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Google to reduce workforce by 12k

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Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#101

Post by HeckFeck »

gnfargbl wrote: post #34
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"?

I would guess he means that they use AI algorithms to perform some of the tasks that are performed manually at most companies. If so, most of Google's customers wouldn't really consider this to be a win. ML-driven account suspensions etc are universally hated and seem to have damaged Google's image, at least in the tech community.

Part of my job is developing and testing a Google calendar sync tool. I've created a secondary throwaway email address so I don't fill my own calendar with test data.

During testing I often have to link/unlink the calendar with different users in my application. Some AI bot has evidently flagged this as 'suspicious' because I now get 'An error has occurred, please try again' when linking my application with Google Calendar. No further details of which error it might be or what I might do to resolve it.

To whom may I write to explain this situation and have my account unlocked? There is no one. I really despise this behaviour. Why should I put the time in to test and develop an application that benefits users of Google's calendar when they won't even lift a finger for me?

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#102

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

gnfargbl wrote: post #34
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"?

I would guess he means that they use AI algorithms to perform some of the tasks that are performed manually at most companies. If so, most of Google's customers wouldn't really consider this to be a win. ML-driven account suspensions etc are universally hated and seem to have damaged Google's image, at least in the tech community.

You are right, but those sentiments seem to be limited to tech community ( and even in it, opinion seems split ). I will admit that not once have I heard that mentioned as an issue in my non-tech oriented circle.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#103

Post by mcculley »

mkl95 wrote: post #57

> In the US: > We’ll pay employees during the full notification period (minimum 60 days). Weird flex. Would it be legal not to?

Yes. California is an at-will state. The employer can terminate at any time for any reason. Unless they have a contract, they can do anything they want.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#104

Post by makach »

Not a bad email, and a decent follow up on the ones that are affected.

It is also a reminder that killing yourself slowly at the workplace is meaningless. Management has no responsibility to you, and no promise is certain.

It’s your responsibility to take care of yourself.

My take, don’t be bitter. Take the severance as soon as possible and get back on your feet.

Having Google on your resume is a very good thing.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#105

Post by trashtester »

5350-uiop-1130 wrote: post #29
robbiet480 wrote: post #6

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

is it possible that this is all a response to falling stock price. it seem historically a quick fix for any CEO to bump the stock price is to make layoffs, and it seems to work. and i don't think any of those companies are strapped for cash

I don't think it's the stock price so much as this being good opportunity to fire people who're no longer wanted by the company (at the salary they're collecting), without the reputation loss that usually comes with that.

Soon they will start hiring again, quite possibly finding better candidates at a lower salary.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#106

Post by PartiallyTyped »

concinds wrote: post #86
eCa wrote: post #51

I guess someone has to write this comment: > I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here As usual, he says nothing more what the consequences for him are. It seems like all of the FAANGs have made severe strategic cockups when it comes to hiring lately. I wonder if it will affect their longterm attraction as employers.

CEOs are fired for mismanagement. This is good management.

Isn't over-hiring an indication of mismanagement?

Lots of salty people with poor reading comprehension… An “indication” is just that, a possible hint at an underlying issue, not an accusation.

I did not claim it’s entirely a C-suite fault either. “Management” goes beyond the C-suite.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#108

Post by joshvm »

sai_c wrote: post #48

Does anyone know what "Outside the US, we’ll support employees in line with local practices." exactly means? In Germany I could imagine it to be "You're fired. Go to the Arbeitsagentur and find a new job". Of course within the legal forewarning period.

The notice period might be longer than 60 days, which is pretty generous for the US. In Switzerland, 3 months from either party is not uncommon.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#109

Post by sillysaurusx »

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…

I had a new job lined up roughly a week after they broke the news to me. The tradeoff is that I took a 37% reduction in salary.

Easily worth it. Everyone else is being laid off all around me, while I kick back and fire up a bunch of A100s for ML research. The best part is that I didn’t have to do any damn leetcode interviews.

I went back and forth on whether to post this, since it feels like I’m an outlier and maybe not relevant. But fwiw, I haven’t heard any stories among friends and colleagues of them getting laid off and finding it hard to find work. Devs seem safe, at least till GPT comes for us.

Re: Google to reduce workforce by 12k

#110

Post by DrBazza »

Another multi-billion dollar company making billions of dollars of profit dumps thousands of staff on the streets.

There are two approaches here.

Firstly, attrition, simply don't replace those that leave. Given the sheer size of the company, a hiring freeze and attrition would gradually reduce the size of the workforce. I'd be astonished if a company with a market cap of $1.2 trillion would be likely to collapse if it didn't immediately get rid of 12,000 people right now.

Second, stop over recruiting in the first place.

I'm sure google, like the others this week have some company mantra about how precious their staff are, and they're all family. Until they're not.

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