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23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

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Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#21
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then there's the fact that if your parents did it, why would you do it? My parents did it so now I have exactly zero reason to do it myself. Also all the negative publicity behind data being sold, which should surprise nobody.

Because you can have a mutation that your parents don't have?

23&me most like will not help you there as they are only looking for relatively well known mutations and not de-novos. They are basically scanning a few (or less) million variants but there are billions of possible new ones

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#22

Interviewed here a year or so ago. Honestly I'll admit I didn't do well technically, but every interviewer I had just seemed super impersonal and not very friendly. They asked very interrogative questions, and while I get it and am mostly ok with it, I felt like they were asking due to the existing environment they have there. I just didn't get a great vibe. Disclaimer: But again, I know I didn't do well on the techn…

This breaks my heart to hear. I interviewed there in 2011 as an infra guy, and not only was the infra team personable (the winning question was rapidly identifying the symptoms of a duplex mismatch on a switch ethernet port), the VP of Engineering was awesome as well. He even went so far as to say, "As a tech person, you belong out here in the Bay, even if it's not with us". I turned down the offer, but it was one of…

Well, like I said, could just be that my perspective was tainted a bit by not doing as well as I'd have liked.

But I think sometimes these things just happen too. I think I interviewed in 2018, so that'd be 7 years after you did. I'm sure a lot changes in that much time.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#23

Everyone paying attention the pattern of layoffs? Ebay, Mozilla, DigitalOcean, 23andMe, Intel... Pay down your credit card debt and make sure you have at least 6 months of expenses in the bank, if you're young and haven't been through this before.

You're going to have to prove there's a pattern here. Unless the pattern is companies that haven't maintained their status in their respective industries.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#24

Everyone paying attention the pattern of layoffs? Ebay, Mozilla, DigitalOcean, 23andMe, Intel... Pay down your credit card debt and make sure you have at least 6 months of expenses in the bank, if you're young and haven't been through this before.

Is the intuition on credit card debt just that unemployment can jeopardize your ability to make payments?

payments, and ability to even get a job if your score takes a hit... a lot of companies do credit checks before hiring :/

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#26

Everyone paying attention the pattern of layoffs? Ebay, Mozilla, DigitalOcean, 23andMe, Intel... Pay down your credit card debt and make sure you have at least 6 months of expenses in the bank, if you're young and haven't been through this before.

None of these are likely the result of systemic factors. If anything, there being layoffs at some firms without it impacting general employment levels is a sign of a healthy and balanced economy.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#28

Everyone paying attention the pattern of layoffs? Ebay, Mozilla, DigitalOcean, 23andMe, Intel... Pay down your credit card debt and make sure you have at least 6 months of expenses in the bank, if you're young and haven't been through this before.

Is the intuition on credit card debt just that unemployment can jeopardize your ability to make payments?

add to that risk the predatory nature of credit card debt,

the interest is already super high, they can increase that further after a late payment, plus it stays on your record for 6 years

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#29

Interviewed here a year or so ago. Honestly I'll admit I didn't do well technically, but every interviewer I had just seemed super impersonal and not very friendly. They asked very interrogative questions, and while I get it and am mostly ok with it, I felt like they were asking due to the existing environment they have there. I just didn't get a great vibe. Disclaimer: But again, I know I didn't do well on the techn…

This breaks my heart to hear. I interviewed there in 2011 as an infra guy, and not only was the infra team personable (the winning question was rapidly identifying the symptoms of a duplex mismatch on a switch ethernet port), the VP of Engineering was awesome as well. He even went so far as to say, "As a tech person, you belong out here in the Bay, even if it's not with us". I turned down the offer, but it was one of…

"As a tech person, you belong out here in the Bay, even if it's not with us" - What the fuck does that mean? People working in tech not in the bay aren't second tier.

Re: 23andMe lays off 100 people as DNA test sales decline

#30
post #5

> Wojcicki has theories, but she doesn’t have clear proof for why consumers are shying away from getting tests Because the ones that want them have gotten them and there's no reason to ever buy the product again once you've done it once. I mean, smartphones are great, but the market for them would have hit a wall pretty quickly if no one ever had a reason to replace them after buying their first.

And then there's the fact that if your parents did it, why would you do it? My parents did it so now I have exactly zero reason to do it myself. Also all the negative publicity behind data being sold, which should surprise nobody.

It would still provide information about health, since you don't inherit all of your parents' alleles. (For example, if your parents are heterozygous for an allele and you'd like to know your status.)
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