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Stack Overflow reduces global workforce by approximately 15%

stackoverflow.blog

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Re: Stack Overflow reduces global workforce by approximately 15%

#61

Post by blast »

noncoml wrote: post #15

I have some karma to burn, so here it goes: Be shitty to people and they will turn their back to you. I am ashamed to admit it, but I am happy to see companies that embrace being shitty to users, fall like a house of cards. Yes, SO embraced being shitty to users and creating a toxic environment for far too long, despite their latest weak attempts to fix it. I hope eBay, Paypal and Yelp are next. Also somewhat Reddit.…

This seems like overinterpretation. I don't disagree with your feelings but we don't know to what extent this was a factor and it's hardly as if SO is shutting down.

Re: Stack Overflow reduces global workforce by approximately 15%

#63

Post by dehrmann »

johnvanommen wrote: post #44
noncoml wrote: post #15

I have some karma to burn, so here it goes: Be shitty to people and they will turn their back to you. I am ashamed to admit it, but I am happy to see companies that embrace being shitty to users, fall like a house of cards. Yes, SO embraced being shitty to users and creating a toxic environment for far too long, despite their latest weak attempts to fix it. I hope eBay, Paypal and Yelp are next. Also somewhat Reddit.…

> I hope eBay, Paypal and Yelp are next. For ten years I sold things on eBay about 5-6 times a year. It wasn't a business at all. Basically if I had an old phone or a laptop, I'd put it on eBay and get a few bucks for it. Around 2008 or so, I noticed that eBay's policies had shifted, so that sellers were at the mercy of the buyers. My last straw was when I sold a phone to someone. I'd paid $500 for the phone. I'd use…

> I noticed that eBay's policies had shifted, so that sellers were at the mercy of the buyers.

I listed an old video card with something like "FOR PARTS" in the title but accidentally tagged it as used. The buyer complained, I said the title and verbal description clearly said it's broken and for parts. eBay ruled in the buyer's favor.

Admittedly, it's awkward because I had a listing mistake, and the buyer probably thought they found a deal (the card was half the price of a working one) and didn't read, so we were both in the wrong, I guess, but the buyer and eBay didn't see it that way.

I wish I could really quit eBay, but instead my threshold for something being worth my trouble is now about $60.

Re: Stack Overflow reduces global workforce by approximately 15%

#65

Post by psankar »

I do not have data to back this claim. But the tone of this blog post makes me feel that, the new CEO is an incompetent person who decided to use the vehicle of the covid virus to announce job cuts that he has planned a long time ago.

With the crap ton of marketing buzz in the post, and the casual mention of the layoffs, I don't think the CEO or the new board seem to care all that much about the laidoff employees.

Again, this is my personal feeling and may not be the truth.

Re: Stack Overflow reduces global workforce by approximately 15%

#66

Post by unishark »

all_blue_chucks wrote: post #36
noncoml wrote: post #15

I have some karma to burn, so here it goes: Be shitty to people and they will turn their back to you. I am ashamed to admit it, but I am happy to see companies that embrace being shitty to users, fall like a house of cards. Yes, SO embraced being shitty to users and creating a toxic environment for far too long, despite their latest weak attempts to fix it. I hope eBay, Paypal and Yelp are next. Also somewhat Reddit.…

You think mean comments are a SO or reddit problem? The fact that anonymous online discourse gets rude and heated has been known since the days of usenet. There was even some of this on BBS forums, but that was a more civilized time, likely because we knew the people we were talking to were within our local calling area in most cases. None of this is new. It's a humanity problem, not a technology problem.

> None of this is new. It's a humanity problem, not a technology problem.

When you put it that way though, maybe technology can address it by somehow humanizing the communication more. I bet people are researching ways to do this.

Re: Stack Overflow reduces global workforce by approximately 15%

#67

Post by jaxn »

dehrmann wrote: post #58
abiogenesis wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've been like this since Joel left and the new CEO stepped in. Obviously their mission is nothing but to increase their valuation by tenfold now. Edit: This is not my guess, it has actually been said by Joel Spolsky, the founder and the previous CEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMfxd9y0cMY&t=952

Hopefully they're careful going down this road. Remember SourceForce? Experts Exchange? If I were them, my secret (because what gets measured gets gamed) metric would be how many tech workers list their Stackoverflow profile on their resume/website/Linkedin. It's a proxy for reputation, and that's the thing they need to protect.

That seems like a terrible thing to list on a resume to me.

Re: Stack Overflow reduces global workforce by approximately 15%

#68

Post by dehrmann »

mattigames wrote: post #25
Trasmatta wrote: post #2

> This is a key moment in our company’s history, as the whole world is dealing with significant uncertainty. Know that you are not alone. We are facing this situation together. Our goal is to stay focused on living our core values and actively connect with teammates, our community, and our customers. The phrase "We are facing this together" must sound really hollow if you're one of the people who has been laid off...

It's becoming a meme, like a viral tweet said > I like how ads have gone from “buy a toyota” to “this is a difficult and uncertain time for us all...buy a toyota” Like when ever company says how we are in this together or how emphatetic they are in these difficult times it just fills me with dread, the opposite of what they were aiming for, it's clear that talking about the crisis is now just another trick in the PR…

At least with luxury cars, the commercials aren't necessarily to encourage you to buy a new, say, Lexus now, they're to remind Lexus owners that they made the right choice.

It's also just hard to write creative, these days.

Re: Stack Overflow reduces global workforce by approximately 15%

#70

Post by kenneth »

CameronNemo wrote: post #26
nrb wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the post, it’s due to contraction with their talent sourcing product: > This week, we reduced our global workforce by approximately 15%. Most of the affected employees were furloughed, except for employees and contractors in regions where furloughs were unfortunately not an option. These actions primarily affected sales and customer success teams within our Talent business, which is dependent on the hiri…

What I find notable is that close to 15% (at least 7.5% if "most" means what everyone thinks it means) of the workforce is sales and marketing for a service that is not even core to their business.

Pretty sure that Talent is over 50% of their revenue. The primary way they monetize Stack Q&A websites is through job placements.

There are other websites that are surprisingly monetizing through this, like AngelList.

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