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Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

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Re: Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

#291

I'm horrified by so many of the comments here that seem to lack even the most basic of human decency. Allow me to fill people in for those who have never uprooted your life and moved across the world for a job. It is a massive commitment on the part of the employee, where you sell the majority of your earthly possessions, property, cars, etc. Then you go through an immigration process which even if its handled by FAA…

As someone who immigrated to West. I was initially shocked by people's attitude. At times I was outright told that you are * Filling diversity quota * Cheaper * Economic migrant The worst part about this is that I was working doubly hard, paying insane taxes while paying insane rents. But eventually I realized people saying these things are just looking for their psychological safety. Of course such people are a mino…

When times get tough and everyone is on the block, people who are not necessarily from the 'lower rungs' show their true colors. It becomes them over you and they will resort to code-words or sometimes, as in my case, plain out point out my immigration status in 2-3 standup meetings (once the rumor mill of layoffs got started). This person was an 'upper-rung' sort of chap too; after all, they got their degree from a Christian college/university in South Carolina (or was it North Carolina? - one of the Carolinas). Compassion, empathy and all that must have come as second nature. But not their first.

Re: Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

#292
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No matter which way you try and slice it, there's always a human at the end of the decision. A human made the policies, a human made the layoff decision, a human decides to enforce policy.

Saying a human is at the end of this decision is like saying a gun is at the end of a decision to shoot. The company is going to do layoffs regardless. If you swap in another CEO for Mark, that's just giving the company a different weapon to do the deed.

I'm having trouble accepting this comment is not sarcastic. The fact that most CEOs or boards would behave the same way doesn't make it moral, and the whole point of this specific threat is whether morality can be applied to corporations.

Re: Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

#293

So many commenters here (presumably US/CA citizens) don't realize that the gut-wrenching feeling of being laid off whilst your visa depends on uninterrupted employment is _nothing_ like the SHTF-but-all's-ok feeling of being laid off 'regularly'. In the USA, for most work visas, you are given a 60 day death clock pleasantly sugarcoated as a 'grace period' to find a new employer or leave the country. Cue trying weave…

And so many people are okay coming into another country and wage dump because "its their right" to move halfway across the world to work in the USA or EU. See stuff like: https://www.thelocal.se/20070523/7387/ You can't have it both ways. ---- I guess this is just CBS being racist :) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-h-1b-visas-have-been-abused ... "But this week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Bill Whitaker reports that…

That link is paywalled. Can you explain a bit more?

Re: Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

#294

I'm horrified by so many of the comments here that seem to lack even the most basic of human decency. Allow me to fill people in for those who have never uprooted your life and moved across the world for a job. It is a massive commitment on the part of the employee, where you sell the majority of your earthly possessions, property, cars, etc. Then you go through an immigration process which even if its handled by FAA…

Solution is simple: Don't work for Facebook. Facebook is evil. When bad things happen to elite people who choose evil, sympathy is misplaced.

bad advice as this is their first layoff ever. so historically they were a safe job

there was no way he could tell he would be laid off ahead of time

Re: Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

#295
post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't stand reading the conversations on HN about anything related to the well-being or suffering of other people. I try to limit myself to technical topics only, or I start to get depressed and/or angry.

Even in technical discussions, you can observe arrogance and dismissal by commenters who are unacceptably underqualified in the subjects being discussed. This place has become a joke nowadays.

I just ignore those comments (and perhaps some my own comments are deemed under qualified by some).

I prefer that strategy rather than have an environment of "gatekeepers".

Re: Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

#296

I'm horrified by so many of the comments here that seem to lack even the most basic of human decency. Allow me to fill people in for those who have never uprooted your life and moved across the world for a job. It is a massive commitment on the part of the employee, where you sell the majority of your earthly possessions, property, cars, etc. Then you go through an immigration process which even if its handled by FAA…

> If you ask someone to move across the world and don't need them anymore, give them three months on the books to find somewhere else that don't count against their visa. It will give them a chance to get settled and go on interviews. Or don't recruit internationally. Or, don't relocate [internationally] to a job which can fire you with zero notice or compensation? Don't get me wrong I agree with the sentiment of it…

Alternatively: don't hire internationally if your hiring process can't do it correctly. Personal responsibility is indeed a thing, but it shouldn't be used as an excuse for management incompetence.

Re: Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

#297
post #284

I'm horrified by so many of the comments here that seem to lack even the most basic of human decency. Allow me to fill people in for those who have never uprooted your life and moved across the world for a job. It is a massive commitment on the part of the employee, where you sell the majority of your earthly possessions, property, cars, etc. Then you go through an immigration process which even if its handled by FAA…

Just two things: 1) Remember that a lot of tech people score higher on the autistic spectrum than normal people do. So most likely many of the commentators just don't have the biological wiring for feeling empathy like many others do. This might ease your mind a little. 2) Also remember that Musk would probably have given someone those three months to find other employment, seeing as he gave Twitter employees up to s…

> Remember that a lot of tech people score higher on the autistic spectrum than normal people do.

They do? This comes as a surprise to me. It could very well be true but I would like a citation for this. Kind of finding it hard to just accept this for a fact because I have been hanging out with technical folks for a long time and most folks I hang out don't see to be high on the autistic spectrum.

Re: Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

#298

I'm horrified by so many of the comments here that seem to lack even the most basic of human decency. Allow me to fill people in for those who have never uprooted your life and moved across the world for a job. It is a massive commitment on the part of the employee, where you sell the majority of your earthly possessions, property, cars, etc. Then you go through an immigration process which even if its handled by FAA…

Not a Meta problem, this is a USA workers rights problem.

> A software engineer from India says he was fired by Meta 2 days after he moved to Canada for his job

Re: Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

#299
post #284

I'm horrified by so many of the comments here that seem to lack even the most basic of human decency. Allow me to fill people in for those who have never uprooted your life and moved across the world for a job. It is a massive commitment on the part of the employee, where you sell the majority of your earthly possessions, property, cars, etc. Then you go through an immigration process which even if its handled by FAA…

Just two things: 1) Remember that a lot of tech people score higher on the autistic spectrum than normal people do. So most likely many of the commentators just don't have the biological wiring for feeling empathy like many others do. This might ease your mind a little. 2) Also remember that Musk would probably have given someone those three months to find other employment, seeing as he gave Twitter employees up to s…

The use of supposed mental illness being used to discount any opposing belief is terrifying. Did you ever stop and consider that maybe empathizing in this situation is wrong?

Re: Meta fires a software engineer two days after he relocated from India to Canada

#300
post #261
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is crazy entitlement. Three months salary in a tech job is more than most people make in a year. If you are moving overseas, maybe wait before selling all your stuff until you pass probation. This idea that you should be guaranteed three months is so backwards. You are on trial. Tell me anyone’s advice that goes “we should fire slow, hire fast”.

Ok, let's ignore the selling stuff. Your partner also quits their good job. That good job might not be available if you come back, congratulations, you're back at years of job hunting and job hopping to be where you were years before. In the new country maybe this was not a concern and the other partner who was just laid off had a great salary to cover. Your kids leave their good school. Now that school no longer acc…

Exactly... these are mental costs that many of us who have done the move understand and feel deeply as it has been experienced. For everyone else, we rely on their ability to empathize. Empathy, compassion, and life experiences make it easier to understand people.
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