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Google lays off its Python team

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271–280 of 476 posts

Re: Google lays off its Python team

#271
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is Netflix still included? They should be kicked out, I haven’t heard anything tech about the, for years now. Then we can go with Meta Apple Google Amazon, or MAGA for short. Ok, not a good look that one.

Because they still pay $500k cash.

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Re: Google lays off its Python team

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No further action taken by employees as well. If memegen didn’t exist, some might be inclined to escalate, actually forcing leadership to do better.

That's essentially the thesis of Hirschman's treatise on Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit,_Voice,_and_Loyalty

Holy molly, this explains 99% of management behavior out there. Basically this explains why every single manager I have had has the exact same narrative, something along the lines of:

"I hear you because we care about you, your concerns are noted, but please stop thinking for yourself and stay in your lane, because we are a family"

Re: Google lays off its Python team

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google is an AI first company Google is an ad first company FTFY

And how exactly do you think ads get served?

Poorly, in most cases, via various flavors of JavaScript and derived frameworks therein. Sometimes with additional overhead referred to as "targeting" which gives a worse outcome and user experience, regardless, over simpler implementations that serve to inform. Targeting forgets causality, typically.

Next comes YELLING-LOUDLY-TO-COME-DOWN-TO-THE-LOCAL-CAR-DEALERSHIP-FOR-NO-MONEY-DOWN-OFFERS phase of advertisements, which type are also routinely and nearly uniformly ignored.

Re: Google lays off its Python team

#274
post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess Instagram, Threads, Reddit, Uber, and Spotify aren’t serious long term applications.

I'm not sure i'd cite Reddit as a positive example of such a thing.

I rarely get server errors on Reddit despite its massive scale… It’s the client which is a tire-fire. People blame React but that doesn’t have anything to do with it either. It’s just utter shit.

Re: Google lays off its Python team

#275
post #268

This is standard recent Google. A year or so ago, they laid off GCP upper tier support to replace them with cheaper workers. PS: I won't say which MAAN_, but the recruiters are half based in India now. Coincidentally, it's a MAAN_ that laid me off previously in a relatively recent timeframe rather than attempt to find me another home internally. Brain explodes. Perhaps MAANGs need to focus more on long-term sustainab…

Moving things to india sounds like a great idea, except the 13-15 hour difference in communication. it's all well and good until you're in Cupertino and taking an 11:30 pm call because they have 0 hours of overlap... guess you can force them to work US hours, but that goes to culture as well. Are they trying to show that India's workplace is more compliant and they'll just do what corp types will tell them?

In this tech job environment the US google employee is willing to do as many 11:30 nights as needed to keep his high paying tech job, and management knows it

Re: Google lays off its Python team

#276
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not convinced demoralization is undesired in all cases; certainly it seems like there was a lot of frustration about workers demanding more pay, remote work, stances on various social/political issues, and so on. Making people demoralized and afraid of losing their jobs is one possible answer to that.

Theoretically you have a point. On the other hand it’s so bad for recruiting. I view companies that do large layoffs the same way I view companies that do a lot of contract hiring. You clearly don’t care about employees and their wellbeing.

Be real, it’s google. They could layoff 10k every month for another year and still have people lining up from around the world to get in

Re: Google lays off its Python team

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This might be my prejudice but when someone talks about offshoring a role, moving it to Munich isn't the first thing that comes to mind. It may be slightly cheaper than California but not by so much that if expect it to be the main reason for doing so.

It's extremely hard to lay off in Germany, so existing Google employees in Germany are, on the margin, nearly free, and so can be reassigned (with something else being done with their current project).

How hard is it? As in - they have to let you work for the duration of the notice period hard? Honest question.

Re: Google lays off its Python team

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you work a white-collar job the US standard of living is substantially higher. If you're a laborer the opposite is true but you also probably have a harder time getting in to Europe in the first place.

I really do wonder if our material standard of living really contributes to happiness though? I don't want more 'stuff' I want guaranteed access to healthcare. I want worker and consumer rights. I want a country that recognizes climate change is a real problem and is doing something about it. I want a more fair and representative government actually beholden to the will of the people. I don't need a McMansion, a luxu…

I'm grew up in India and went to grad school in the US and worked there. Eventually, I transferred to the UK cause I didn't get through the US work visa lottery.

I'm much happier here because of the reasons you mentioned. I feel like my friends in America have are basically amassing wealth to insulate their liberal bubble in a conservative land. However, they might not be able to outweath the recent success of right wing policies that the American supreme Court has managed to impose.

For me personally, even the "low" tech salaries in Europe (think something like 150k an year total) is more than enough for the lifestyle I desire. If amassing wealth isn't your primary motivator, it absolutely makes sense to move to a society which better aligns with your values. That would probably be the EU for someone like you and me, but UK is EU lite.

I love that everybody here has the same access to healthcare and the fact that my high taxes help that. I like that the population responds to the actions of the elected officials - like how the current UK govt is doing absolutely terribly in current polls. In the US, it seems like it's always a tight race regardless of what the government does. I love being able to use public Transit to get to most places. I'd rather my potential kids grow up in a kinder society, where their wellbeing wouldn't be at risk if something were to happen to me or my job.

Re: Google lays off its Python team

#279
post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really do wonder if our material standard of living really contributes to happiness though? I don't want more 'stuff' I want guaranteed access to healthcare. I want worker and consumer rights. I want a country that recognizes climate change is a real problem and is doing something about it. I want a more fair and representative government actually beholden to the will of the people. I don't need a McMansion, a luxu…

I'm grew up in India and went to grad school in the US and worked there. Eventually, I transferred to the UK cause I didn't get through the US work visa lottery. I'm much happier here because of the reasons you mentioned. I feel like my friends in America have are basically amassing wealth to insulate their liberal bubble in a conservative land. However, they might not be able to outweath the recent success of right…

I don't feel like the UK is in an especially strong position to look down at the US for being too conservative or doing too little for its poorer citizens but I'm glad you've found a place that suits you regardless.

Re: Google lays off its Python team

#280
post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really do wonder if our material standard of living really contributes to happiness though? I don't want more 'stuff' I want guaranteed access to healthcare. I want worker and consumer rights. I want a country that recognizes climate change is a real problem and is doing something about it. I want a more fair and representative government actually beholden to the will of the people. I don't need a McMansion, a luxu…

I'm grew up in India and went to grad school in the US and worked there. Eventually, I transferred to the UK cause I didn't get through the US work visa lottery. I'm much happier here because of the reasons you mentioned. I feel like my friends in America have are basically amassing wealth to insulate their liberal bubble in a conservative land. However, they might not be able to outweath the recent success of right…

Oh, and also, if I choose to permanently live in the UK, or EU, the path to citizenship is deterministic with a known timeline.

In the US, the time from Green card to citizenship is unbounded. people from India and China are pretty much never going to become citizens till they exploit some loophole like having an American baby.

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