A Big Tech worker got laid off — and wishes she left sooner

• Elvi Caperonis was laid off from her Big Tech job in July 2024.
• She used the layoff as an opportunity to focus on other ventures she'd been running on the side.
• Caperonis now runs her own career coaching, content creation, and Airbnb business.

Elvi Caperonis had a dream to work in Big Tech — and after five years and over 100 rejections, she reached it by landing a role at a prominent Magnificent 7 company in 2017.

But in July 2024 — seven years later — Caperonis was laid off.

Instead of her dream morphing into a nightmare, though, Caperonis told Business Insider that the layoff actually boosted her career.

She was able to focus on her own ventures as a career coach, content creator, and Airbnb Superhost and grow her entrepreneurial revenue to six figures in 2024, which Business Insider verified with documentation.

"Now that I work for myself," she said, "I have freedom to live life on my own terms and have discovered more profound happiness."

Working in Big Tech was exhilarating

It wasn't that Caperonis didn't appreciate her Big Tech job. In fact, she loved it.

"I saw world-class people build teams and was always on the cutting edge of technology like AI and machine learning," she said. "I was always fascinated by learning something new and having fun."

Her company felt like more than just a workplace — it was a platform where she thrived on the joy of learning and being constantly challenged, an opportunity she called "genuinely exhilarating."

The role included a lucrative six-figure compensation package, quality health insurance, remote work opportunities, and company parties.

Her LinkedIn kept growing and growing

In January 2020, Caperonis began building her personal brand and business on the side. She created content on LinkedIn to share her personal experiences and practical advice, in hopes of helping others boost their self-confidence and land jobs in the tech industry.

Thanks to a daily posting schedule — balanced with her full-time Big Tech job — and some viral posts, she grew her LinkedIn to 10,000 followers within a few months.

She began charging $150 per coaching session to help job seekers land their dream jobs at companies like Meta, Coinbase, Sonos, Microsoft, and Amazon.

In 2021, she started doing live sessions on LinkedIn to share her career insights and expertise, and in 2022, she grew her LinkedIn follower base to 80,000.

"I struggled to find new ideas but eventually shared my rejection journey in multiple posts, which in total got over 6.5 million views," she said. "It wasn't easy, but sharing my experience and the lessons I learned from it resonated with many people."

After going viral a few more times in 2023, Caperonis' LinkedIn surpassed 100,000 followers, which also brought in new clients. She started posting successful testimonials, which helped her increase her prices to $499 for a package of three coaching sessions.

In March 2024, just prior to her layoff, she secured her first official brand partnership on LinkedIn, which paid her $3,200 for three LinkedIn posts.

"This partnership provided a substantial financial boost and validated the value of my work and the reach of my personal brand," Caperonis said.

Caperonis also began co-hosting on Airbnb with her sister in October 2022 and earned the title of Superhost in 2023. This gave her another income stream alongside her coaching business, earning them $43,911 in revenue in 2023 and nearly $50,000 in 2024.

The layoff turned into an entrepreneurial opportunity

In April 2024, just one month after landing her brand partnership, Caperonis was told that she'd be laid off from her Big Tech job in July.

Instead of dwelling on the adversity, she used it as an opportunity to put her full effort into developing her side gigs.

"The layoff spurred me to tap into my entrepreneurial instincts," Caperonis said.

Coaching and content creation became her full-time job. She started engaging and posting up to twice a day on LinkedIn, and more brands reached out to her for partnerships.

In July 2024, she launched her business, Reinvent Yourself Academy, and the following month she received the LinkedIn Top Voice badge. She now charges clients $5,000 for her formal coaching program.

She is able to balance her time between her various ventures by automating her hosting business as much as possible, spending around 35 hours weekly on content creation and career coaching and five to 10 hours on Airbnb.

Having a backup plan that can't be taken away is crucial

"This journey has shown me that it's possible to turn challenges into opportunities with determination and the right mindset," Caperonis said.

If she could turn back time, she says she would've started building her personal brand on LinkedIn and her business much earlier — and planned her exit from the corporate world sooner.

"I've come to understand that it's essential to create something for yourself that cannot be taken away," Caperonis said. "Since layoffs can happen unexpectedly, having a backup plan is crucial."

Do you have a story to share about life after being laid off? Contact this editor, Jane Zhang, at janezhang@businessinsider.com.