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Meta and Google are cutting staff

wsj.com

171–180 of 408 posts

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#171
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like it. I really dislike working with under-performers and people who just refuse to do due diligence on their end. I dislike working with people who always want you to come over to their frame of mind rather than trying to get into yours or meet in the middle. I saw a ton of people coasting during Covid. People need to get negative feedback when they deserve it.

Agreed. It's demoralizing to have an under-performing colleague stick around for months or years. It's even worse to work with someone who's mastered the art of "talking the talk" to get a job, who makes big promises but always has some excuse for why they can't deliver, and who never actually ships anything. Most first-level tech managers don't have the courage to fire fast enough. The best feedback I've ever gotten…

You do understand that this is entirely different than company leadership laying off entire teams right?

It could be like SNAP that fired the entire company that they acquired because they had to cut costs but the product was meaningful and I'm sure the team worked very hard on it.

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#172
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You haven’t noticed a bunch of multi bil tech cos down 90% in less than a year? Carvana is the poster child of zombie tech co that only made sense in a zero rate environment. Many others like it.

I see your Carvana and raise you a Klarna

I must be pretty out of the loop because these sound like new Pokemon names.

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also suggests that they have known about slackers and have been OK with it. 1. Very unlikely. Which means they're lying. 2. They are incompetent for keeping people that are slacking If people are truly just slacking off then they should be let go as part of the normal business process. This focused effort to get leaner suggests that there are many known slackers that they were OK with up to this point. There is re…

Everybody is incompetent about detecting slackers for last two years. I've seen multiple people having two or even three full time contracts and successfully juggling tasks at minimal required level, due to remote work and flexible hours. I guess they'll finally spoil it for everyone.

If they're doing what's required, what's the problem?

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#174
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m speaking more to the stock price than Meta’s actions. Shares trading lower than they were 5 years ago. And many of the unprofitable growth companies down 80-90% in less than a year. Point is tech companies are highly sensitive to interest rates and now have to course correct in a world where the market is punishing excessive spending.

Not really. Meta raised 10B (really their first debt ever) in April 2022, and GOOG has like 14B in debt. Google could pay that with less than a quarter's worth of earnings, and I think Meta's not far behind. IMO, the market is overreacting. Both companies look pretty cheap to me.

If FB revenue stops growing, markets are going to keep punishing it. A PER of 11 won’t feel cheap with 0% growth

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#175
post #76
post #54

They're also still recruiting

Just because a job gets posted doesn't mean it is actually available to be filled. The barrier to posting jobs to LinkedIn is extremely low. Don't let yourself be fooled into a false sense of confidence, you'd really need to test the process out to see if it yields an offer!

I just spoke to a META recruiter

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#176

I can't read WSJ while at work, but after checking on the financials for both Meta and Alphabet, I do not understand why either would be cutting staff. Both look pretty strong, so I am not sure how cuts are justified or why Zuckerberg has a negative outlook, especially since 2021 was such a great year for both. Do American executives, investors, and start up owners not have the guts for even a moderate stock price dr…

Is WSJ blocked by your employer? Or would you rather not have such an icky source showing up in your browsing logs?

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#177

Amazon seems to be on the short list of big tech companies still not completely frozen the hiring. They seem to have slowed down, according to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32929483 but not full pause.

They don't need to do any layoff because high attrition that endemic to the company. They are always hiring. There is always money in the bananastand.

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#178
post #47

I can't read WSJ while at work, but after checking on the financials for both Meta and Alphabet, I do not understand why either would be cutting staff. Both look pretty strong, so I am not sure how cuts are justified or why Zuckerberg has a negative outlook, especially since 2021 was such a great year for both. Do American executives, investors, and start up owners not have the guts for even a moderate stock price dr…

Google's profits dropped last quarter, and that is a rare occurrence for them. Metas revenue actually fell last quarter, with profits dropping 35%. IIRC, that's the first revenue drop they have had since going public. This isn't about stock prices, this is about the strength of the underlying business.

>Google's profits dropped last quarter, and that is a rare occurrence for them.

Google's net income went from $16.4B Q1 to $16B Q2. Such an insane amount of money.

[Q1]: https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/2022Q1_alphabet_earnings...

[Q2]: https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/2022Q2_alphabet_earnings...

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#179
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The job market seems to have cooled substantially from where I'm looking. I have friends at a lot of different major tech companies and hiring has slowed or stopped in all cases. Earlier this year it was full steam ahead hiring, now it's harder to get reqs, reqs are being pulled, etc. Now, if you have really in-demand skills / experience that may not matter much. But companies are slamming on the breaks. If I was lai…

Yeah, it definitely depends on what your occupation is. If you're a software engineer it's still crazy hot right now.

I presume it’s web dev because good lord the market doesn’t need more people that only know how to do a React.

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#180

This seems at odds with the great resignation. Was that actually a thing? If so, do folks think it was encouraged by companies who saw that the great freeze and now great rif were coming?

It definitely was a thing, but it was more about people leaving for better wages. This is signaling the great resignation era is ending and the pendulum is swinging back to normalcy and perhaps could potentially go into great layoff territory.
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