Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 508 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#101

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

ethbr0 wrote: post #87
mud_dauber wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife (ER/ICU nursing) walked away from a 25 yr career. She ended up in the kitchen of an upscale grocery store - still working with her hands for 1/3 the salary. (Granted, we could withstand the financial hit.) She would still come home bone-tired after being on her feet for a shift - but much more interested in the work. Not having to deal with the public was another big benefit -the epidemic turned too many peop…

Interesting factoid: "computer programmer" + "nurse" are one of the most common spousal profession pairings. Per a recent HN link/study.

Anyone have a link?

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#102

Post by metadat »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #99
metadat wrote: post #62

Not too long ago, I worked for a pre-IPO "startup" with ~2,000 total employees. Over the course of a few months, the core of engineering (based in Bay Area) was gutted by a FAANG, out of retribution, because said startup had poached some key employees from the FAANG. After I left as part of the exodus wave, I learned there was an "unlimited" $30+ million dollar extra budget for hiring employees from the startup, lol.…

> a pre-IPO startup that had engineering gutted by a FAANG (out of retribution, because said startup had poached some key employees from the FAANG). After I left as part of the exodus wave, I learned there was an unlimited budget for hiring employees from the startup, lol. I was at a company that lost a lot of employees to a competitor. The founders ended up generating similar myths (supposedly based on information f…

I agree, on average it's not common. What's different in this case is I heard it directly from the horses mouth. The FAANG in question is a particularly frugal one, and they don't normally pay 2-5x market rate unless it's a special circumstance. That's why am sharing this story, life can be crazy! It can pay to keep an open mind, you never know what will turn up.

I'd love to drop names but it would be unwise. The decision maker executive is now an even bigger big wig at another BigCo, and they are still as huge of a douche canoe as ever.

Never underestimate the power (or fragility) of the human ego.

Also, El Fandango didn't hire the junky engineers. They poached all the best ones, and the average level of talent at the startup was quite high. The comp was so good that most of said engineers are still at El Fandango even today.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#103

Post by macksd »

imron wrote: post #93
MikeF_323 wrote: post #3

Borland. I worked there up until the mid 90s and then was recruited by Microsoft. They picked off all the great talent leaving barely any competent engineers left. I alongside a ton of other engineers were wined and dined and given a hell of an offer we couldn't refuse. It was insane, I should write a book honestly. I miss those days, it was the wild west of tech.

I’d read this book! The color scheme I use for vsc++ still mimics turbopascal/turboc++ from the mid 90s.

The nostalgia I feel for QBasic as my first programming experience as a kid is followed very closely by my nostalgia for Turbo C++ 3.0.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#104

Post by lmz »

danieltanfh95 wrote: post #80
xwdv wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s justified though. Games are basically a solved problem these days, and the developers of today are most of the time just building on abstractions and best practices that didn’t exist during Atari’s time. Once a particular domain of software becomes sufficiently mature, there is no real opportunity for heroic programmers to emerge who become too valuable to replace. Eventually more people emerge who are just as g…

I very much doubt that. There's a reason why innovation in games often happen, entertainment is not an easy problem to solve, with no set quantity to achieve

While "solved" is a bit optimistic, it is also true that e.g. sports games get sales every year with mainly updates to the player roster.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#105

Post by Cyph0n »

astrange wrote: post #46
Cyph0n wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know of a Tobias who ended up working as an analyst-therapist before switching to a successful acting career.

I know one who got turned into a hawk and couldn’t turn back.

Animorphs huh. I read a few books a long time back, but then recently read about how the series became quite twisted towards the end. Younger me would probably have enjoyed it.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#106

Post by pc86 »

ipaddr wrote: post #94
pc86 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's insane to me that this got downvoted. Medical exemptions are a thing. If you truly can't receive a certain vaccine, you should still be allowed to get whatever job you want. But I'm sorry, if you "don't believe in" vaccines in general, or certain specific vaccines that have - for reasons passing all comprehension - become extremely political, you should not be a healthcare provider.

There are many valid reasons for not wanting to take part in the covid vaccine experiment. The first long term studies are due in 2024. Whatever informed opinion you hold the studies haven't come out yet and you are taking a gamble. A gamble society encourages all to take and punishes those it can. If you can't staff your healthcare clinic or hospital because you fired experience doctors, nurses and staff there is a…

The COVID vaccine decreases the severity of the disease's symptoms. Regardless of the other benefits, isn't that enough reason to get it? Firing some nurse who gets their opinions from Dr. Oz and has crystals in their bedroom is a net positive for the healthcare system in my opinion. I want my healthcare practitioners to be people of science, who practice evidence-based medicine, and are willing to change their opinions on a dime based on the most recent studies. I'm certainly not the smartest person in the world, but I've met several healthcare providers in real life who have refused the vaccine and let's just say none of them gives off the air of a mental giant.

Do you understand how insane you sound saying things like "the covid vaccine experiment?" Like some doctors just cooked up some crazy cocktail in 45 minutes and started sticking people with it on the street? Please.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#107

Post by Cyph0n »

Loranubi wrote: post #82
Cyph0n wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know of a Tobias who ended up working as an analyst-therapist before switching to a successful acting career.

Didn't he switch to performance art first?

I think he did a few commercials before that - the one about the fire was quite good.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#109

Post by replwoacause »

andrewinardeer wrote: post #91
metadat wrote: post #62

Not too long ago, I worked for a pre-IPO "startup" with ~2,000 total employees. Over the course of a few months, the core of engineering (based in Bay Area) was gutted by a FAANG, out of retribution, because said startup had poached some key employees from the FAANG. After I left as part of the exodus wave, I learned there was an "unlimited" $30+ million dollar extra budget for hiring employees from the startup, lol.…

This is the first time I have encountered the word 'pandemic' being shortened to 'pando' either online or meat space.

This is the first time I have encountered the word meat space.

Re: Ask HN: What are examples of companies dying due to many people quitting?

#110

Post by chirau »

vitaflo wrote: post #76
coffeemug wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a book on this you can recommend?

This is all laid out in the Nov 28, 1983 edition of InfoWorld Magazine.

pp. 151-158

https://books.google.com/books?id=sy8EAAAAMBAJ&printsec=fron...

Post reply on HN