Mozilla lays off 70 • Hacker News Board

Re: Mozilla lays off 70

#701

Post by jmchuster » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 6:37 AM UTC

Brokedamouth wrote: post #605

I was at Mozilla for a while and it was a two-class system. The execs flew first class, stayed in fancy hotels, and had very expensive dinners and retreats - sometimes in the high five-figures. This is not even included in comp. One time, the CFO sent out a missive urging everyone to stay in AirBnB to save money and the execs (literally the following week) booked $500/night rooms at a hotel in NYC. I think the moment…

$500/night for a hotel in NYC sounds relatively cheap. $400 is about the lowest you can find. If you find $350, I would really recommend you not stay there.

Re: Mozilla lays off 70

#702

Post by Argorak » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 6:40 AM UTC

senderista wrote: post #621

phonon wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She also wrote this incredibly rude and grotesque obituary for Gervase Markham after he died of cancer (working for Mozilla until the end). You are welcome to disagree, but Gerv contributed just as much to Mozilla as Mitchell did. https://blog.lizardwrangler.com/2018/08/07/in-memoriam-gerva...

I have definitely gotten the impression (as a very peripheral observer of the Rust community) that ideological diversity is not at all the sort of diversity Mozilla is interested in.

I wonder where that impression comes from? The Rust project is surprisingly diverse there and especially the moderation teams run the gamut from very progressive to very classic conservative.

We have a common boundary agreement (that's what the CoC lays out), but other then that, you'd be surprised of the number of opinions you'd see.

Granted, some of the very public figures are very progressive/leftist, but they also do their legwork for it and generally keep that on the side when they speak with their Rust hat on.

Re: Mozilla lays off 70

#703

Post by siwatanejo » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 6:42 AM UTC

If any of the ones laid off is interested in working for a startup developing a browser extension with WASM (from C#), poke me via email: andrew.forsure at gmail (remote working is welcome; part-time ok too)

Re: Mozilla lays off 70

#704

Post by saagarjha » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 6:48 AM UTC

jopsen wrote: post #699

saagarjha wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My reasoning is that Google's investment is massive and just because they're throwing money and people at a problem doesn't make it necessary for everyone else to do so as well.

True, but when you say: >Other browsers do just fine with significantly fewer engineers It implies that you have any examples.

Safari.

Re: Mozilla lays off 70

#705

Post by BrendanEich » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 6:50 AM UTC

klagermkii wrote: post #656

deepaksurti wrote: post #608

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many corporate leaders are Peters at work [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

I would think the Peter Principle would be better represented if there was someone who was a star on the technical side, but messed up as the CEO in a role they couldn't handle. i.e. if Brendan Eich was CEO and this happened it would be a Peter Principle moment. All these senior leadership people seem to be straight from the management track. Doesn't seem like they showed their excellence in another discipline and we…

Read the link above. The Peter Principle does not require change from tech to mgmt — it simply describes promotion above one’s level of competence.

Re: Mozilla lays off 70

#706

Post by Ryckes » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 6:50 AM UTC

core-questions wrote: post #460

bduerst wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Appeal to legality isn't proof of moral superiority. Racial segregation was also legal via Jim Crow laws, and people still hold the political opinion it should still be despite society changing and moving forward. It is also not censorship nor is it illegal to terminate employment with someone based on their political actions.

> Appeal to legality isn't proof of moral superiority. Then why was it so important for gay marriage to have legal blessing? > It is also not censorship nor is it illegal to terminate employment with someone based on their political actions. It is if it becomes the norm (and it has, and it has lead to a Chilling Effect, and the blowback is going to be tremendous).

> > Appeal to legality isn't proof of moral superiority.

> Then why was it so important for gay marriage to have legal blessing?

Are you suggesting that the only reason to legalize something is to get a legal stamp on it being moral? The main reason is to stop discrimination.

Re: Mozilla lays off 70

#707

Post by SamReidHughes » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 6:53 AM UTC

trox wrote: post #315

EduardoBautista wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how that is an unreasonable salary for the CEO of a highly influential tech company. CEO pay for other large tech companies is much higher.

I think you overestimate the size of Mozilla Corp. As somebody mentioned above, the average CEO salary for a similar sized company is 800k.[1] [1] https://chiefexecutive.net/ceo-and-senior-executive-compensa...

It would be a good idea to limit the comparison to Bay Area companies of that size.

Re: Mozilla lays off 70

#708

Post by tuananh » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 6:53 AM UTC

deepaksurti wrote: post #608

_kp6z wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a pretty clueless layoff, I guess I expected better from Mozilla than usual corporate derp. If there was truly no dead weight, surely the management could have scaled back their own comp for misdirecting the company? Very few people understand what it means to be a leader in corporate world.

Many corporate leaders are Peters at work [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

Thanks. Today i learn something new

Re: Mozilla lays off 70

#709

Post by bemeurer » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 6:55 AM UTC

sstangl wrote: post #376

I'm one of the 70. There were no signs that this was imminent, although Mozilla has been struggling financially for many years. I expected that it would happen eventually; I'm relatively well-prepared for it; and it's not too shocking. I did however expect that there would be some warning signs in the lead-up, but that was not the case. I was working on Cranelift, the WebAssembly compiler that is also a plausible fut…

If you’re interested in non-compiler, HPC Rust work reach out at bernardo at standard dot ai

Re: Mozilla lays off 70

#710

Post by eslaught » Thu, Jan 16, 2020, 6:56 AM UTC

qbaqbaqba wrote: post #696

pergadad wrote: post #642

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the alternative? Google? Not really better even if this disappoints about Mozilla.

Edge or Brave. Different business models than Google's and to some extent Mozilla's.

But still beholden to the same rendering engine, and therefore Google's technical decisions about the future of the web. Which is exactly why I would strongly prefer for Mozilla to stay strong, even aside from the non-profit aspect of it.