Google lays off hundreds working on its voice-activated assistant
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Re: Google lays off hundreds working on its voice-activated assistant
#2Google lays off 0.05% in a restructuring. Is that really "the scoop" and newsworthy?
Re: Google lays off hundreds working on its voice-activated assistant
#3Google lays off 0.05% in a restructuring. Is that really "the scoop" and newsworthy?
I think it is, because it suggests that a development arc either has maxed out, or is now subject to a different dynamic.
Apple has a team of at most 12 people working on TCP/IP and IPv6. It's arguably one of the most important parts of the software stack. But, it's late stage mature code. Netflix had 4-6 people working on TCP flow control. Google had a small team, based in Japan, doing IPv6 for android. If a team has 100+ members and they can go, it poses "wow, at scale, how many people do you need to do things" questions when things as mission-critical as the entire IP stack can be done by less than 10 people.
Maybe I'm in an odd corner, but I find this thing fascinating. When they laid off the adsense sales and support staff because AI can do it cheaper, I found that fascinating too.
(I don't work for Apple, Google or Netflix, and my numbers are approximate based on bar conversations with some of the people in each team in each company. Consider them Fermi numbers)
Re: Google lays off hundreds working on its voice-activated assistant
#4Google lays off 0.05% in a restructuring. Is that really "the scoop" and newsworthy?
I think it is, because it suggests that a development arc either has maxed out, or is now subject to a different dynamic. Apple has a team of at most 12 people working on TCP/IP and IPv6. It's arguably one of the most important parts of the software stack. But, it's late stage mature code. Netflix had 4-6 people working on TCP flow control. Google had a small team, based in Japan, doing IPv6 for android. If a team ha…
I’d be careful not to conflate criticality with complexity.
The TCP/IP stack is extremely well defined and covers a finite problem space.
Products higher up the software stack tend to balloon in complexity as they reach into concrete use cases. I’m sure there are plenty of overweight teams, but most products can’t survive with 4-6 people.
Re: Google lays off hundreds working on its voice-activated assistant
#5There were also large layoffs in Google’s ad sales org today, but I haven’t seen any news articles about it.
Re: Google lays off hundreds working on its voice-activated assistant
#6Google lays off 0.05% in a restructuring. Is that really "the scoop" and newsworthy?
Yes because the more that news says “Layoff” the more they can create the perception that the market is terrible and trick employees into accepting lower wages.
Re: Google lays off hundreds working on its voice-activated assistant
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it is, because it suggests that a development arc either has maxed out, or is now subject to a different dynamic. Apple has a team of at most 12 people working on TCP/IP and IPv6. It's arguably one of the most important parts of the software stack. But, it's late stage mature code. Netflix had 4-6 people working on TCP flow control. Google had a small team, based in Japan, doing IPv6 for android. If a team ha…
I’d be careful not to conflate criticality with complexity. The TCP/IP stack is extremely well defined and covers a finite problem space. Products higher up the software stack tend to balloon in complexity as they reach into concrete use cases. I’m sure there are plenty of overweight teams, but most products can’t survive with 4-6 people.
TCP/IP is so well defined because the engineers on these small teams are the ones publishing the standards. It isn't like they are simply reading a spec out of an existing document and coding up a conformant program.
Re: Google lays off hundreds working on its voice-activated assistant
#8Google lays off 0.05% in a restructuring. Is that really "the scoop" and newsworthy?
I think it is, because it suggests that a development arc either has maxed out, or is now subject to a different dynamic. Apple has a team of at most 12 people working on TCP/IP and IPv6. It's arguably one of the most important parts of the software stack. But, it's late stage mature code. Netflix had 4-6 people working on TCP flow control. Google had a small team, based in Japan, doing IPv6 for android. If a team ha…
> Apple has a team of at most 12 people working on TCP/IP and IPv6
Do you know who they are and how to reach them? I have filed 3 or 4 bugs with proper reproducers through Apple's feedback assistant over the years and till this day those issues haven't even received a single comment nor any acknowledgement that the report has been read.
Re: Google lays off hundreds working on its voice-activated assistant
#9Doesn't Google do that thing where if your team becomes redundant, they don't lay you off, they give you some time to find another team if you choose to transfer?
Re: Google lays off hundreds working on its voice-activated assistant
#10Doesn't Google do that thing where if your team becomes redundant, they don't lay you off, they give you some time to find another team if you choose to transfer?
They have done that before. But they have also laid off 12,000 employees without doing that as well. Do we know which today's announcement resembles?