Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs

#261

Post by softmango3 » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 2:30 PM UTC

mjr00 wrote: post #25

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #6

Uh,ok... Two days ago the "Who is hiring" thread here had something like 20+ software engineering positions for Tesla. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31585021 More erratic decision making from Mr Musk. Like, I dunno, the time he told Twitter he was taking Tesla private while tripping on LSD. He needs to step aside from Tesla at this point.

Not defending Tesla or Musk specifically here, but this happens all the time. Until you're ready to announce to internal staff (and publicly, if you're large enough) that you're in a hiring freeze and/or doing layoffs, you need to keep up appearances that things are operating normally, even if that means keeping up the recruiting pipeline for positions that you have no intention of hiring. The absolute worst thing yo…

"This happens all the time" at badly managed companies, or perhaps at well managed companies if there is a huge macroeconomic shock like in 2001 or 2009. Given that great software is what supposedly gives Tesla its competitive advantage, it's really bizarre to me to go from having 20 open software dev positions to a layoff within 48 hours, because Elon Musk "has a very bad feeling" based on no new data points as far as we can tell. Unless he learned something this week that he isn't telling us.

Re: Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs

#262

Post by rvz » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 2:32 PM UTC

vsareto wrote: post #119

rvz wrote: post #88

Right. Raise your hand if you were surprised to see this happen. So yesterday when it was Coinbase [0] announcing cuts the reaction was, 'ha ha crypto bad', 'worst of luck to them' and now when it also affects companies like Tesla, now the reaction is 'Shocking', 'everyone is doing it now', 'I wouldn't read much into it. A 10% cut is completely normal and healthy for a company the size of Tesla.' This to me sounds li…

Quick recession, then back to the market always going up. And for longer time spans, it has always gone up.

Depends on what 'quick' is: 1 week?, 1 month?, 1 year? It's possible for that to happen but I doubt it will be that quick. My suspicion tells me it may be longer than expected and as always, the market needs to go down first before it rises up, hence why I said the 2020 market rally had to end some day.

The startups who are paranoid of the markets and prepare in advance for profitability will continue to survive and the startups constantly raising money each week and making little to no revenue will be caught swimming naked when the market retraces. Fast is a prime example of this.

We could have another dotcom style crash and it may take another 3 - 4 years to get back to the same all time highs again where that is still possible.

Re: Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs

#263

Post by b112 » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 2:32 PM UTC

selfportrait wrote: post #138

alkonaut wrote: post #15

> The message, sent on Thursday and titled “pause all hiring worldwide”, came two days after the billionaire told staff to return to the workplace or leave So people who claimed less than 24h ago it was at lest partially a way of creating cheap layoffs, were proven right pretty swiftly.

This is par for the course. Every time there is big news expected, Elon’s antics are elevated and a coordinated distraction by way of a tweet is posted. See the “political attacks on me” tweet as an example, which coincidentally was posted the day prior to his sexual assault allegations. The man has bought Twitter for the purposes of distracting and manipulating the public.

The man has bought Twitter for the purposes of distracting and manipulating the public.

To be fair, twitter ownership is not required to use twitter for this purpose.

Re: Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs

#264

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 2:32 PM UTC

LMYahooTFY wrote: post #252

jtorsella wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would tell by checking whether he had been asked for comment on the story before making the claims that there would be political attacks on him, which would reveal that he tweeted a few hours after he learned of the story.

How does this rule out that it's a political attack?

[deleted]

Re: Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs

#265

Post by philistine » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 2:32 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #182

selfportrait wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is par for the course. Every time there is big news expected, Elon’s antics are elevated and a coordinated distraction by way of a tweet is posted. See the “political attacks on me” tweet as an example, which coincidentally was posted the day prior to his sexual assault allegations. The man has bought Twitter for the purposes of distracting and manipulating the public.

Or were the sexual assault allegations part of the political attacks on him? How would you tell?

Is there a situation where you would not expect the dirt of the rich and famous to be reported on? Where journalists collectively, ALL OF THEM, right-wing nutjobs and useless centrists alike, would say let's not?

This whole attitude of expect political attacks on me is disingenuous at best. Anybody with power should always expect their personal faults to be reported, whatever their political colour.

Re: Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs

#266

Post by mensetmanusman » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 2:33 PM UTC

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #6

Uh,ok... Two days ago the "Who is hiring" thread here had something like 20+ software engineering positions for Tesla. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31585021 More erratic decision making from Mr Musk. Like, I dunno, the time he told Twitter he was taking Tesla private while tripping on LSD. He needs to step aside from Tesla at this point.

