorter than ever, and while I still can't say I'm completely AI-pilled, it is the first force multiplier in my career that has significantly impacted my daily productivity.

And everyone knows what's coming next, right?

There's no work left!

I automated so much, that at the end of the day, AI made me redundant, and my services were simply no longer needed. And now I'm fired.

Hardly a unique story, right? The AI layoffs will continue until morale improves.

But the real plot twist is almost contrary to that!

I didn't get fired because AI is doing my job.

I got fired because Omnia is downsizing, and I am a freelancer with very favorable break clauses in my contract.

And I guess I wasn't even fired. Omnia used their right to terminate the contract - not even early, but at the end of the contract period.

Way to clickbait the title, am I right? And I did that without any help from AI! 😅

Reflections

It's been a fun ride and I've appreciated the opportunity to tackle challenges completely novel to me. It's been an educational journey.

Working with my team of highly skilled developers was fun, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad to leave.

But I can't really say I'd harbor any hard feelings. Working in an international but still decidedly Scandinavian company with many awesome people was a unique and fun experience, and I've had a great time!

I even wrote my latest (and also the last) out-of-office message tailored specifically to them - and I figured it might be worth sharing here (content warning: it's Swedish... Kind of!):

Börk börk! Hej‑høø å takk‑takk fur yer meesäägee!

Jegg är uute‑poote ur ooffeecen, ståår här å flööfy‑mööniitoorerar vädder‑blääst å prøøver fånga de där 1-3 Fiinlånd‑soommerdager som kan plötsleeg pluppa opp när som helst mellan 1-31.7. Börk‑börk‑börk‑flööf!

Under denna skvöömpiga peeeriåden heff‑a jegg veeery begränsad tillgång till e‑meel å kommer troligen inte svara i någoon teeemlig männeer alls. Hurdy‑gurdy‑snørk‑snørk!

Jegg mååste betoona att allt detta är heelt föörutsebart å heelt inom min koontrooll‑flåff. Om ditt ärende är ooorgäänt, vänligen kontakta . Är det ixtra‑oorgäänt, skicka ett sms till . Börk‑börk‑BÖRK!

Om du är nånstans med fint väder, njöööt å smask! Om du är i Feeenland, må din sjeel vara oobryytbar å stå som en stål‑smørklump i dessa prööfvande tider. Sköööl å flöööt!

Ditt meesäägee skickades inte vidare, men kommer läsas när jegg är tillbaka. Mööjligtvis tidigare, om vädret blir tillräckligt skitigt å börjar flåffla ner himlen.

Med mycket lööve, Antti

... come to think of it, maybe I was actually fired! The abomination of an ooo-message was probably the final straw. 😅

But it was still fun while it lasted 😆

Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to do with the 5 bottles of very expensive Finnish hard liqueurs that I bought to share in the next Christmas party that now won't happen... 🤠

Looking forward

Now, like we say in Finnish:

Leuka rintaan ja kohti uusia pettymyksiä!

But in all honesty, I'm talking to some awesome people about fun new challenges, so I'm not really looking for work in the traditional sense. I'll take this as an opportunity to figure out where I can make an impact - and have fun doing it.

I'll have something cool to share on that front soon. 😊