Meta and Google are cutting staff • Hacker News Board

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#401

Post by znpy » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 9:56 PM UTC

midoridensha wrote: post #352

ironmagma wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't honestly know why all of America doesn't have them, and my suspicions are it has something to do with timber shareholders.

No, it's cultural; Americans just can't imagine not using dry paper to smear feces around after they use the toilet, instead of using water to properly clean themselves. I tried talking to people I knew about them during the pandemic when everyone was freaking out about toilet paper shortages, but it went nowhere. I also suspect NIH is a big part of the problem. Bidets and washlets weren't invented in America or adop…

Uh… a bidet is not a substitute for using toilet paper.

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#402

Post by znpy » Fri, Sep 23, 2022, 9:57 PM UTC

bergenty wrote: post #124

znpy wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was contacted by meta just less than a month ago, and I declined the offer of an interview… I guess i dodged a bullet?

Yeah the good life bullet.

Would you care to elaborate on that?

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#403

Post by willio58 » Sat, Sep 24, 2022, 5:22 AM UTC

apetresc wrote: post #301

willio58 wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To put employees through this when meta and Google have billions in cash is disgusting.

But... they are paying them. What are you proposing? That they dissolve the team and just give the employees a permanent pension while not requiring them to find a new team?

I’m proposing that cuts like this are unnecessary for companies this flush with cash. It’s an excuse to cut staff with some reason to point to for doing so.

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#404

Post by danellis » Sat, Sep 24, 2022, 7:39 AM UTC

confidantlake wrote: post #57

danellis wrote: post #38

It's odd to read about hiring freezes when they're both still actively recruiting.

Are they? I did an interview with one of them a few months ago, passed hiring committee, and have been told everything is frozen. The other one just cancelled my interview.

Google, Meta and Amazon are still repeatedly reaching out.

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#405

Post by ironmagma » Tue, Sep 27, 2022, 4:09 AM UTC

psalminen wrote: post #354

ironmagma wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't honestly know why all of America doesn't have them, and my suspicions are it has something to do with timber shareholders.

It's actually rooted in America's puritanical roots. Americans were largely introduced to bidets during WWII in French bordellos. It didn't leave a good reputation coming back. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/the-b...

That explains the history but not the present. People aren't afraid to get rid of something stupid (see OSHA, anti-seatbelt lobbyists, chamber pots).

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#406

Post by midoridensha » Tue, Sep 27, 2022, 5:23 AM UTC

vineyardmike wrote: post #348

acchow wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the median googler makes 300k The median googler does not make 300k. The median Google engineer/manager in the US might make 300k but Google hires plenty of people in other roles and in other countries.

> Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOG -1.79%▼ and Facebook Meta Platforms Inc. had the highest-paid median workers, at almost $300,000. Actual number was 295,884 I chose a round number. Wasn’t too far off. https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-alphabet-meta-and-other-s-...

Your number was accurate to 2 significant digits, which is more than good enough.

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#407

Post by leaflets2 » Wed, Sep 28, 2022, 1:01 AM UTC

rendall wrote: post #380

a123b456c wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"all" is an extraordinary claim.

True but not an argument.

Yeah, it's called general intelligence after all, not "specific" intelligence.

Form Wikipedia:

> an individual's performance on one type of cognitive task tends to be comparable to that person's performance on other kinds of cognitive tasks.

Re: Meta and Google are cutting staff

#408

Post by leaflets2 » Wed, Sep 28, 2022, 5:52 PM UTC

singron wrote: post #261

game_the0ry wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is more like cycling out hires that didn't work AND some collateral employees who unfortunately got lumped into those teams and cancelled projects I see - if they are cycling out the lower performers and hire recently laid off people on the market for a bargain, then that kind of makes sense, assuming they are not in a hiring freeze.

If they are laying off their poor performers so they can hire the laid-off from other companies, wouldn't they just be trading lemons? The strategy probably works regardless of macro economic conditions assuming you let go of "lemons" at a greater rate than you hire them, but it seems easier when the market isn't being flooded. You could maybe argue that layoffs at other companies are reducing the proportion of lemon…

> so they can hire the laid-off from other companies

They don't only hire recently laid off people. Most people who apply do that for other reasons I think. Also, maybe eg Google s recruiting accuracy is better than other companies lay-off accuracy