PM-ME_YOUR_WOOD's journey

I recently experienced a layoff that left me feeling frustrated and angry about how it was handled by my last manager at my previous company. It all started with these strange check-ins that he initiated twice a week. He asked the same questions repeatedly, like 'What are you working on?' and 'Walk me through that again,' but there was no real feedback or guidance. The moment I truly realized something was off was when I opened a roadmap document and noticed my project was still listed, but my name was missing. Looking back, there were several subtle signs I had brushed off, such as work being handed off to others temporarily, meetings disappearing from my calendar, and random requests to document everything I was doing. None of these were dramatic on their own, but they collectively made me feel like I was being slowly erased from the team. In the weeks that followed, I found myself scrambling to gather evidence of my contributions. I dug up old performance reviews, summarized my projects, and wrote down every accomplishment I could remember. I was so pressed for time that I ended up using a resume template without updating it properly. Before any official announcement was made, I reached out to former coworkers because the gut feeling I had was becoming unbearable. Then, the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) showed up, which was almost a relief because it confirmed my suspicions. I hope sharing this experience helps others who might be in a similar situation. Don't ignore the signs; trust your instincts.