Google to reduce workforce by 12k • Hacker News Board

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#11

Post by ak_111 » Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 10:39 AM UTC

bearmode wrote: post #5

ak_111 wrote: post #4

Question for those who got laid-off from tech recently (say since Aug last year): how hard did you find it to get another tech job? Would be interesting to get some anecdotal evidence to shed light on the following WSJ article which claims laid-off tech workers are finding it easy to get re-recruited: https://www.wsj.com/articles/laid-off-tech-workers-quickly-f... If the phenomena described in the WSJ article is true…

Not been laid off myself, but I'm still being absolutely hounded by recruiters. There are still a ton of tech jobs out there, at least in the UK.

Interesting I am not noticing this in the UK, what part of tech do you work in?

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#12

Post by Zvez » Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 10:39 AM UTC

shmde wrote: post #3

(Question): Are all major tech companies doing this when everyone else is so that they face less backlash for it ? Also what about the news of companies having record profits during pandemi. Were they false/fake too ?

Major companies are laying off now not because they don't have money. It is mostly because they have been hiring a lot for past year based on growth they had during pandemic. Now as economic situation has changed, they just revert their previous hiring decision. They don't want to risk their money by holding to people they hired 'by mistake'.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#13

Post by Silverback_VII » Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 10:39 AM UTC

Well, developing AI systems which are able to replace you and your abilities was not the best idea I guess.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#14

Post by matwood » Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 10:39 AM UTC

shmde wrote: post #3

(Question): Are all major tech companies doing this when everyone else is so that they face less backlash for it ? Also what about the news of companies having record profits during pandemi. Were they false/fake too ?

Some of it is trimming the fat because these companies grew a lot over the pandemic. These companies are also looking at what's happening right now in their business, not last quarters profits. They are likely all seeing a slow down and preparing.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#15

Post by saagarjha » Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 10:39 AM UTC

laserlight wrote: post #8

Can we update the title to let everyone know of the size: 12000?

Seems to be updated.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#16

Post by herodoturtle » Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 10:39 AM UTC

laserlight wrote: post #8

Can we update the title to let everyone know of the size: 12000?

Out of a total of roughly 140,000 employees (according to Wikipedia as of 2021).

So a tad less than 10% of their workforce.

Just thought I'd add that for perspective.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#17

Post by 5350-uiop-1130 » Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 10:40 AM UTC

drstewart wrote: post #10

>I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here There it is! The free bingo space

> I take full responsibility

but no consequences.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#18

Post by rk06 » Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 10:40 AM UTC

robbiet480 wrote: post #6

This week: Amazon 18,000 Microsoft 10,000 Alphabet/Google 12,000

Microsoft mentioned 10,000. Where did you get 11000 from?

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#19

Post by d3m0t3p » Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 10:41 AM UTC

shmde wrote: post #3

(Question): Are all major tech companies doing this when everyone else is so that they face less backlash for it ? Also what about the news of companies having record profits during pandemi. Were they false/fake too ?

apparently : "Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#20

Post by guerrilla » Fri, Jan 20, 2023, 10:41 AM UTC

afandian wrote: post #9

> Pivoting the company to be AI-first years ago That seems like a weird thing to throw in there. Does anyone else read it as a hasty "we were doing AI before ChatGPT was cool"?

Hopefully someone can inform us as to whether they did announce such a pivot (I have no memory of that) but it wouldn't surprise me. ChatGPT feels a lot like search-without-citations to me, and the closest existing thing in production to it is the blurb at the top of Google results, which I suppose will soon be replaced by this kind of thing (if they can ever get it to stop lying.)