Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week • Hacker News Board

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#271

Post by sebastien_b » Tue, Mar 07, 2023, 5:08 PM UTC

registeredcorn wrote: post #220

hef19898 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which case Meat got, best case, competent people. Since those people started from scratch in an organization that never did what those new folks planned to do, as an organization Meta was still incompetent in that field compared to others. Now, being Meta and having all those new people, and the budget, could have built a proper org for hardware. Something that would require quite a cultural change so. And that la…

I formally propose facebook's new name to be "Meat". :)

Nah, I like “Meta” since it’s appropriately short for “Metastasize”.

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#272

Post by yodsanklai » Tue, Mar 07, 2023, 5:08 PM UTC

rurp wrote: post #256

yodsanklai wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering Meta is banned in China, I don't understand why there's even a question about this.

Because copying China isn't a great way to devise policy. China bans many things that are good and should remain protected in the US. I don't use Tiktok or have a strong opinion on it specifically, but I really disagree with the notion that we should reflexively ban things because China banned something similar first.

China isn't playing by the rules here so there should be some form of sanction. If it's not banning Tiktok, then it should be something else.

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#273

Post by megaman8 » Tue, Mar 07, 2023, 5:09 PM UTC

muro wrote: post #252

JKCalhoun wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with your sentiment, this is a nasty business, I would like to think we also all know the game now. Do people go to work at Facebook[1], Amazon, etc., expecting to still be working there long enough to see their kids graduate and go off to college? [1] I'm still not going to call it "Meta" any more than I am going to call "Star Wars" "Star Wars IV: New Hope".

> Do people go to work at Facebook[1], Amazon, etc., expecting to still be working there long enough to see their kids graduate and go off to college? Sure, why not?

most people at these companies don't last very long. if you doubt that, just take a look at the average person's linkedIn or resume. You'll see the average tenure at a tech company is about 2 to 3 years.

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#274

Post by RestlessMind » Tue, Mar 07, 2023, 5:10 PM UTC

barbazoo wrote: post #262

kjok wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone should quit, get ahead of the layoffs, useless company. Your work there makes the world a worse place. You can do better. This is everything I wanted to say about FB. Always wondered why so many talented folks (with PhDs) choose to work there.

People will say it's their compensation but there are many many places that pay well that don't make the world a shittier place. One doesn't have to sell their soul to the highest bidder.

> there are many many places

Can you please name 5 of those alternatives which pay as well as Facebook and yet are a better corp for the world?

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#275

Post by deltree7 » Tue, Mar 07, 2023, 5:11 PM UTC

ithkuil wrote: post #80

Panini_Jones wrote: post #25

I wonder what effects this uncertainty will have on an organizational system. With multiple rounds of layoffs, talks of 'flattening', projects being cancelled, internal transfers being frozen, hiring being frozen, when does an organization finally become 'healthy' again? When are the right people in the right places making the right decisions again? Does an organization that has so much capital need to even care abou…

> hiring being frozen I don't know when they made that decision but a recruiter contacted me from meta last week. I wonder how far do people go through the hiring pipeline before the "stop the engines" signal arrives. Hopefully not after the offer has been accepted.

Companies are always in the lookout for and hire great talent.

When they say hiring freeze, it usually means they will stop hiring a generic cookie-cutter person or fresh graduates

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#276

Post by pwinnski » Tue, Mar 07, 2023, 5:12 PM UTC

kjok wrote: post #253

jackmott42 wrote: post #159

Back in ~2016 I deleted my Facebook account, because it was a horrible place that brought out the worst in people. A few days ago someone alerted me that my account was live again and posting weight loss scams. So I logged in and changed my password and deleted my account again. Facebook tells you that it will take 30 days to delete your account. This is obviously user hostile bullshit. Meanwhile somehow the scammer…

> Everyone should quit, get ahead of the layoffs, useless company. Your work there makes the world a worse place. You can do better. This is everything I wanted to say about FB. Always wondered why so many talented folks (with PhDs) choose to work there.

I was contact by a recruiter from FB a couple of years ago. I knew I would never work there, but I talked to the recruiter long enough to get a comp number, and... suddenly my resolve to never work there took another day to firm back up.

That's mostly why, I think. In the end, I still said no, but it was much harder with the number in front of me.

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#277

Post by megaman8 » Tue, Mar 07, 2023, 5:13 PM UTC

lisasays wrote: post #222

par wrote: post #206

Gotta be honest, as someone working at Meta right now, every week to hear rumors and 'articles' about being laid off, it sucks. :(

Then again - after years of pulling down ridiculously inflated salaries, and under management that is objectively delusional - you all knew this was coming, right?

those salaries aren't so inflated when you consider the cost of living over there. Want to rent a modest 2 bedroom house in palo alto? that'll be about 90K per year. After taxes, the average software engineer would be lucky to spend only 50% of their take home pay on rent.

personally, i think you'd be better off making 1/3 as much in the mid-west but who wants to leave all their family and friends?

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#278

Post by RestlessMind » Tue, Mar 07, 2023, 5:15 PM UTC

naraga wrote: post #231

jackmott42 wrote: post #159

Back in ~2016 I deleted my Facebook account, because it was a horrible place that brought out the worst in people. A few days ago someone alerted me that my account was live again and posting weight loss scams. So I logged in and changed my password and deleted my account again. Facebook tells you that it will take 30 days to delete your account. This is obviously user hostile bullshit. Meanwhile somehow the scammer…

100%. after all the evil they did in the world i dont understand how are they able to retain so much talent working for them. do people dont give a f* about their impact to the world? many shake their heads after someone exposes engineering team working in rusian army configuring Iskanders yet the same people work for facebook that spreads worst dissinfos, sells user data and basically plays parts in genocides.

Because companies paying as much as Meta have their own dirty laundry. Google, Wall Street, Crypto... you name it.

> do people dont give a f* about their impact to the world?

It is very hard to connect dots to Rohingya genocide when your job is to tune machine learning models to increase the engagement with feed. And if one starts going that rabbit hole, again, one will never be able to find a good well-paying job.

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#279

Post by megaman8 » Tue, Mar 07, 2023, 5:18 PM UTC

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #237

red-iron-pine wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...they say, posting on HN, a slightly watered down dopamine dispenser brought to you by the people that made Reddit happen. I still think VR might be a hard sell for most people. As dumb as large groups of people may be, it's clear that people are ditching FB and slowly backing away from a lot of social media. It's tricking out that it's not always a great thing, and there is legit buy-in from huge chunks of the Lef…

> ...they say, posting on HN, a slightly watered down dopamine dispenser brought to you by the people that made Reddit happen. I by no means wanted to exclude myself from the groups I so derogatively named. Hacker News is pure infotainment to me. The quality is above reddit though, but that's not a high bar. > it's clear that people are ditching FB and slowly backing away from a lot of social media Are they? To me it…

I'd say HN quality is way way better than Reddit, entirely due to the audience. Reddit is very much anti-knowledge, anti-solution, anti-reason whereas HN features intelligent discussions, often supported by facts.

Re: Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

#280

Post by nradov » Tue, Mar 07, 2023, 5:24 PM UTC

meghan_rain wrote: post #98

robertlagrant wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He must regret daily going for Metaverse. What a crazy move.

I love it when megacorps misinvest billions. Opens space for a competition that didn't.

That is exactly how Microsoft became so dominant in personal computing starting in the 1990s. While it's true that Microsoft did some unethical things, they succeeded primarily because Novell, WordPerfect, Borland, and IBM all made huge strategic errors and essentially knocked themselves out of the game. They missed inflection points that transformed the entire industry. Microsoft's errors were all smaller, and easier to recover.