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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

#91

Post by discordance »

wyclif wrote: post #61
sdenton4 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the couple people I know who have done this, I think it's pretty choose-your-own-adventure... Get paid to look for your new job, with very few actual responsibilities. It's worthwhile to compare this relative downtime to ramp-up time for new hires... who also generally spend a couple-few months being fairly useless (though working hard at it). And googlers being googlers, there's a decent chance that the 'down'…

So...it's kind of like being Big Head working at Hooli? Hanging out on the roof, or building potato guns and piezoelectric sensors?

This practice isn’t uncommon. In some cases, I’ve seen FAANGMs give people up to 6 months of ‘window viewing’ time to find new jobs

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#92

Post by killjoywashere »

downerending wrote: post #49
filoleg wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very smart tactic that also, as a side effect, brings the average quality across all engineers at the company up. Smart people with desirable skills would have no problem finding another team within Google to transfer to, while bottom tier performers won’t, thus leaving Google.

It'd be interesting to study. My intuition is that over the long term it'd cut in the opposite direction--smart people will move on while bottom tier will linger as long as possible.

I've heard this where the Big Head meme from Silicon Valley comes from.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#93

Post by shokobo »

btown wrote: post #38

Why would Google even take the risk of this PR, vs. just moving these people into R&D inside the Cloud group? I feel like this clickbait headline will frighten markets more than the bloated headcount expense.

You're assuming it's R&D folks, I've seen one person tweet that it happened to them and they were in marketing.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#94

Post by luckydata »

sjg007 wrote: post #39
paxys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not an announcement as much as a legal obligation to disclose, and news sources just pick up on it.

I don’t believe that. I’ve been at public companies that reorg mid level with no announcement.

no, you've been at companies that had reorgs that didn't get picked up by the press. They still had to disclose them to the labor department if they were large enough in states that have reporting requirements for those events.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#95

Post by sjg007 »

luckydata wrote: post #94
sjg007 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t believe that. I’ve been at public companies that reorg mid level with no announcement.

no, you've been at companies that had reorgs that didn't get picked up by the press. They still had to disclose them to the labor department if they were large enough in states that have reporting requirements for those events.

None of this makes sense for Google to do.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#96

Post by sjg007 »

jm4 wrote: post #52
sjg007 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t believe that. I’ve been at public companies that reorg mid level with no announcement.

It doesn’t have to do with public or private. It’s based on the number of employees affected as well as some other factors. Check out the WARN Act.

I know what the WARN Act is.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#97

Post by manigandham »

blibble wrote: post #81
manigandham wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cloud computing is already extremely profitable, and well above their 10-figure line for a sustainable project. AppEngine has been around for more than a decade. GCP might not catch up to AWS but it's not going away.

if it was extremely profitable it would be a separate line in their financial statements (rather than being aggregated with other things) it isn't, so draw from that what you will

Google earnings report shows Google Cloud and Youtube revenue for the first time: https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/03/alphabet-earnings-show-goo...

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#98

Post by nomel »

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.

I'm all for this mentality.

It's extremely rare, but there's nothing that makes my job satisfaction drop more than having someone incompetent (in no way related to experience) on the team, or being lead by someone incompetent.

I come to work to get cool stuff done, and sometimes people just don't fit with that goal.

These thoughts are in no way related to the topic.

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#99

Post by scarface74 »

petilon wrote: post #76
onion2k wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So if I sell $1 bills for $0.90, I guess I should be glad if my “revenues grow”?

Re: Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group

#100

Post by peteretep »

petilon wrote: post #76
onion2k wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Only if you think you can get the costs down.
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