By Luca Ittimani
Publication Date: 2026-03-20 14:00:00
Rubio* was fired from his “dream job” at software giant Atlassian and only wants one thing: his job.
“We probably exceeded expectations and there is no explanation from the entire company as to why this all happened,” he says.
“The only wish I have besides receiving my severance pay is to clarify the reasons why I was selected.”
On Thursday morning last week, Atlassian laid off 1,600 employees – about 10% of its total workforce. Among them were almost 500 Australian employees.
Some have been at the forefront of integrating AI into the company’s products. There were those who had worked there for more than a decade. Others were on vacation when they found out they were unemployed.
Guardian Australia spoke to four former Australian employees: three who were made redundant last week and one who left the company amid fears of cuts.
They say the layoffs came without warning.
It felt like a “lack of humanity,” says Rubio. He woke up at 8 a.m. that Thursday morning and…
