Ask HN: Who has been laid off? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#261

Post by amznthrowaway5 » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 2:47 AM UTC

1MoreThing wrote: post #198

adriancooney wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. It's a private document so it's hard to pull any stats out. I did manage to get the top ten companies (back of the napkin hack so take it with a pinch of salt): amazon | 13 thumbtack | 10 student | 8 wework | 8 wayfair | 6 google | 6 uber | 5 cisco | 4 oracle | 4 adobe | 3 Surprised to see Amazon at the top. I thought they were the best poised against this. Again, it may not be signal of a wider problem…

There's lay-offs and then there's "I got fired this week." Does this document tell the difference? Because those numbers look about right for an industry that does have some involuntary turn-over week to week.

Yeah it's around the time that the yearly 5-10% stack ranking based forced attrition causes people to get fired. Don't think it has to do with COVID.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#262

Post by Spooky23 » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 2:50 AM UTC

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #189

ithrow wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, how does a bartender ends up staying reading HN?

I always found it interesting how many people have taught themselves programming. I was at a customer site a few months ago installing some test hardware and the guy I was working with was their welder, having been an auto mechanic before and we got into a discussion about programming in Python! The best interaction, however, would be the homeless guy I met who used to be a programmer.

One of the best Microsoft stack Sysadmins (AD/Exchange) I knew back in the day was a former diesel mechanic who got badly injured in an accident and transferred to do help desk work. He dove in and really mastered it. Just a great guy who was great at training new folks.

Not programming but the other wacky transition was a Wall St guy who burnt out, started a subsistence farmstand in the country, married a hippie lady and sold vegetables, drove a school bus and plowed snow to get by. Really nice guy... when he died it turned out he owned a few buildings in NYC and was loaded to the tune of $20-30M, and his family had no clue.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#263

Post by eldacila » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 4:07 AM UTC

I got laid off on March 25th, I was called to go to the office the day before, told it was that "the higher ups wanted to see the team", only it was to get me to sign the paperwork, and give back the laptop, they paid a taxi to get me to my apartment, but it felt like an ambush

luckily my mother instilled in me the value of saving money, so I can survive for a while on my savings, but the double hit of the anxiety from the pandemic, and getting laid off has been quite stressing...

I'm open to any software development job, full-time, part-time, remote, I've been applying to several positions, but my first choice for applying cancelled all hires (a friend of mine who works there told me their CEO sent an email saying that), and most other companies are probably doing something similar

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#264

Post by sizzle » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 4:20 AM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #126

jedberg wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before you cut everything , keep in mind that you're still a human being and have psychological needs. If that streaming service brings you hours of joy, it might be cheaper to keep it than the bills for your mental health treatment down the line. Don't just cut everything out of your life cold turkey. Keep something that brings you joy.

Having just basic internet and youtube can go a long way. So you can get creative during a crisis and learn to work with a bit less to get almost as much.

Reading fiction books is a great way to pass time

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#265

Post by mvanveen » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 4:35 AM UTC

Previously to this month I was a Senior Machine Learning engineer at Zest.ai. I have over a decade of professional experience as a backend engineer with Python before that.

I accepted a job offer at the highest salary I'd ever been offered late February. At the time some coworkers were stuck in China and I thought "there's a non-zero probability covid-19 f's everything up, but it'll be fine."

Started the new job on 3/16. The company didn't exist anymore after 3/27.

http://github.com/mvanveen https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanveenm/

If you think there's a good fit please reach out at hn22770643@mvv.email . Thank you!

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#266

Post by hedora » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 4:51 AM UTC

mgerdts wrote: post #193

bdcravens wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'll shop for a cheaper phone plan. May not apply to you, but if you're an Xfinity customer, their mobile service is a great value: runs on the Verizon network, and you only pay for data. I switched to it for a few months during a financial crisis I had. It wasn't good for tethering (that gets too expensive vs. a carrier like Verizon), but there were months my bill was only $12 or $24 due to minimal data use (I bro…

I was using Verizon on a 2 GiB shared plan with my wife. Neither of us use much data, so we always had plenty left over. Switched to Spectrum, which is also on Verizon. It requires Spectrum internet or TV. The bill dropped from about $80 fo the two of us to $28. The new plan is $14 per phone per gig, data is shared. The price includes all taxes. The only extra charges are for international calls or adding another gig…

Tracfone can be slightly cheaper, especially for light users. I’m on their cheapest smartphone plan at $10/month/phone. (You have to buy a year ahead to get this rate, but you can get to $12 with a two month purchase).

They work on the TMobile, Verizon and AT&T network, and you can bring your own unlocked phone.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#267

Post by raincom » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 5:05 AM UTC

My friend's contract is not extended. He works for a bay area company owned by Silverlake partners. His team has four full timers and six contractors. CEO sent an email to not renew contracts.

My contract is due for May 31. I am not so confident about renewal. And my team has 70% contractors. There is a large contingent workforce in IT. You don't see them in the official layoff list; instead, they are employees of unknown staffing companies.

Many track

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#268

Post by hedora » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 5:07 AM UTC

notabee wrote: post #86

Ididntdothis wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My advice is that if another offer comes up, take it even if the salary is not what you expect. If there really will be a big recession then very soon it will be very hard to find anything. You may end up unemployed for a long time and by the time things pick up, companies will prefer the new grads. In 2002 I made the mistake of being too proud to take underpaid work and it hurt me quite a bit.

This is also why people need to push back hard against the typical recruiter habit of asking for your old salary in order to lowball your offer. Many people go through struggles like this.

Asking for previous salary is illegal in CA. Practice your poker face.

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#269

Post by hedora » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 5:09 AM UTC

iandanforth wrote: post #191

If many people at your company have been laid off it might be a good idea to check with a lawyer to see if the company has complied with the requirements to be exempt from WARN act compliance. Here's some relevant analysis from California: https://www.californiaemploymentlawreport.com/2020/03/govern...

The WARN act has been temporarily suspended:

https://www.edd.ca.gov/about_edd/coronavirus-2019/faqs/WARN....

Re: Ask HN: Who has been laid off?

#270

Post by zingar » Sat, Apr 04, 2020, 5:17 AM UTC

An investor pulled out of a SIGNED term sheet because of covid19. The last year of growth undone, 70 people plus contractors laid off. I have domain knowledge that no one else in the company does so I was spared. For legal reasons here it won't be instant, but all my collaboration is with people who already know their job ends at the end of April.