This was a few months ago and I have a new job now that treats me way better, but I have been reflecting on my previous job. I worked as a financial data analyst for a private investment firm that specialized in real estate (they did residential and commercial rentals) and got laid off unexpectedly because they hadn’t been acquiring anymore property since they couldn’t buy anything that could achieve the target returns they wanted. I started my career out of college there and spent the past 5 years working hard to help them grow and make their antiquated processes more efficient (the amount of paper these dinosaurs used and lack of functional software was astounding). I built multiple databases which allowed them to acquire more assets and access information quickly, switched them to another software which improved analytics, accounting, and operations, and their portfolio tripled under my time there.
I had issues with the job because they wanted me chained to a desk in the office even during the pandemic in April 2020 they made me come in and were able to finagle rules claiming I was “an essential worker”. It was taxing to say the least with no insurance plan provided by the company, no retirement plan until the end of 2022 with raises of about 2% each year and bonuses of 3%. I had to make my own IRA and pay $300 a month almost for insurance. They did not budge and any complaint I brought about it fell on deaf ears.
I had access to the company’s financials and despite the real estate economy getting crushed and interest rates rising, they were still performing very well with plenty of cash on hand to fulfill all their obligations. After all the work I had put in, with no warning, my boss calls me in and tells me I’m getting laid off and I’m getting 5 weeks salary severance after my 5 years of work that I had to wait over a month to receive.
After how much I built for them and improved things at their company this all felt like a slap in the face and really makes me not want to ever develop improvements for a company ever again because my previous company essentially took advantage of me and I got no reward out of it.
I was also the youngest guy at the company by maybe 20 years so I didn’t really have anyone who could relate to me. Everyone there seemed jaded and the way they talked about tenants was disgusting referring to them as drug addicts or bums. They had no problems raising rents for some single parent households $100+ per month because they could.
I know this is probably not a big deal, but it’s something that really bothered me and I wanted to get it off my chest. I don’t think I will ever be able to work in the investment sphere again, especially real estate.