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

Where have all the laid-off tech workers gone?

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

311–320 of 451 posts

Re: Where have all the laid-off tech workers gone?

#311

Post by Ancalagon »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #233

This whole debacle really made it clear that there is no way to be an ethical success in capitalism at the highest levels (CEO, Board, C-Suite generally, SVP). It is literally impossible to be a public company CEO or senior manager for that matter, which is the goal of most founders in this sphere, and not be slavishly devoted to maximizing profit margin at all costs and irrespective of anything else. Why? You'll be…

this really resonates with my observations as well. thanks for sharing this, taking a look at your website rn

Re: Where have all the laid-off tech workers gone?

#312

Post by maximinus_thrax »

feoren wrote: post #306
maximinus_thrax wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> FAANG people thinking they're worth way more than they actually are. I find your tone concerning, considering there's something driving wages down (which if you're a wage worker should make you squirm regardless of how much you make). I feel some resentment against fellow workers (because it doesn't matter how much you make, if you MUST work to live, you're a worker), but it doesn't matter. Wages aren't tied to wor…

Honestly after living under the pervasive narrative that you're a failure of a software developer unless you work for either a FAANG or a unicorn SV startup, I'm not sad to see arrogant FAANG developers get cut down to size a little and learn they're not actually God's gifts to the discipline. For over a decade, it's been automatically assumed that everyone else was a failure who just "couldn't cut it" at a FAANG. >…

> Of course they are. Nothing in the history of humanity has ever been more clearly tied to "this number means how much worth you have as a human being" as income in the United States does today

We're talking about different things here. Worth as in 'how much value you add to the company/industry ie are you worth paying this much' (which is what we're talking about here) != worth as in 'how American society sees you based on your income and what privileges you have because you're making money'. I agree with your assessment of worth wrt to American society. That is my perception as well.

> I'm not sad to see arrogant FAANG developers get cut down to size a little and learn they're not actually God's gifts to the discipline. For over a decade, it's been automatically assumed that everyone else was a failure who just "couldn't cut it" at a FAANG.

Everyone is responsible for their own assumptions; I don't share the same thoughts as you. Not everyone who got laid off is an arrogant FAANG developer and not everyone working at FAANG thinks they're God's gift to the craft (honestly, anecdotally, I have never seen more instances of imposter syndrome than in FAANG). Do you by any chance frequent the Blind forums?

In the end, I would remind everyone that wage workers hating each other because of how much they make is a God send for the people who actually own the economy. It's non-productive and mistargeted. You need to hate your boss/company if you're not happy with how much you make.

Re: Where have all the laid-off tech workers gone?

#313

Post by smm11 »

Part of me thinks new companies will sprout up and a few may disrupt.

The other part of me sees that Gen Z are using dumb phones and don't own computers, so given AI I can see the WWW being computers talking to one another with the odd human checking in.

Re: Where have all the laid-off tech workers gone?

#314

Post by TheHappyOddish »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #159
gumby wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zero of my friends laid off from google are even looking for a new job. My wife was always asking me to retire, but after a year or so she’d say “it would be good for you to have a job”. Then repeat. Retiring isn’t that fun when you’re in your 30s. So I suspect a bunch of them will be back in the job market eventually.

> Retiring isn’t that fun when you’re in your 30s I would kill to retire. All I want to do is make art, music, cook, hike, kayak, and travel on the cheap. I have about.... 1/20th of the savings needed.

I retired in my 20s. It's a fun novelty, but it wore off quickly. Your friends and family aren't around in most of your free time, and those things you used to enjoy in your limited free time now can't stretch to fill the new 10+ hours a day you have.

Like most things, the grass is greener on the other side.

Re: Where have all the laid-off tech workers gone?

#315

Post by blindriver »

shams93 wrote: post #252

I turned 50, you hit middle age and then there's a huge negative wall of discrimination. This layoff hit me after I had been unemployed in the same year so I got no unemployment. I had moved in with my mom to help her during covid so I have been basically turned back into a child after having been forced to spend 478k for my education.

I'm in my 50s, I got 6 job offers in the last round of job interviews I had last year. I haven't felt the age discrimination yet, maybe at some point but hopefully I can retire before that.

Re: Where have all the laid-off tech workers gone?

#316

Post by barry-cotter »

Zetice wrote: post #168
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Retiring isn’t that fun when you’re in your 30s I would kill to retire. All I want to do is make art, music, cook, hike, kayak, and travel on the cheap. I have about.... 1/20th of the savings needed.

I get the impulse, but why isn't this viewed as profoundly selfish?

Because people are free to live their own lives. Being useful and helping others are superogatory not a matter of obligation.

Re: Where have all the laid-off tech workers gone?

#317

Post by intelVISA »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #159
gumby wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zero of my friends laid off from google are even looking for a new job. My wife was always asking me to retire, but after a year or so she’d say “it would be good for you to have a job”. Then repeat. Retiring isn’t that fun when you’re in your 30s. So I suspect a bunch of them will be back in the job market eventually.

> Retiring isn’t that fun when you’re in your 30s I would kill to retire. All I want to do is make art, music, cook, hike, kayak, and travel on the cheap. I have about.... 1/20th of the savings needed.

Buncha folx humble bragging and moralizing about retiring at 30 after building trivial CRUD for dubious ad tech as some apex achievement and we surely will mourn their departure into the sunset.

Re: Where have all the laid-off tech workers gone?

#319

Post by dharmab »

wonder_er wrote: post #268
ecshafer wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Working on going independent here in Denver, acting as a 'broker' between businesses and their staff/customers to convert single-occupancy-vehicle-users to scooters, to increase the functional number of parking spaces in a given parking lot by 10% or more. How do you make money doing this? I also don't see how you really achieve this as a business. The best way to do this would imo run for city council with the bac…

How to make money: Offer this as a service to a business. The service (which I'm charging for, but don't yet have customers) is: 1. Paint some scooter parking lines in a reasonable spot, and add a signage explaining why the org wants to incentivize scooter usage. 2. The scooter parking would make use of existing nooks and crannys in the parking lot, so it wouldn't take away existing car parking. 3. Work with the staf…

I bet Revzilla's magazine would love to write about this if its successful.

Re: Where have all the laid-off tech workers gone?

#320

Post by TheHappyOddish »

Beaver117 wrote: post #99
thaufeki wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could also be why you can't find a job. You may be too expensive, and they're looking for engineers in the sweet spot of cheap/can keep the machine running.

It's funny because for 10 years people were saying "get this big company on your resume and you can just walk into any job!" Clearly not the case anymore

You can, just not jobs at the price level you're expecting.

I'm sure there are plenty of jobs in your field you can get with your resume, assuming you're willing to face reality.

Post reply on HN