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Poll: Would You Work for Elon?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: Would You Work for Elon?

#22

Post by tdehnel »

This poll question is written so poorly that no one should trust the results at all. A more neutral version would be:

Would you work for Elon Musk?

Or

On one hand, Elon Musk can be contentious to work with, but on the other, he has a track record of bringing incredible new products to market. Would you work for him or not, and why?

Re: Poll: Would You Work for Elon?

#24

Post by recuter »

> I couldn’t help but wonder if any engineers would actually work for this guy going forward and why?

Why not? I like money. I don't care about his politics. Or yours. It is called work not daycare for adults.

My self esteem is also not wrapped up in the recognition of my peers or whomever I "report" to.

Edit: I like how people are downvoting because I answered the wrong way in an open poll. What a bunch of brats. Makes me want to work for Elon even more.

Re: Poll: Would You Work for Elon?

#27

Post by dragontamer »

rogerkirkness wrote: post #2

Yes, absolutely. I have two kids under five at the moment, so the long hours in office requirement might not currently work. But I'd consider taking an engineering IC role in future. Elon is a wartime CEO. Tim Cook is probably the best peacetime CEO active. Working for either would be an extremely interesting experience.

Twitter's problems were caused by Elon though.

Elon structured the deal (or at least signed the deal) such that Twitter is $13 Billion in debt upon signing, and therefore losing an estimated 4-million a day because of it.

Elon did not have to structure the deal like this. Elon did not have to push for the unsustainable $44 Billion buyout price like this. Heck, I'm pretty sure that Elon has enough money to buy out the $13 Billion debt (which is only worth $9 or maybe $8 Billion now on the open market) and solve this problem right now.

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But instead, Elon _chooses_ to fire half the staff at Twitter. Elon _CHOOSES_ to get into public arguments with his engineers (and fires them afterwards). Etc. etc.

This calamity is a series of unforced errors. If the debt is too much of a burden, buy out the debt (or don't get into the debt to begin with). Its really not that hard of a problem.

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I've posted elsewhere on this. But the gist is, Elon took Twitter, a company losing $200 million/year, and instantly turned it into a company that was losing $1500 million/year. (And that's not counting the advertising exodus, which has been estimated at another $600 million of revenue lost due to Elon's poor decisions). Of course he's in panic mode right now, that's a lot of losses.

But Elon _caused_ all of this, with his crappy leadership.

Re: Poll: Would You Work for Elon?

#30

Post by phailhaus »

recuter wrote: post #24

> I couldn’t help but wonder if any engineers would actually work for this guy going forward and why? Why not? I like money. I don't care about his politics. Or yours. It is called work not daycare for adults. My self esteem is also not wrapped up in the recognition of my peers or whomever I "report" to. Edit: I like how people are downvoting because I answered the wrong way in an open poll. What a bunch of brats. Ma…

Pretty sure it's not his politics that are the problem, but his chaotic management style.
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