Ask HN: Who Is Firing? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#411

Post by bsanr2 » Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 8:28 PM UTC

mardifoufs wrote: post #356

bsanr2 wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I included the parenthetical to make it clear that what you're asserting was not my intended meaning. I am a gay black man.

Okay thanks for the clarification, but still if anything I find the tech sector to be one of the industry with the least amount of racial prejudice even in promotions. I totally understand that personal experiences can be different and are still valid, but I think the data tells us that there isn't any widespread systemic racism in tech. The proportion of people of color in C level exec/higher management levels is hu…

That is inaccurate to the point of straining good faith.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#412

Post by nikisweeting » Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 8:28 PM UTC

protonmail wrote: post #280

ProtonMail is hiring. A lot: https://careers.protonmail.com/

Please tell me you're hiring bloom filter / client-side JS search experts. We're on the verge of moving our whole company off ProtonMail because search is unusable.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#413

Post by bdcravens » Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 8:29 PM UTC

sbt wrote: post #26

anonymousci wrote: post #7

CircleCI. Last week during covid crisis, all while announcing a $100m Series E round of financing, they let some employees go and did not offer any severance. Disorganized management, and with some teams, passive-aggressive management style. Would not recommend joining...

How would you characterize the quality of CircleCI? I've spent quite a few hours trying to work out mysterious bugs in a build process that runs fine locally. This morning the web ui was full of 'client error' messages.

v1 was good for us, but when they moved to v2, it just seemed like far more work for us than Codeship Pro.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#414

Post by pkulak » Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 8:29 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #403

gjmacd wrote: post #388

Not naming the company, but I know of a startup that's got a round of $10M (not much but enough) who just applied for relief because their burn rate is $200K+ a month. They have no customers, have been in the red for 2 years and have been slowly building their product out -- like most early funded startups -- they are building potential without revenue (yet). Their theory is, get some free money and treat it like 6 m…

This is the government's fault for not attaching more strings to the money. It should have been a loan at favourable interest rates with a fixed term.

The point was to get money out fast. Everyone knew it would get into some wrong hands, but the window is small here. Any hope of coming out of this in a few months hinges on getting people support quickly.

And besides, all these small-business loans are exactly that; loans. You can get them forgiven later if you can show that you used it directly for salary. But later is the key word. Get the money out now, worry about forgiveness paperwork later.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#415

Post by sudosysgen » Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 8:30 PM UTC

bitcurious wrote: post #408

sudosysgen wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The existence of for-profit healthcare is reasonably why hospitals have to shut departments in the middle of a pandemic to handle balance sheets. If for-profit healthcare didn't exist, I really don't see how the total amount of money going into a hospital would decrease right now.

You are conflating “for profit” with private. Most good hospitals are non profit, but private institutions. To help you understand how this could decrease revenue - my annual checkup is postponed by 6 months. This is true for everyone who had an annual checkup scheduled.

I agree. but the existence of for-profit healthcare is largely why the US is the only country without public healthcare.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#416

Post by refurb » Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 8:30 PM UTC

gjmacd wrote: post #388

Not naming the company, but I know of a startup that's got a round of $10M (not much but enough) who just applied for relief because their burn rate is $200K+ a month. They have no customers, have been in the red for 2 years and have been slowly building their product out -- like most early funded startups -- they are building potential without revenue (yet). Their theory is, get some free money and treat it like 6 m…

Are you really surprised?

I think you'd be very hard pressed to find people willing to turn down free money.

It's not like are lying to gov't to get it. They qualify, so why not take it.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#417

Post by Aperocky » Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 8:31 PM UTC

gjmacd wrote: post #388

Not naming the company, but I know of a startup that's got a round of $10M (not much but enough) who just applied for relief because their burn rate is $200K+ a month. They have no customers, have been in the red for 2 years and have been slowly building their product out -- like most early funded startups -- they are building potential without revenue (yet). Their theory is, get some free money and treat it like 6 m…

If they qualify, they qualify.

If they don't, then they're a fraud.

If they shouldn't qualify but they did, then blame the policy makers.

Only (2) would have been their fault.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#418

Post by notJim » Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 8:32 PM UTC

wil421 wrote: post #298

Vinnl wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One reason that it's could be less bad is due to government measures - e.g. in the Netherlands, employers can apply for the government to pay 90% of your salary for a while while they pay the other 10%, so that they can keep employing you until (hopefully) after things start up again. No idea how that compares to other companies, but if it differs, that's one possible explanation for different results.

Not sure if the percentage is the same but small businesses (less than 500 employees) in the US can apply for a loan that converts to a grant if you keep your current employment levels for a set time. 75% of the loan has to be for payroll and the other part for rent, mortgage, and utilities. https://www.uschamber.com/series/above-the-fold/how-access-s...

That money has run out already. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/business/stock-market-liv...

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#419

Post by 0x8BADF00D » Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 8:32 PM UTC

Kungfuturtle wrote: post #405

0x8BADF00D wrote: post #381

That is pretty ridiculous. When I was laid off, I was given 2 months of full salary upfront. Of course, CA raped me on the taxes, but that's a discussion for another time.

You should not use that term in that manner.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.120831/page/n6...

As you can see on that page, here is a definition of the word rape:

1. trans. to take (a thing) by force.

In my usage, I was using it as the state government of CA, taking (part of) my severance by force. I don't see any issue with the usage.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#420

Post by AnotherGoodName » Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 8:32 PM UTC

akdor1154 wrote: post #139

ratww wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is good news, considering they've apparently been also able to reduce the number of new confirmed cases [1]. [1] https://aatishb.com/covidtrends/

Yep. social gatherings / hospitality industry / gyms etc are banned, and anyone who can work from home is doing so, but you still can leave your house for "essential reasons", e.g. exercise, buying takeaway lunch every day. many retail stores and public transport are still functioning. I think it's our - low density - government actually listening to scientists and reacting quickly and non-ideologically.

>low density

I'd be cautious with this point.

Sydney is more dense than LA, Chicago. It is lower than NYC. But still for an urban area of over 5 million people it's densely populated and has all the ingredients for a bad outbreak. https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-truth-about-...