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Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

nytimes.com

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Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#3
Thoughts and prayers and all that but honestly this is for the best. As an economy we can finally reassign the massive investment of talent into something other than advertising.

And maybe we can be honest with ourselves that Wall Street always wins in the long run.

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#4
post #2

Xoogler here, left in 2015. I don't think Google's offices have been "happy" or "exuberant" for a long time. The big cultural shift was already underway when I left.

Xoogler as well - arguably, you could see this coming in the late 2000s.

but also: it depends a LOT on which division/group you're in and especially who your manager is - I know a lot of happy googlers who continue to knock-out kickass stuff.

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#7

Thoughts and prayers and all that but honestly this is for the best. As an economy we can finally reassign the massive investment of talent into something other than advertising. And maybe we can be honest with ourselves that Wall Street always wins in the long run.

Be careful what you wish for: Many of those highly talented individuals will likely end up channeling their skills into areas that one could view as equally negative societally, such as hedge funds or defense contracting (like Palantir).

This isn't to justify the current state of advertising, but rather to express skepticism that dismantling an industry will lead talented individuals to willingly accept a significant reduction in their salary to go work on unlucrative-but-exciting frontiers.

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#8
post #7

Thoughts and prayers and all that but honestly this is for the best. As an economy we can finally reassign the massive investment of talent into something other than advertising. And maybe we can be honest with ourselves that Wall Street always wins in the long run.

Be careful what you wish for: Many of those highly talented individuals will likely end up channeling their skills into areas that one could view as equally negative societally, such as hedge funds or defense contracting (like Palantir). This isn't to justify the current state of advertising, but rather to express skepticism that dismantling an industry will lead talented individuals to willingly accept a significant…

Programmers in my experience are some of the least risky people I know. The majority will absolutely take their talents to the next highest bidder regardless of moral or ethical scruples. I don’t blame em, personally, I also see it as the only logical outcome

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#9
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be careful what you wish for: Many of those highly talented individuals will likely end up channeling their skills into areas that one could view as equally negative societally, such as hedge funds or defense contracting (like Palantir). This isn't to justify the current state of advertising, but rather to express skepticism that dismantling an industry will lead talented individuals to willingly accept a significant…

Programmers in my experience are some of the least risky people I know. The majority will absolutely take their talents to the next highest bidder regardless of moral or ethical scruples. I don’t blame em, personally, I also see it as the only logical outcome

In a country with not much of a social safety net and runaway medical/elder care costs is there really another option? You need to sock away massive amounts of money as quickly as possible if you want to reduce tail risk and as a side bonus you might get to reach financial freedom earlier.

My choices would be very different if I didn't think I was more or less on my own.

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#10

Thoughts and prayers and all that but honestly this is for the best. As an economy we can finally reassign the massive investment of talent into something other than advertising. And maybe we can be honest with ourselves that Wall Street always wins in the long run.

It’s almost guaranteed that advertising will find its way into whatever ends up replacing Google. Convincing/tricking people into buying things is a fundamental part of any free market consumer economy.
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