A man who worked at Microsoft for over three decades found himself abruptly terminated from his position in February. His job elimination came as a result of Human Resources (HR) adopting the hub and spoke model for Learning and Development (L&D) – a strategy he had fervently advocated for. Now, months after losing his job, Jeff Bogdan, who was the Director of Learning and Development (L&D) at Microsoft Windows, took to LinkedIn to share his “incredible” experience at the tech giant.
“My 33-year run with the wonderful Microsoft come to a close in February, when my job was eliminated. I spent the last two weeks at Microsoft trying to say a ‘proper goodbye’ to my enormous second family. I then spent the two weeks that followed in Chelan, half the time with family and half the time in solo reflection,” Mr Bogdan wrote in his post.
Mr Bogdan said that his entire career at Microsoft has been an “incredible ride”. But he said that the biggest payoff for him came in the last 2 years when he pitched and landed an L&D role in Windows.
“My premise was that, after successfully spreading a “learn-it-all” mindset throughout the org, it was time to spread a “teach-it-all” mindset to accompany this. I focused on organizing the learning investments for a 2,000-person org, and then worked to align that with learning & development offerings from our parent orgs and from central HR,” he wrote.
Further, Mr Bogdan revealed that his job elimination was the result of HR adopting the hub and spoke model for L&D that he was pitching. “Sadly, when my division already had their L&D team in place, there wasn’t a seat at the table for me,” he continued.
“After abundant reflection, I have concluded that I am nowhere close to the “R word”. There is still so much that I want to contribute. So now begins the journey of finding my second career,” he added.
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Mr Bogdan shared the post just a few days back. Since then, it has amassed more than 2,800 reactions and several comments.
“Microsoft definitely did something wrong to let someone as amazing as you go. You have been an inspiration and a great mentor. You’ll be a tremendous addition to any place that is fortunate enough to have you, and I can’t wait to see what shenanigans you’re up to next!” wrote one user.
“Best of luck in your next set of endeavours. My position with Microsoft was eliminated after 20 years and seven months; I miss being there and will always think of it as my professional home,” commented another.
“I can imagine that this has been a bittersweet experience. I am sure after that long with a company you may feel a bit lost and overwhelmed. I am sending you lots good thoughts and I know your next adventure will be great. Being open to see what happens and what’s out there is the best attitude you can have. Sometimes we end up in the right place just by not being too set on something specific and just going with our gut feelings and trying something new and maybe uncomfortable” expressed another.
