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Meta lays off 11,000 people

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Re: Meta lays off 11,000 people

#852

I worked at Facebook when covid first hit. Zuckerburg treated everyone in the company very, very well. There was a blanket "don't worry about performance, take care of your families" guarantee that honestly was an enormous help. The thing that particularly struck me though was the way he handled contract workers like (some of) the kitchen staff, cleaners, etc. These people don't work for Facebook and he had zero obli…

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Re: Meta lays off 11,000 people

#853

The world runs on certain types of software. I doesn't run on social media, or video streaming, or "AI/ML", or search. So it doesn't actually run on FAANG companies. It is no surprise they are shedding workers when the free money runs out. But if you are willing to work on "boring software" that provides actual economic value - logistics, HR/Payroll, or really anything people actually pay to use because it boosts the…

The world doesn't run on "AI/ML" or search? You must inhabit a different world than me. Do you run to the library every time you can't find some information?

Of course not, but 99.999% of all searches are frivolous.

Re: Meta lays off 11,000 people

#854

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am particularly sad about current state of Meta. Regardless of what people think of Facebook and Zuck, he was unapologetically a hacker. I visited FB campus few times and emphasis on hacker culture everywhere was just immensely delightful. He knew the value of good hacker and raised bar for the compensation across the entire industry. Ship your code today was absolutely refreshing. Number of open source projects th…

NSA is also probably a great place for hackers, but their mission is trash. Someone once drew a 2x2 grid for me. One dimension was competence, and the other was right mission. I was then asked what is the most dangerous square on the grid. The answer is competent with the wrong mission.

What's wrong with the NSA's mission?

Analysts stealing nudes isn't the mission.

Re: Meta lays off 11,000 people

#855
post #484

The world runs on certain types of software. I doesn't run on social media, or video streaming, or "AI/ML", or search. So it doesn't actually run on FAANG companies. It is no surprise they are shedding workers when the free money runs out. But if you are willing to work on "boring software" that provides actual economic value - logistics, HR/Payroll, or really anything people actually pay to use because it boosts the…

Facebook (and Google Search) are the most widely used software on Earth, ~3-4B MAUs each. I don't know what else something needs to do to qualify for "world runs on [it]".

What are those 3B people doing? Spreading conspiracy theories, looking at cat pics, and searching for porn. Whenever someone is on FB or google they are less productive, not more. Sure, a small fraction of those people are using FB or google for "work", but their work is usually just finding ways to get more people to waste more time on google or FB, or some other nonproductive activity people get paid for.

Re: Meta lays off 11,000 people

#856
post #284

Sorry for all the people who’ve lost their jobs, but I’m excited to see the awesome world-changing stuff they’ll make now that they’re not spending their time building FB/Instagram.

I mean, the "world-changing" stuff they're investing in is what directly led to this layoff. The metaverse was the most heavily impacted by these layoffs.

Not true. The AR/VR group is mostly unaffected.

Re: Meta lays off 11,000 people

#857
post #850

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Will this over flood the market and bring expectations and salaries down? Well I predict two things: One, the days of $200-500k TC being common and widespread are going to end. If you're in this bracket, or about to break into it, yeah be worried, it's probably going to evaporate. Two, the CV value of Meta, Snap, Stripe, etc. is also going to end. I don't think they will command the same premium in the jobs market f…

I just can't really believe this at all, unless these companies entirely crumble. It's just not feasible for the majority of folks to live comfortably in the Bay Area with a family at less than $200k TC. I make ~$300k/yr and could probably swing $200k/yr if I didn't save anything (I save ~$100k/yr currently). I just can't imagine it being reasonable with housing + other costs. 1. Housing costs are elevated here more…

The housing costs in the Bay Area are primarily caused by 300k salaries from companies in the area. It's not going to crumble immediately, but I can imagine that if the (to-be-)recession drags on, there's be a downward pressure on both salary and housing prices (and other costs of living). Nobody is going to cut your pay in half, but those 8k/month rents are just a function of the demand (of housing) and supply (of money) in the area, not really a law of nature..

Re: Meta lays off 11,000 people

#858

I worked at Facebook when covid first hit. Zuckerburg treated everyone in the company very, very well. There was a blanket "don't worry about performance, take care of your families" guarantee that honestly was an enormous help. The thing that particularly struck me though was the way he handled contract workers like (some of) the kitchen staff, cleaners, etc. These people don't work for Facebook and he had zero obli…

I worked at Ticketmaster when covid first hit. Since the beginning, management has always been positive and re-iterating that the cash reserves are substantial and the company can endure the loss of revenue. Then the first layoff hit. Same re-iteration. We are good. Then came the second layoff.

The company is fine. The employees are not.

Anyway, you don't join Ticketmaster for anything approaching morality. Snakes eat snakes.

Re: Meta lays off 11,000 people

#859
Where are tech jobs heading in the United States and globally? Who (or what industry) is absorbing all these folks? I think the current landscape merits one of these prediction style threads on HN.

Re: Meta lays off 11,000 people

#860

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, people can find a way to complain about anything. The severance benefits are insanely generous. Nobody takes a job thinking that it will be permanent, or is that a thing now? Would it have been better if he blamed the layoffs on the market? Maybe it's just a glass half empty kind of thing.

> Nobody takes a job thinking that it will be permanent, or is that a thing now? Does everybody take a job expecting to leave it? I don't think that is the case.

Everyone in tech whose job is a bet on the future success of a product should expect to leave it. Expecting 100% of products to have 100% success in 100% of economic environments is a bit naïve.
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