Interesting that the CFO and CTO also got the boot, but the positions weren’t eliminated. Is this a power grab? Or am I misreading?
CTO position is not being backfilled. There will be a VP of engineering, not quite the same.
Brex Layoffs
111–120 of 161 posts
Re: Brex Layoffs
#112How bad is the job market for tech folks now? Are companies hiring at all ?
Re: Brex Layoffs
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Self-employed tradesman pays as much on a per-hour basis as contract dev work and doesn't have to compete with a million people in developing countries willing to work for $20/hr. The project management parts from software development aren't too different either -- it's all tasks, coordinating stakeholders, etc. That's my angle, but there are plenty of other fields too: healthcare (nurses make as much as most SWEs an…
I want to call this out because I see this advice a lot (and it's also my backup plan). Trade work can be a fantastic way to earn a living, but it is HARD work. It will break your body if you do it for your whole life. There is a reason plenty of people jumped to office work the first chance they got. Don't go into the trades blind, take care of your body, or you'll be like my grandpa and need help uncurling your fin…
You want a specialized trade. HV Electrician at a utility or something like that.
An off the shelf commercial or residential trade sounds like a nightmare, especially in an area with bad weather part of the year.
That said, if you can deal with employees of that type as a business owner, you can clean up.
Re: Brex Layoffs
#114It seems like companies are really tightening the screws further this year. When I got into this industry I figured the good times would roll for about 10 years, and then it would be about time for another career change. "Make hay while the sun is shining", as they say. I'm right around that 10th year, and I think that prediction was accurate.
Do you think there is a career out there better than (I assume) software development? My view is that we are still in pretty good times. Maybe not great, but everyone who kept their jobs is still earning a big salary. And everything else other than software development is worse (specifically if you bundle things like ML into “software development“). I am curious. What career would you change to?
Curious to the answers here, leaving a breadcrumb for later.
Re: Brex Layoffs
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
It depends - I mostly agree with that blog post. If a leader doesn't understand the underlying role (at least somewhat) - they can't reason about it. The best people managers I had were good at that skill and took it seriously, but also had a technical understanding of the role. I think it's relatively common for bad people to get hired to these management roles because the skill can be harder to evaluate than straig…
Can you imagine Ilya Sutskever being fired because his frontend code wasn't up to par
This is a silly example, because Ilya's umbrella isn't front-end code.
To answer your question though, yes, if Ilya was Head of UX Engineering and his front-end code wasn't up to par, he should be fired.
Re: Brex Layoffs
#116Interesting that the CFO and CTO also got the boot, but the positions weren’t eliminated. Is this a power grab? Or am I misreading?
The CFO position is generally mandated by law in most states, though it can be filled by another officer such as the CEO (i.e., it doesn't need to be its own position). However, it is generally considered a red flag for a large company to have these positions filled by the same individual (unless the company is a subsidiary of an even bigger company, in which case the CFO role in the subsidiary may be a pro forma pos…
> The CFO position is generally mandated by law in most states, though it can be filled by another officer such as the CEO (i.e., it doesn't need to be its own position).
Only two states seem to mandate a CFO from https://www.harborcompliance.com/corporate-governance-by-sta...
Re: Brex Layoffs
#117I like that they shared publicly the severance package (I missed that in a company before, the severance package was only available to the ones laid off, and you wouldn't even know if you got the same as your colleagues). And the package itself seems alright too (and sensible, for example: the laid off can keep their laptops. What would company do with almost 300 extra laptops?). Time of the lay off also not too bad…
Looking at that list 6 months of COBRA is short, really short. In this job-search environment your COBRA is going to run out well before you could find your next job.
When I was laid off from Oracle in 2012 I got 18 months of COBRA. That sounds must more reasonable.
Re: Brex Layoffs
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they are managed devices (which I hope they are at a fintech company), it should be trivial to remote wipe them before removing MDM from them to enable personal use/resale etc.
how would you wipe them without an internet connection if I shut it off ?
the minute it goes online, it gets the kill signal
Re: Brex Layoffs
#119It's really disappointing to see the trajectory that Brex is on. I was extremely enthusiastic about their product, they had the best business banking/credit/expense tracking in the industry. I was a very happy customer, until they decided they would only chase SV startup unicorns as their customers, and terminated my account. Brex is very much a cautionary tale for other startups.
Aren’t they all?
Re: Brex Layoffs
#120How bad is the job market for tech folks now? Are companies hiring at all ?
My response will just be one data point, so take it with a grain of salt and do your own research.
Job applications to interview rates are _way_ down, like 5% or less. Some job posts will likely feel like you sent your job application into a black hole and it will never be seen by anyone or get any response at all. I'd imagine use of "AI" job application screening services have greatly increased and HR departments are likely screening application even harder than before.
Most jobs posted are senior/staff level only, rarely do you see a non-senior posting. But still you might see an non-senior job posted here and there.
People I know did find jobs after layoffs in 2023, but rather than in weeks it was months and likely, but I'm not 100% certain, for lower pay (all people I know where in different countries, but working for US companies). Other companies have hiring freezes and some seem to (almost) not have hired at all in 2023.
One trend I've noticed is job postings by US companies in South America (Brazil for eg.), Mexico, Eastern Europe, India are _way_ up. Interpret that as you will.
Venture funds are likely scaling their investments into companies back, especially non-AI companies, so venture funded companies that were in growth month either tried their best to cut costs (no hiring, layoffs) and shift to profit/revenue mode or shut down. Publicly traded companies seem to have shifted to increasing their share prices using similar tactics.
So, currently bleak, compared to pre-covid to 2021, but might be possible to still find something with a lot of persistence. Not an ideal situation for anyone looking currently, unless you have some special connections or are skilled in AI work etc.