Microsoft Developer Fired After 22 Years, Becomes a Goose Farmer

With all those layoffs happening left and right, many people involved in game development and tech industries have become genuinely afraid for their work positions, expecting to get a termination notice from their bosses at any moment. Apart from the obvious loss of income, the uncertainty surrounding these uncontrollable firings has in and of itself become a source of emotional distress for thousands of workers, sometimes even impacting their mental health.

In recent days, however, one person's inspirational portfolio has been gaining traction on social media, proving that getting fired is not the end of the world if you're comfortable with agricultural work.

Meet Feng Yuan, a former Software Engineer at Microsoft, whose professional journey has gone viral following a Twitter post made by Smarika Malviya. Throughout his 22-year tenure, he served as the company's Principal Performance Architect and Principal Software Development Engineer, contributing to projects such as Azure, Office 365, Bing, and more. Prior to Microsoft, Yuan spent close to eight years at Hewlett Packard as a Senior Software Engineer, accumulating around 30 years of software development experience in total.

Sadly, even this impressive portfolio didn't shield our protagonist from Microsoft's massive layoffs back in 2023, and like thousands of others, he found himself without a job back in July. Despite this setback, Yuan has seemingly not been fazed, updating his work history once again and showing, to the surprise of many, that he, a seasoned Software Engineer with three decades of experience, is now a Goose Farmer:

After Smarika's tweet went viral, sparking speculation that Yuan had voluntarily left Microsoft to pursue farming, the developer himself clarified the situation, confirming that he was indeed terminated due to "low performance" and highlighting that he had started raising geese for personal food production a year prior. Nonetheless, Yuan's story served as a source of inspiration for hundreds of people online, potentially offering solace to those fearing potential layoffs and reminding them that losing a job doesn't equate to losing one's life.

Check out Feng Yuan's portfolio here and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.