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

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

#111

Post by aaaaaaaaata »

heavyset_go wrote: post #29

Seen this happen with some small businesses. Irresponsible owners overleveraged themselves into situations where folding or bankruptcy were the only options once they couldn't afford their liabilities. There are a lot of companies that go under if for some reason their revenues dip for a long enough time.

> if for some reason their revenues dip for a long enough time.

Like COVID!

Unfortunately, strong and scummy/"well-connected" businesses were both rewarded during this period — for different reasons.

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

#112

Post by dnissley »

zomgbbq wrote: post #25

Atari in 1983 went from the leader in video game production to completely imploding. In 1979, four of their best programmers left after demanding equity in the sales and were refused. Their CEO Ray Kassar famously said, "You’re no more important to those projects than the person on the assembly line who put them together. You’re a dime a dozen. You’re not unique. Anybody can do ­a ­cartridge.". They left and formed A…

Interestingly, this is kind of an anti-example of what was asked for in the OP. Here, few people quit, not many.

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

#113

Post by chii »

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

it depends on what the poster meant by "games" - do they mean engine and graphics? Or do they mean game design/mechanics?

Game engines and graphics is "solved" if you stick to popular concepts (which are those that are easily available in commercial engines).

Game design/mechanics is an unsolved problem imho - unless you consider it solved when merely taking an existing game design (like an FPS) and add nothing new to it (aka, those yearly COD military shooters).

Consider a game like https://store.steampowered.com/app/1141580/Taiji/ (inspired by the witness). This game is quite unique, and cannot really be recycled in to another game (without it being just a clone).

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

#114

Post by ethbr0 »

sudom82 wrote: post #98
ethbr0 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Do you have a link to said study?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29003986

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

#115

Post by ask_b123 »

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.

Could you link to the thread please?

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

#116

Post by zomgbbq »

dnissley wrote: post #112
zomgbbq wrote: post #25

Atari in 1983 went from the leader in video game production to completely imploding. In 1979, four of their best programmers left after demanding equity in the sales and were refused. Their CEO Ray Kassar famously said, "You’re no more important to those projects than the person on the assembly line who put them together. You’re a dime a dozen. You’re not unique. Anybody can do ­a ­cartridge.". They left and formed A…

Interestingly, this is kind of an anti-example of what was asked for in the OP. Here, few people quit, not many.

This was the beginning of an avalanche that led to most of the remaining engineers at Atari to leave and try to start their own third-party game companies to follow in the success of Activision.

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

#117

Post by bbstats »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #63

I worked for a company big enough to be in the HN headlines (sorry, have to stay somewhat anonymous) where development virtually stalled for a couple years after a mass exodus event. The CEO went on a rampage and fired some people on the spot for something they weren’t even responsible for, which destroyed the already fragile morale and created a steady exodus of good talent over a couple of years. It didn’t kill the…

Extremely similar situation happened to me at a startup.

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

#118

Post by ethbr0 »

pc86 wrote: post #106
ipaddr wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 opini…

Would you rather have a nurse who was a vaccine skeptic or no nurse? Honestly asking.

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

#119

Post by UncleEntity »

yardie wrote: post #12

Printing press. The pressman that operated the largest press quit, fired, no showed, or whatever. Margins are already thin so losing just 1 press can be pretty devastating. A pressman, even a trained one, has to be trained since each machine is build to order. It’s not something you can post a job in Indeed and have a new employee after a week.

A long time ago I was being trained on working a massive printing press for the local newspaper, quite the complex machine. Then they found out I was leaving for university in a month and weren’t too happy with having wasted time on someone who wasn’t sticking around.

Even the simple stuff needs constant attention so they didn’t end up with a major paper jam and having all the ad stuffers and delivery drivers sitting around waiting.

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

#120

Post by JadeNB »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #45
stavros wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if it's less work , but certainly the assembly worker definitely delivers more value. Only one of the two killed the company.

That kind of demonstrates the importance and value of a good CEO though. A couple dumb decisions by an assembly worker won't kill a company. A few bad decisions by a CEO can.

> That kind of demonstrates the importance and value of a good CEO though. A couple dumb decisions by an assembly worker won't kill a company. A few bad decisions by a CEO can.

A few dumb (or malicious) decisions by an assembly worker can cause enormous damage and incur enormous cost.

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