Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Thoughts on getting laid off after nine years at Twilio

baugues.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 147 posts

Re: Thoughts on getting laid off after nine years at Twilio

#51

Post by atemerev »

nibbleshifter wrote: post #20
twawaaay wrote: post #13

I wonder if large companies recognise they are shitting in the pond they are floating in. As somebody with over quarter of century of experience managing and hiring people I notice how candidates change over time (trying to adjust for how I change myself). I notice people care less about the company they work for and, honestly, it is more and more difficult to find arguments against. This whole trend of optimising ev…

In many positions, and at many points in your career, job hopping or the threat of it is the only real way to get any noticeable raise in actual compensation. Most companies just don't really reward loyalty anymore.

What is it, 80s? There is no “company loyalty” since 2000s, and soon there will be no “jobs” in general.

We are all contractors and mercenaries now.

Re: Thoughts on getting laid off after nine years at Twilio

#52

Post by denimnerd42 »

twawaaay wrote: post #13

I wonder if large companies recognise they are shitting in the pond they are floating in. As somebody with over quarter of century of experience managing and hiring people I notice how candidates change over time (trying to adjust for how I change myself). I notice people care less about the company they work for and, honestly, it is more and more difficult to find arguments against. This whole trend of optimising ev…

accounting rules need to change such that employees are assets, not liabilities.

https://hbr.org/2019/10/the-problem-with-accounting-for-empl...

Re: Thoughts on getting laid off after nine years at Twilio

#53

Post by fzeroracer »

twawaaay wrote: post #13

I wonder if large companies recognise they are shitting in the pond they are floating in. As somebody with over quarter of century of experience managing and hiring people I notice how candidates change over time (trying to adjust for how I change myself). I notice people care less about the company they work for and, honestly, it is more and more difficult to find arguments against. This whole trend of optimising ev…

We're seeing the consequences of this stuff. Productivity is going down and you have a bunch of your typical CEO-favored sites going on about quiet quitting, ghosted interviews, unthankful employees etc. To counter this issue rather than improving the workplace they're deciding to try and enforce productivity through spying on workers and forcing people back into the office.

It's all a symptom of what you mentioned where CEOs, upper level management etc are all so thoroughly disconnected from the workforce that they make boneheaded and bad business decisions that destroy the business 3-5 years out. Though none of them get punished for it because of golden parachutes ensuring even the most failing CEO gets rewarded for destroying the company they were running.

Re: Thoughts on getting laid off after nine years at Twilio

#54

Post by noddingham »

twawaaay wrote: post #13

I wonder if large companies recognise they are shitting in the pond they are floating in. As somebody with over quarter of century of experience managing and hiring people I notice how candidates change over time (trying to adjust for how I change myself). I notice people care less about the company they work for and, honestly, it is more and more difficult to find arguments against. This whole trend of optimising ev…

I don't understand how Twilio could need 8500 employees? Atlassian reports 8100 and I'd say they have a much larger and diverse body of work than Twilio. Am I being crass in thinking that this could have been avoided had they not grown headcount "like a rocket ship: straight up and to the right"?

Re: Thoughts on getting laid off after nine years at Twilio

#55

Post by cableshaft »

vertis wrote: post #6

One thing I recommend in this situation is forming alumni groups if they don't already exist. Regardless of whether it's layoffs or through just reaching the end of your journey it's a great time to form and/or retain your community. I'm part of several alumni groups on slack and they continue to be one of the most important networks for all kinds of opportunities. Way way better than Linked In. Essentially all the t…

Yeah, this is a good idea. There's one guy at my previous job that invites all former coworkers to hang out at a bar a couple times a year, and we get together and catch up. Not too many, just about 10 people end up showing up, but it's enough. I haven't used it for a new job yet, although it did get me an interview.

Re: Thoughts on getting laid off after nine years at Twilio

#56

Post by paradox460 »

nibbleshifter wrote: post #25
zerr wrote: post #19

2 hours notice - How do you handover the work? Or is there nothing to handover?

Here's the thing I've learned lately from friends who have survived layoffs: handover often doesn't happen. The company terminates access effective immediately (maybe with gardening leave) for security reasons. The immediate loss of institutional knowledge causes fucking havoc across the board. So some people will be taken back on as contractors for a while at extremely expensive rates. This also means there's a weir…

This happened to me. Was the sole developer on a certain service. Other engineers would use the service at the company, but no one else really wanted to get into it and work on it.

Was working on fixing an issue one morning, got roped into a meeting, and escorted from the building. Next week, saw an email from a coworker asking how to do something with the service. Told him, politely (don't burn bridges) that I didn't work there anymore and wasn't interested in helping that company without payment. Yeah, it might be thought of that I hung him out to dry, but that wasn't my intent. I just won't work for free, particularly when I was booted without much chance to get my affairs sorted

Re: Thoughts on getting laid off after nine years at Twilio

#57

Post by mrsuprawsm »

TobyTheDog123 wrote: post #12

[flagged]

The guy worked there for 9 years. That's a really long time, longer than many posters here's entire careers (mine included), and longer than most of us will ever work at a given job. Of course he's going to be emotionally invested, and knocking him for this is a bit cruel.

Not so long ago, your kids _would_ know you as someone who drives buses for the local bus company, delivers the post, or works down the mine.

Re: Thoughts on getting laid off after nine years at Twilio

#59

Post by throwawaysleep »

goostavos wrote: post #47
wonderwonder wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very much take a mercenary approach to my jobs. At my very first software job I remember seeing a let go employee walking sadly through the office with a box of his possessions under one arm and a potted plant in the other. Since then I have brought nothing personal into work. If I'm let go I just have to grab my keys and I'm out. Work is something I do to earn money. If companies can replace people for less or cut…

>I would love to work in an environment where I felt valued as a person but I have yet to find that CAN that even exist? The mercenary approach seems to me the only one that doesn't fall prey to living in a fantasy about how things "Should" be -- there is only the way they are: it's a business relationship. Younger me thought otherwise. I was big into startup culture, enjoyed the comradery of working long hours, taki…

Not just a business relationship. A fundamentally adversarial business relationship.

Every dollar paid to me is a dollar less for the founder/VCs.

Re: Thoughts on getting laid off after nine years at Twilio

#60

Post by throwawaysleep »

atemerev wrote: post #51
nibbleshifter wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many positions, and at many points in your career, job hopping or the threat of it is the only real way to get any noticeable raise in actual compensation. Most companies just don't really reward loyalty anymore.

What is it, 80s? There is no “company loyalty” since 2000s, and soon there will be no “jobs” in general. We are all contractors and mercenaries now.

Anyone staying more than a year is loyal in my book. And plenty stay more than a year.
Post reply on HN