191–200 of 264 posts
Layperson here, I didn't know we were in an economic crisis that bad, is it global? What are the reasons?
This “default alive” advice is repeatedly shared. One thing it obviously does not address is the human element of who you cut and whether they will be “default alive” unemployed in a recession. A huge amount of YC advice in general positions founders as protagonists and employees as NPCs then are shocked people pick Google over their startup offer. Funny thing is I’ve seen this exact advice destroy a company. In Marc…
The king is dead
Long live YC
This “default alive” advice is repeatedly shared. One thing it obviously does not address is the human element of who you cut and whether they will be “default alive” unemployed in a recession. A huge amount of YC advice in general positions founders as protagonists and employees as NPCs then are shocked people pick Google over their startup offer. Funny thing is I’ve seen this exact advice destroy a company. In Marc…
> Funny thing is I’ve seen this exact advice destroy a company. In March 2020 they did deep layoffs and cited the need to be “default alive.” Then their main market surprisingly quickly grew in the rest of 2020 I recognize that later in your comment you say "Of course if 2020 had gotten worse maybe they would look smart" but I think it's worthwhile to compare/contrast the pure macroeconomics of early pandemic versus…
This “default alive” advice is repeatedly shared. One thing it obviously does not address is the human element of who you cut and whether they will be “default alive” unemployed in a recession. A huge amount of YC advice in general positions founders as protagonists and employees as NPCs then are shocked people pick Google over their startup offer. Funny thing is I’ve seen this exact advice destroy a company. In Marc…
Getting laid off is not a good feeling, but if I can rank order who I should reserve my sympathy, especially during an economic downturn, a laid off tech worker in a startup is the one I’d sympathize with the last. It has never been hard even during downturns to find work in tech. At least comparatively.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aren't you kinda just saying "no matter how many engineers you currently have maintaining your infrastructure, your infrastructure should be just fine with fewer engineers"?
reducto-ad-absurdium: any system can be maintained by a part-timer who doesn't understand it :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's a trend of global economic inflation, caused by supply issues in energy (oil, gas in all forms) related to the war in Ukraine, supply issues more broadly related to a hangover from COVID's supply/demand shocks. Interest rates are rising, to appease inflation. As the interest rate goes up, allocators of capital have less appetite for risky allocations. This makes access to capital for VC firms becomes more com…
Energy prices being high are only a small part of it. Unfettered stimulus, even when we didn’t need it (eg rent payment moratoriums and stimmy checks while at full employment), is what’s driving it.
Yes, stimulus is a contributing factor. But I don’t think it’s the primary contributing factor, it depends on the sector.
The price of oil affects the price of food, heavy things, etc much more than stimulus checks. I’m not saying stimulus has no impact on prices, but I think it’s erroneous to say it’s the “driving force” of 8% YOY inflation — maybe it’s the driving force of 2 or 3% of that? The price of gasoline is very underrated as an influence on prices generally: the cost of transport is the backbone of our globalized economy.
On the flip side, partially thanks to direct stimulus checks, child credits, etc, median household savings are at an inflation-adjusted high watermark, and the debt:income ratios are also in a decent spot so the median American is better prepared for this recession than previous ones.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Getting laid off is not a good feeling, but if I can rank order who I should reserve my sympathy, especially during an economic downturn, a laid off tech worker in a startup is the one I’d sympathize with the last. It has never been hard even during downturns to find work in tech. At least comparatively.
Were you around for the dot coms? I know of CS PhDs that were applying to Circuit City.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Getting laid off is not a good feeling, but if I can rank order who I should reserve my sympathy, especially during an economic downturn, a laid off tech worker in a startup is the one I’d sympathize with the last. It has never been hard even during downturns to find work in tech. At least comparatively.
Were you around for the dot coms? I know of CS PhDs that were applying to Circuit City.