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Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

wsj.com

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Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#71

Post by mrosett »

qmarchi wrote: post #69
scarface74 wrote: post #32

December 2019 “Google Brass Set 2023 as Deadline to Beat Amazon, Microsoft in Cloud“ https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-brass-set-202... The clock is ticking for Google Cloud. The Google unit, which sells computing services to big companies, is under pressure from top management to pass Amazon or Microsoft—currently first and second, respectively, in cloud market share—or risk losing funding. While the co…

Google brass has explicitly called this out as being a false report.

They had no choice. I don’t give any weight to their denials.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#72

Post by manigandham »

basementcat wrote: post #23
godzillabrennus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the analogy: You don’t get nine women in a room to make a baby in one month.

If you assemble a 9+ stage pipeline, you may reach a point where you produce approximately one baby each month.

That's not a 9 stage pipeline, it's 9 separate single stage pipelines.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#73

Post by bcrosby95 »

scarface74 wrote: post #37
downerending wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a couple: 1. Google's tech staffers are supposed to be some of the top people in the world, and Google spends a considerable amount of resources hiring them. It seems foolish not to keep them on the bench a bit, unless Google foresees that it will be shrinking soon. 2. The people not laid off will very much notice their colleagues being zapped the moment they're not needed. They will rationally tilt towards le…

You haven’t heard about Netflix’s policy.... https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664 “We’re a team, not a family.” They “hire, develop, and cut smartly”. It doesn’t seem to have hurt their recruitment.

"People who have been stars for us, and hit a bad patch, get a near term pass because we think they are likely to become stars for us again".

Source: your link.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#74

Post by hoorayimhelping »

moandcompany wrote: post #18
godzillabrennus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the analogy: You don’t get nine women in a room to make a baby in one month.

This is often attributed to Fred Brooks in his seminal book "The Mythical Man Month" * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks%27s_law * https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fred_Brooks It also appears to originate from Theodore von Kármán (1957): "Everyone knows it takes a woman nine months to have a baby. But you Americans think if you get nine women pregnant, you can have a baby in a month."

I first heard it from Fred Brooks in Mythical Man Month. But it's even funnier if it came from Theodore von Karman. A lot of HNers will know him from KSP as the namesake of the Karman line, the boundary between atmosphere and space, typically set at 100km above mean sea level.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#75

Post by pm90 »

nihonium wrote: post #64
astrodust wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the Vegas odds that they blow the whole thing up if they don't end up #1?

I'd say they wouldn't shut down everything but may stop adding new features.

At which point they would quickly become obsolete.

Android was a hedge against Apple. GCP is a hedge against AWS. I don't see Google putting the brakes on GCP anytime soon.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#76

Post by petilon »

onion2k wrote: post #59
petilon wrote: post #55

Google generated $8.9 billion in cloud sales last year, up 52.7% from $5.8 billion in 2018 and $4.1 billion the year prior. Doesn't sound like Google's cloud business is in trouble.

If it costs $10bn a year to run that would mean it represents a $1.1bn loss, and it should be killed if Google can't turn it around. Revenue is a terrible metric to judge something on.

I was pointing to growth, not revenue. A business that doubled its revenue in two years is great to have, even if it is not currently profitable.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#77

Post by blauditore »

scarface74 wrote: post #32

December 2019 “Google Brass Set 2023 as Deadline to Beat Amazon, Microsoft in Cloud“ https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-brass-set-202... The clock is ticking for Google Cloud. The Google unit, which sells computing services to big companies, is under pressure from top management to pass Amazon or Microsoft—currently first and second, respectively, in cloud market share—or risk losing funding. While the co…

This meme bas been debunked a long time ago, but keeps on being repeated. It doesn't make much sense anyway.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#78

Post by stygiansonic »

sjg007 wrote: post #40
stygiansonic wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is correct. In many jurisdictions, when a certain number of employees are laid off in a given amount of time, they are required to disclose this to the government. For example, California has the WARN act: https://www.shouselaw.com/employment/warn-act.html

So this is a WARN act announcement?

If it is you can expect it to show here in a few days: https://www.edd.ca.gov/Jobs_and_Training/Layoff_Services_WAR...

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#80

Post by scarface74 »

pm90 wrote: post #75
nihonium wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say they wouldn't shut down everything but may stop adding new features.

At which point they would quickly become obsolete. Android was a hedge against Apple. GCP is a hedge against AWS. I don't see Google putting the brakes on GCP anytime soon.

That didn’t work out very well seeing they are still paying Apple a reported $8 - $12 billion a year to be the default search engine and it came out in the Oracle trial that they only made $23 billion in profit off of Android from its inception until the beginning of the trial.

Apple makes more from Google in mobile than Google makes from Android.

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