If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now • Hacker News Board

Re: If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now

#311

Post by _ugfj » Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 7:10 PM UTC

b112 wrote: post #269

drchopchop wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would make more sense if 1) he had a coherent plan 2) he could motivate the good 20% to stick around 3) he had some way to differentiate high vs low performers. Instead, he now gets an effectively random layoff, with potentially whole/important teams vanishing, and biased so that the best people (who can easily find jobs) are most incentivized to leave.

he had a coherent plan So if he doesn't share his actual plan with you, the media, and his competitors, he doesn't have a plan?

Based on leaked texts and his answers to personalities like catturd, he is in a right wing filter bubble and truly believes there was a censorship problem with Twitter. In a leaked text he was outright asked whether he could buy Twitter after Babylon Bee was suspended. https://twitter.com/MattBinder/status/1591813699840495616 He made an offer for Twitter at a nonsensical price and only went through with the sale because of the looming court case. Chances are extremely low there is a plan hiding in this mess.

Re: If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now

#312

Post by scruple » Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 7:11 PM UTC

piva00 wrote: post #95

castrodd wrote: post #9

Did Elon lead his other companies this way and we just didn’t know? Or has he suddenly lost his ability to make good decisions?

His history at X.com and then PayPal is definitely of someone who tried pushing their own technical delusions down the throats of other technical people, there he got fired for it. It seems minor now but at the time he was pushing for PayPal's tech stack to ditch Linux and use a Microsoft stack instead. Peter Thiel backstabbed him to oust him for that. I know someone that works at Tesla and they say that when Elon co…

> I know someone that works at Tesla and they say that when Elon comes around there's an aura of terror.

Neighbor works for SpaceX and says the same thing.

Re: If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now

#313

Post by unsupp0rted » Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 7:11 PM UTC

dsugarman wrote: post #303

Man, people are so assumptive and negative about one of the world's greatest innovators today. Hasn't he earned any respect? I know layoffs are really tough but does anyone really believe there was no reason for them at Twitter? He's got a tough task in front of him and getting to the barebones team of mission driven people seems like a plausible first step towards a better tomorrow. The assumption that only the wors…

I give him a lot of leeway, but it's not what he's doing so much as how he's doing it. The sloppiness of it gives people an excuse to pile on.

Re: If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now

#314

Post by martin_a » Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 7:11 PM UTC

b112 wrote: post #269

drchopchop wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would make more sense if 1) he had a coherent plan 2) he could motivate the good 20% to stick around 3) he had some way to differentiate high vs low performers. Instead, he now gets an effectively random layoff, with potentially whole/important teams vanishing, and biased so that the best people (who can easily find jobs) are most incentivized to leave.

he had a coherent plan So if he doesn't share his actual plan with you, the media, and his competitors, he doesn't have a plan?

You read the news that he cancelled working from home and then locked everybody out of office? Does that look like a plan to you? Does anything that happend in the last weeks look like a plan to you? The blue checkmark disaster for example?

Re: If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now

#315

Post by snoopy_telex » Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 7:12 PM UTC

chasd00 wrote: post #100

buildbot wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This shows how out of touch he is - fly, right now, possibly across the country, just to please me. He has no concept or care of how much that might cost or disrupt someones life.

i'm sure everyone has a corporate card or at least a process for re-imbursement ( assuming that department still exists)

I’ve never had a corporate card in my entire career, including Twitter. I’ve been able to book via a company provided travel agency, but I’ve never had the card in my hands.

Re: If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now

#316

Post by 40acres » Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 7:12 PM UTC

badwolf wrote: post #23

zamalek wrote: post #10

I can barely believe this man started a spaceflight company. He must have had some incredibly subordinates to pull that off; not only did they have to deal with him, but they also had to bootstrap spaceflight.

I think a big part of SpaceX successes are due to Elon letting Gwynn Shotwell manage the company.

I’ve been hearing this a lot and while GS is a huge part of SpaceX success this says nothing about Tesla and the way Elon has grown the company.

Re: If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now

#317

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 7:12 PM UTC

nerdjon wrote: post #85

Does this mean he is actually looking to do more firings After the massive exodus yesterday?!? This is just... Honestly at this point this is just fascinating to watch from the outside and I feel bad for everyone impacted. Particularly those that had no choice but to stay (Visa's)

[deleted]

Re: If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now

#318

Post by carabiner » Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 7:12 PM UTC

jvanderbot wrote: post #125

Kon-Peki wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently when they first met, she gave him a dressing down and told him a bunch of things he needed to do to be successful. He then tracked her down and hired her to do all the things.

Right, you don't build a spaceflight / rocket company in a vacuum, or from scratch as a software engineer. He poached top talent and got the job done from the bank and his twitter account. Not that I'm knocking that (it worked!), but the "Elon is a great engineer" trope is questionable. Look: http://larsblackmore.com/ That's the kind of person who makes spacex successful.

Yeah but put that MIT guy at Boeing or LM, and you get the same disposable rockets they've been building for 100 years. You need a crazy guy at the top to allow for crazy things, otherwise you'll get the same results. If you put a bunch of Google engineers under Oracle or Cisco management, you get Oracle or Cisco in the end.

Re: If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now

#319

Post by some-guy » Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 7:12 PM UTC

b112 wrote: post #269

drchopchop wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would make more sense if 1) he had a coherent plan 2) he could motivate the good 20% to stick around 3) he had some way to differentiate high vs low performers. Instead, he now gets an effectively random layoff, with potentially whole/important teams vanishing, and biased so that the best people (who can easily find jobs) are most incentivized to leave.

he had a coherent plan So if he doesn't share his actual plan with you, the media, and his competitors, he doesn't have a plan?

He keeps changing Twitter Blue, he tried to back out of the deal but then came back, he randomly changes his mind based on questionable troll account replies. For every good idea he has (I'm not convinced the engineering of Tesla or SpaceX was mainly his ideas), he has many other terrible ones (Hyperloop, Tesla Boring tunnels as transport, etc).

I believe he's just an attention-seeker and is becoming far more unhinged in the public sphere, whether it's drugs, manic-depression, or some combination. Given his recent behavior, I don't think the success of SpaceX or Tesla had _anything_ to do with his actual CEO or engineering skills, but rather his public image attracting the right people under him willing to work for smaller pay.

Re: If you (still) work at Twitter and you can code, head to the HQ now

#320

Post by dragontamer » Fri, Nov 18, 2022, 7:12 PM UTC

rexreed wrote: post #298

Why and how is Twitter still running? Could it still run on a skeleton crew? If so, were all those people who left needed? Truly asking. If the answer is no, then why isn't Twitter already collapsing?

The base code and functionality of Twitter will keep working, because code is code. My HTTP server doesn't need me to check in on it pretty much ever.

Its changes to the world that require code changes. Ex: when the new spam-companies figure out the new anti-spam techniques Twitter implemented last month, then those spam-companies will shoot up to the top of Twitter. And there will be no one to stop them, analyze the new spam or figure out how to stop it.