My BI end users team was gutted overnight, and I’m one of the few left. How do I deal with the "survivor’s guilt" and the feeling that my company is just winging it?
Yesterday, my company went through a major round of layoffs without warning. My entire BI team for our analytics department team colleagues I’ve worked with for the past six months since I joined as a junior DE were let go, leaving only one person left in that entire department. Management is framing this as an "AI-first" pivot, replacing those Power BI focused roles with tools like Claude Code, but the reality on the ground feels chaotic and completely unproven. My team (Data Engineering) survived, which puts us in the strange position of being the "pillars" who now have to build the pipes for an AI that hasn’t proven it can handle the workload of the team we just lost. I’m struggling with a few things and could use some perspective from others who have been through this:
The Guilt: It’s hard to sit at my desk knowing my teammates were shown the door, especially as someone relatively early in their career. How do you process this without letting it eat you alive?
The "Skeleton Crew" Reality: Has anyone else had to watch their company bet the farm on AI tools to replace real people? It feels like we’re being asked to build something that isn't ready to replace the institutional knowledge we just threw away.
The Professional Uncertainty: I feel "safe" on paper, but the culture feels fundamentally broken. How do you stay grounded when the company you were hired into feels like a completely different place than it was 48 hours ago?