Lots of big companies in the past couple years have had 10% layoffs and still have job openings because they are shifting strategy and need different skill sets.

Re: Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs

#267

Post by ra7 » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 2:33 PM UTC

that_guy_iain wrote: post #108

Silhouette wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remote work is bad for the economy. I've seen this claim a few times now. Are we actually sure it's true? Or does it just shift long-term spending trends? For example maybe people don't go to lots of inner city coffee bars in business districts any more but local cafes near residential areas are thriving. Maybe people don't stop in big stores on their way home from work but home delivery services are thriving. Maybe…

> For example maybe people don't go to lots of inner city coffee bars in business districts any more but local cafes near residential areas are thriving. People don't buy coffee on the way to work, people don't buy coffee on the way home, people don't buy sandwiches and snacks, people don't spend money on commuting, people don't spend money at resturants for launch, companies stop having team lunches. People don't go…

> People don't buy coffee on the way to work, people don't buy coffee on the way home, people don't buy sandwiches and snacks, people don't spend money on commuting, people don't spend money at resturants for launch, companies stop having team lunches.

Plenty go to work from coffee shops which they wouldn’t if they were in an office. Coffee shops with WiFi are thriving. They still buy take out lunches. Or they buy more groceries so they can cook and eat healthier food. They have more time due to lack of commute and allocate it to spending on something else (like a hobby, meeting friends, keeping fit etc).

The money is just be reallocated elsewhere.

Re: Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs

#268

Post by sureglymop » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 2:33 PM UTC

user3939382 wrote: post #135

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #6

Uh,ok... Two days ago the "Who is hiring" thread here had something like 20+ software engineering positions for Tesla. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31585021 More erratic decision making from Mr Musk. Like, I dunno, the time he told Twitter he was taking Tesla private while tripping on LSD. He needs to step aside from Tesla at this point.

> erratic decision making from Mr Musk I'd be the last person to defend Elon Musk, I don't know the guy, but just want to point out that when you're at his level of wealth and power you also have very wealthy, powerful enemies. I see ongoing, what appears to be coordinated, attempts in the mainstream/social media to paint him as crazy. I have no special access to the truth but I'd be unsurprised if those stories are…

In the same vein, when you have that much money and power you can simply buy/create your image.

There is a lot to criticize about Elon Musk but he's too influential for any of that criticism to reach the majority.

When you're that wealthy you can also circumvent the law. During the pandemic, Tesla "threatened" to move from California to another state if they wouldn't be allowed to reopen their factories. This caused the state of California to basically make an exception for them... so they circumvented the law which other smaller companies could not do.

Personally i can't understand the obsession with someone like Elon Musk or even someone like Bill Gates... It's easy to control your image when you're a billionaire, so you don't actually have to behave and live ethically.

Re: Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs

#269

Post by PheonixPharts » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 2:33 PM UTC

ericbarrett wrote: post #16

A couple of days ago somebody posted this Reddit thread: https://old.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/v2lpdw/e... "Tesla expanded massively during Covid, as of now half of the dev team(including me) don’t have parking space or desk. It’s physically impossible for everyone to return to office. "Should I ignore the email, or should I drive to the office and sit under the stairs?" Commenters' general feeling was…

I'm suspecting that we'll see forced return to office as a way to implement layoffs without as much bad PR. Stock will go up since costs will drop, but management will be able to say that is more an issue with return to office rather than a company failing. "We're doing great, it's just that some employees don't share our commitment and focus on doing things well, and making our mission a priority."

There has been a sudden uptick in return to office talk (despite plenty of reporting that covid is actually much worse than people realize now). Other people on HN have mentioned it and all of a sudden the leadership at my office, who were always extremely pro-remote work have suddenly started making mention of how valuable in-face communication is.

So the feeling of a "soft layoff" might be the intended effect.

Re: Tesla to Cut 10% of Jobs

#270

Post by that_guy_iain » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 2:33 PM UTC

ryanbrunner wrote: post #214

that_guy_iain wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's not legally the same thing. Since doing things to get people to quit have to be larger than you need to work at your place of employment. It's moving them across the country, making them work unsocialable hours, etc. Not returning to the office, which the goverment actually wants. Remote work is bad for the economy.

The particulars of whether something is good for bad for the economy, or even good or bad for Tesla is irrelevant. If there was a reasonable understanding or agreement by both parties that you would be able to work from home for a certain period of time, and you're forced into the office, that's an arguable case for constructive dismissal.

> The particulars of whether something is good for bad for the economy, or even good or bad for Tesla is irrelevant.

It very much matters when a Judge who is politically appointed as they are in the US has to decide if you're right or wrong. Then what is better for the economy and for corporations will win out.