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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

#301
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…

Elon would definitely behave like this. a perfect example imo. Him being forced by law or PR to give people more time doesn’t show his character or how he is.

Elon — the classist, union busting, worker rights abusing (like how he treated lower working class workers during lockdown or how he will randomly fire you while walking around a factory), hyper capitalist. He is definitely okay with this. Can’t imagine him not wanting to do this if he could get away with it.

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

#303
post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution is right there in OPs post: “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.” Thats it. HR knows who is working on visa. Inform them of the situation, give them 3 months, take away all their accesses and let them spend the 3 months to look for a new job. Meta makes a bazillion USD pr year. Even…

It's even simpler: make 3 months notice mandatory across the board. Or heck, even 30 days notice would be a start. Of course there's no way you can rely on a corporation to do this voluntarily and regulation is unlikely given who pays the bills. I wish there was a way to make this happen but I keep hearing software workers don't need unions because we already make so much money and the better ones have nothing to wor…

3 months notice, while retaining access to company networks and campus?

I support "keeping them on the books" for purposes of visa and health insurance, for example, but there are legitimate security reasons to have people cut off quickly when they've been laid off or fired.

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

#304

So, I have some inside knowledge on this one. There were many people who were axed as part of the layoffs days after start. But these layoffs were planned for months. The thinking was either 1) we can rescind job offers and give them nothing or 2) at least give a severance package to people who expected employment. Now, I'm not excusing that there are cases like this that fall through the cracks. It really really suc…

> Should META have preemptively rescinded this employee's offer so they got nothing but at least didn't move? Maybe.

Yes, 100%. Relocating internationally is extremely taxing. Dealing with immigration stuff, even if another company "handles it" for you, it's still a huge toll on you mentally.

I would pay $$$ to avoid a needless relocation.

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

#305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, that’s simply not true. At a most basic level, if you’re going to collaborate effectively as part of a team for a long period of time then you need to realistically be ± 3 time zones at most.

That's only true if you're working entirely or mostly synchronously, which might be an indicator of inherent anti-patterns in your work culture and processes, e.g., lots of meetings instead of written documentation.

Some people don't want to be alone, interacting with a JIRA queue their whole life. I miss coffee with coworkers. I miss being human at work.

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

#306
post #125

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…

I do agree, but I guess I'm not sure what the solution is here? Large layoffs in large orgs are generally done at a team level rather than an individual level. So presumably this individual's entire team no longer exists. So out of respect for them relocating do you then try to reposition them in the company somehow? And what about all the people who didn't relocate but may have recently left stable job for an opport…

I think this works on two levels. Yes, pay good severance packages which includes keep paying for the benefits. And in addition find them another sponsor. The sponsor thing is what is different for immigrants from all the other situations you mentioned. This should also be up to the government. When you get fired you shouldn’t outright lose your permit.

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

#307
post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so many of the comments here that seem to lack even the most basic of human decency Reading them, so am I. There is no sign of empathy: that understanding of another individual, the ability to put oneself in someone else's shoes, that is fundamental to a healthy society and (IMO) personal integrity. I read a comment a few years ago that no-one thinks of themselves as a bad person. To yourself, you are always okay.…

Having worked in tech for 25 years it doesn’t surprise me. Some people I’ve worked with are barely human. A colleague a few years ago went as far as to suggest that this is how you ended up with nazis. I hope with ubiquitous communications now that we tell these people that no it’s not acceptable to behave like this! Compassion should be awarded.

“Barely human”.. that’s a pretty nazi-esque way of looking at others. Perhaps people simply have different opinions and priorities.

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

#308

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…

I've had something similar to this happen to me, luckily my visa wasn't dependent on it but it was still a giant kick in the balls.

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

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

> You yourself have no empathy for those who would make those supposedly "harsh, inhuman, uncaring, comments" That's fine. You don't have to go down infinite meta-levels of empathy. You can just treat nazis like scum, and jerks like jerks. As long as you treat other people well and with compassion, you would still be behaving far better and more positively than how those who would make those supposedly "harsh, inhuma…

> As long as you treat other people well and with compassion

And you just choose who you consider "people" and who you consider "scum". It's like that old joke about Linux being user-friendly, it's just very picky about who it considers a user.

That position is shit, though.

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

#310

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…

> so many of the comments here that seem to lack even the most basic of human decency Reading them, so am I. There is no sign of empathy: that understanding of another individual, the ability to put oneself in someone else's shoes, that is fundamental to a healthy society and (IMO) personal integrity. I read a comment a few years ago that no-one thinks of themselves as a bad person. To yourself, you are always okay.…

Emotional empathy may be relatively prevalent in the world (though sometimes it is more in the virtue signalling domain) but true cognitive empathy is rare and very much needed in abundance if we wish to continue to thrive as a humanity.
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