Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers • Hacker News Board

Re: Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers

#221

Post by bingohbangoh » Sat, Jun 04, 2022, 6:13 PM UTC

kodah wrote: post #139

toddmorey wrote: post #17

"While we did not make this decision lightly..." Yes but you aren't doing it humanely, either. I've been through the dot com crash and several hard economic downturns. It really puts your company's humanity on full display. It's the real test. Preserving cash flow is important. But you also have to do things carefully, openly, and with genuine care for the people who've believed in your vision. People will respect th…

The worst part is that Coinbase's interviews are difficult. If I'd spent months studying, rejecting other (good faith) offers, and then had this happen I'd not only be in a bad spot (without a job entering a recession) but I'd be furious at the inequality of input and output. I've been interviewing for the past month and I made a rule that I won't be doing any algorithm interviews. I didn't have time to study; some f…

This sentiment seems common on Hacker News but I'm not sure its wise.

Companies that have high standards are far more interesting places to work at and with more interesting colleagues. They all require whiteboards and leet code.

It's definitely true that not all companies that use these algorithm interviews are worth working for. But, at least in my experience, companies that don't require them at all are pretty awful places to work. It demonstrates that management doesn't care who they hire.

Re: Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers

#222

Post by bingohbangoh » Sat, Jun 04, 2022, 6:14 PM UTC

carlivar wrote: post #7

Coinbase tried to recruit me last summer. I politely told the recruiter that I felt it was all bubble speculation mania. Also the amount of equity sold by the CFO at the public listing indicated little confidence in the long term prospects. I guess I was right? Not trying to brag or anything. Just a tip to everyone job hunting I guess. Watch what executives do (not what they say). Well, and human history of speculati…

I think Brian Armstrong downsized his stake from ~300k shares to ~30k late last year. Has any company ever done well after such a sell-off from insiders?

Re: Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers

#223

Post by edwnj » Sat, Jun 04, 2022, 6:20 PM UTC

This is a very bullish sign (mid-long term). They see the writing on the wall and are doing a swift full throttle u turn.

Nobody likes doing this kind of stuff, its really bad for PR, really bad for the stock (short term) and messes with morale.. So for them to do with when they have billions in cash is very kewl.

Props to Brian and the team

Re: Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers

#224

Post by renewiltord » Sat, Jun 04, 2022, 6:22 PM UTC

asd88 wrote: post #201

mathattack wrote: post #184

Let’s ask “Why are they doing this?” I will start by saying most indications are that the management is very rational. Sometimes companies use downturns to get rid of people that they haven’t managed properly. It’s lazy, but cutting the bottom 10% in a layoff can be less short term work than performance reviews. They avoid the PR issues by saying “everyone is doing it.” This isn’t what Coinbase did. If companies are…

Apparently, folks with offers received an email two weeks ago, when the hiring freeze was announced, saying no offers would be rescinded. Did management change their minds in just two weeks?

Recruiting handles those emails and they're usually not privy to strategic decisions since they're not really strategic operators.

Re: Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers

#225

Post by azemetre » Sat, Jun 04, 2022, 6:22 PM UTC

asd88 wrote: post #201

mathattack wrote: post #184

Let’s ask “Why are they doing this?” I will start by saying most indications are that the management is very rational. Sometimes companies use downturns to get rid of people that they haven’t managed properly. It’s lazy, but cutting the bottom 10% in a layoff can be less short term work than performance reviews. They avoid the PR issues by saying “everyone is doing it.” This isn’t what Coinbase did. If companies are…

Apparently, folks with offers received an email two weeks ago, when the hiring freeze was announced, saying no offers would be rescinded. Did management change their minds in just two weeks?

Management is often not privy to these details. I doubt more than two dozen people knew about the news internally before they publicly disclosed it.

Re: Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers

#226

Post by gitfan86 » Sat, Jun 04, 2022, 6:22 PM UTC

yossarian1408 wrote: post #214

cyanydeez wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coinbase is based on a scam market economy. Eventually the snake has no more tail to eat.

A flawed ideal maybe, but you can't say it's a scam.

The only reason you cannot say Coinbase is isn't a scam is because it is impossible to prove that the people involved were lying in regards to the viability of crypto not being effectively a Ponzi scheme.

Re: Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers

#227

Post by jackblemming » Sat, Jun 04, 2022, 6:23 PM UTC

bingohbangoh wrote: post #221

kodah wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst part is that Coinbase's interviews are difficult. If I'd spent months studying, rejecting other (good faith) offers, and then had this happen I'd not only be in a bad spot (without a job entering a recession) but I'd be furious at the inequality of input and output. I've been interviewing for the past month and I made a rule that I won't be doing any algorithm interviews. I didn't have time to study; some f…

This sentiment seems common on Hacker News but I'm not sure its wise. Companies that have high standards are far more interesting places to work at and with more interesting colleagues. They all require whiteboards and leet code. It's definitely true that not all companies that use these algorithm interviews are worth working for. But, at least in my experience, companies that don't require them at all are pretty awf…

How many companies have you worked for?

Re: Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers

#228

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jun 04, 2022, 6:24 PM UTC

jes wrote: post #194

kodah wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The worst part is that Coinbase's interviews are difficult. If I'd spent months studying, rejecting other (good faith) offers, and then had this happen I'd not only be in a bad spot (without a job entering a recession) but I'd be furious at the inequality of input and output. I've been interviewing for the past month and I made a rule that I won't be doing any algorithm interviews. I didn't have time to study; some f…

> I'd be furious at the inequality of input and output Stranger here. Just want to suggest that getting furious over things outside of your control, or the world not being as you would like it to be, is optional. If you don't like being enraged, you can quit that pattern with some practice in learning to notice your emotions as they come and go, and then learning to interrupt the chain of events that leads to the sta…

[deleted]

Re: Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers

#229

Post by oceanplexian » Sat, Jun 04, 2022, 6:24 PM UTC

mathattack wrote: post #184

Let’s ask “Why are they doing this?” I will start by saying most indications are that the management is very rational. Sometimes companies use downturns to get rid of people that they haven’t managed properly. It’s lazy, but cutting the bottom 10% in a layoff can be less short term work than performance reviews. They avoid the PR issues by saying “everyone is doing it.” This isn’t what Coinbase did. If companies are…

> So why are they doing this? My sense is they see what’s coming.

I think this vastly overestimates how efficiently corporations are actually run.

I've been in meetings with executives at several public companies. When the topic of adjusting HC or spending money comes up, usually those conversations happen in a ratio of 50% politics, 40% wild-ass opinion, and 10% data. And almost always, the "data" are completely cherry-picked, highly speculative nonsense that someone asked a BI team to produce to support their own political agenda. Now, I wouldn't say that means Coinbase is healthy, or unhealthy, but IMO there is pretty much zero correlation between their actions and having some kind of crystal ball on the market.

Re: Coinbase is rescinding already-accepted job offers

#230

Post by skyzyx » Sat, Jun 04, 2022, 6:27 PM UTC

When I interviewed at Coinbase 6 years ago, the interviewers felt egotistical and borderline incompetent. After I’d interviewed, they decided to change the open req to a different role.

By “egotistical”, I mean that the interviewer clearly believed he knew more than he actually did. It was that “I’m hot shit” vibe. I have worked across several roles in this industry over the last 20 years, and there was clearly inexperience on the other end of the phone.

That told me everything I needed to know about the company, and I was happy to move on from that experience.