Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun • Hacker News Board

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#251

Post by s1artibartfast » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 1:21 PM UTC

mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #18

What a contrast in leadership when you compare the way Twitter is doing this (rumor is right before bonus/stock vesting and cold impersonal email) and how Stripe is conducting their layoffs (empathy, 14 weeks severance, bonus payouts, etc.) Which company is going to have an easier time hiring after the dust settles and they have a growth stage again?

If you compare them on financial terms, I think the twitter employees are in a better spot

Stripe gave one more month of severance, but twitter employees get to cash out of company stock.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#252

Post by irae » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 1:21 PM UTC

losvedir wrote: post #180

And so the grand experiment begins. I feel bad for the folks losing their job because that always sucks, and I hope there's a decent severance package. Now we'll see what happens to Twitter... I hardly use it, so if it implodes it won't bother me too much. But I am curious to see if all the "how do you need X people to do Y?" commenters are correct in this case. The app is simple but doing simple things at scale is h…

To me the key factor is not if Elons other companies would have succeeded without him. The key factor is that he started all other companies or joined just after the start. Twitter on the other hand has a lot of history and past leaderships.

On the other hand, I think Twitter has so much momentum, it will take a lot of time to implode if Musk makes (even a lot of) mistakes.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#253

Post by chii » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 1:21 PM UTC

Bhurn00985 wrote: post #195

ankurdhama wrote: post #88

> print out the code you wrote in the last 30-60 days This is either a joke or Musk (or his team) doesn't know about something called version control and how it can be used.

It's not about version control, it's a test to see how compliant you are.

having a bunch of yes-men working for you isn't a recipe for innovation - it might lead to possibly some short term profit (if any), but absolutely and surely a long term decline.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#254

Post by fny » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 1:21 PM UTC

redwood wrote: post #9

In my view no single medium (the media is the message) has done more to weaken the quality of public discourse in the world than Twitter. But maybe Facebook proves that even if you're allowed to use prose crazies dominate so maybe the issue is deeper

I'll go out on a limb and say it's not entirely the specific medium's fault. It's the people.

It did not used to be this bad with the exception of 4chan (of course), and the state of discourse in life has degraded so far, we even see it at the highest levels of government. Every year that goes by I fear we're losing more and more of our common decency and appreciation for our shared humanity. I have seen families torn apart because of this.

I've started going out of my way to meet my neighbors and smile at strangers.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#255

Post by bioemerl » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 1:22 PM UTC

losvedir wrote: post #180

And so the grand experiment begins. I feel bad for the folks losing their job because that always sucks, and I hope there's a decent severance package. Now we'll see what happens to Twitter... I hardly use it, so if it implodes it won't bother me too much. But I am curious to see if all the "how do you need X people to do Y?" commenters are correct in this case. The app is simple but doing simple things at scale is h…

This isn't a too great demonstration of "you only need" because there will be a lot of brain drain issues with this company, worry and drama internally resulting in bad productivity.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#256

Post by roflyear » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 1:22 PM UTC

i_like_apis wrote: post #247

What a bunch of ridiculous whining here. They are laying off a large portion of workers who have previously expressed being hostile to the new leadership. There is bloat, laziness, aimlessness, and the company is being taken in a radically new direction. It’s pretty tactful so far, as far as I am concerned. We haven’t even seen the severance. You have nothing to complain about. First priority is to protect Twitter sy…

They are breaking the law by not giving 60 days notice. Disagree with it all you want it's still the law.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#257

Post by Loughla » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 1:23 PM UTC

losvedir wrote: post #180

And so the grand experiment begins. I feel bad for the folks losing their job because that always sucks, and I hope there's a decent severance package. Now we'll see what happens to Twitter... I hardly use it, so if it implodes it won't bother me too much. But I am curious to see if all the "how do you need X people to do Y?" commenters are correct in this case. The app is simple but doing simple things at scale is h…

>Anyone want to make predictions about the state of Twitter in a few years?

I'll bite on this one. For reference, I personally believe Elon Musk is a degenerate blowhard who has literally zero concept of what life actually is like for billions of people on the planet, nor does he care. I believe he belongs to the class of people known as 'parasites'. Here's my take:

1 year: Initially, we'll see improvements. Dead weight is cut, along with some live branches, but we see improvements. More free and open speech, I believe he will follow through on that. Fringe groups have a louder voice and can find people to join their causes, leading to further polarization of politics across the globe, and especially in the US.

3 Years: Quality and use is declining as celebrities and politicians have begun to move away from Twitter due to constant abuse from toxic individuals, up to and including "vague" threats of violence. A minor celebrity blames Twitter for their recent issue with a fan stalking them.

5 Years: Twitter is dead. There was a political assassination that was formed, planned, and tweeted/broadcast from Twitter live. This may be a state level politician or federal, but it will be someone many people know the name of. Elon Musk blames the engineers for not properly implementing his AI software intended to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

Edit: If you disagree, could you tell me why?

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#258

Post by ronnier » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 1:24 PM UTC

redwood wrote: post #9

In my view no single medium (the media is the message) has done more to weaken the quality of public discourse in the world than Twitter. But maybe Facebook proves that even if you're allowed to use prose crazies dominate so maybe the issue is deeper

Reddit. Reddit is by far the worst and has the most impact.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#259

Post by mabbo » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 1:24 PM UTC

losvedir wrote: post #180

And so the grand experiment begins. I feel bad for the folks losing their job because that always sucks, and I hope there's a decent severance package. Now we'll see what happens to Twitter... I hardly use it, so if it implodes it won't bother me too much. But I am curious to see if all the "how do you need X people to do Y?" commenters are correct in this case. The app is simple but doing simple things at scale is h…

> Anyone want to make predictions about the state of Twitter in a few years?

Myspace still exists in some form.

Re: Twitter’s mass layoffs have begun

#260

Post by macNchz » Fri, Nov 04, 2022, 1:24 PM UTC

onetimeuse1234 wrote: post #228

mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #18

What a contrast in leadership when you compare the way Twitter is doing this (rumor is right before bonus/stock vesting and cold impersonal email) and how Stripe is conducting their layoffs (empathy, 14 weeks severance, bonus payouts, etc.) Which company is going to have an easier time hiring after the dust settles and they have a growth stage again?

Take this: You take over a company that was full of bad behaving managers and employees. The previous CEO supported this situation. The new CEO who bought the company need to quickly turn the ship around. Severance, bonus payouts? Yes, if the staff you take over was really good and they deserve it. Is it the same case with Twitter? Can we compare Stripe and Twitter on this level?

> You take over a company that was full of bad behaving managers and employees.

Is one week of ownership enough to actually understand this and identify those people?

It seems they had a preconceived notion of how much revenue the business should have per employee, and that’s a key driver of this: https://mobile.twitter.com/sf_mills/status/15758387853712220...