Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce • Hacker News Board

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#561

Post by ricardobayes » Fri, May 08, 2026, 11:08 AM UTC

otikik wrote: post #433

ricardobayes wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lately it feels like it's possible. Freshers in their first job are now capable of taking ownership and shipping full stack features in a few weeks. The feedback loop is definitely shortened - noone appreciates the years spent "googling and looking at stackoverflow" anymore, and frankly, they shouldn't be. Experience matters now mostly at the architecture, and decision-making levels, not at implementation.

Freshers certainly can give the appearance of taking ownership and shipping full stack features in a few weeks. The problem is that "I copied the issue on claude code and then committed the code it produced" is not actually taking ownership. > noone appreciates the years spent "googling and looking at stackoverflow" anymore, and frankly, they shouldn't be. Well, I do, and I hard disagree with you there. If the human…

I'm not talking about some hypotethical scenario - but what I observe. When I started out, us interns were tasked with "nothing". Now the skill floor is so much higher, and I'm seeing freshers accomplish tasks that were previously thought of strong mid-level or early senior ones.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#562

Post by redhale » Fri, May 08, 2026, 11:09 AM UTC

AloysB wrote: post #135

This is awkward. Exhibit A - September 2025 - "Help build the future" - Cloudflare hires 1111 interns to "help build the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-1111-intern-program/ ] Exhibit B - May 2026 - "Building for the future" - Cloudflare lays off 1100 people, about 20% of their workforce to "continue building the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/building-for-the-future/ ] I'll finish on this quo…

This (from the September 2025 post) now evokes the Curb theme:

> Like you, we have seen numerous reports that more and more firms are capping their total headcount in favor of leaning on more AI tools, leading to downsizing their intern and new-graduate hiring. This is resulting in increased sidelining of new college graduates. But we think this misreads the moment completely, so we’re heading in the opposite direction.

> While we are excited about what AI tools can help do, we have a different philosophy about their role. AI tools make great team members even better, and allow firms to set more ambitious goals. They are not replacements for new hires — but ways to multiply how new hires can contribute to a team.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#563

Post by mihaaly » Fri, May 08, 2026, 11:09 AM UTC

AloysB wrote: post #135

This is awkward. Exhibit A - September 2025 - "Help build the future" - Cloudflare hires 1111 interns to "help build the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-1111-intern-program/ ] Exhibit B - May 2026 - "Building for the future" - Cloudflare lays off 1100 people, about 20% of their workforce to "continue building the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/building-for-the-future/ ] I'll finish on this quo…

I think this sends a clear message. And the message is this: "Don't work here! You will be f*d! Soon!"

(it also sends clear message to the clients: you will have to suffer through the cheapest to run AI agent in case of troubles, because yes, we care the most about Wall Street guy's income, not anyone else's, we save money on everything else anytime, even when we don't have to)

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#564

Post by borplk » Fri, May 08, 2026, 11:09 AM UTC

throwaw12 wrote: post #495

People who lived through 2001 and 2008 crashes, did it look like this or was it even worse than what's happening these days with so many layoffs?

I don't remember 2001. But 2008 tech job market was way wayyy better than today.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#565

Post by echelon » Fri, May 08, 2026, 11:10 AM UTC

StilesCrisis wrote: post #546

s_dev wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is completely acceptable. When was the last time you saw any job seeker seriously enquire about such practices in interviews or at the application stage? A lot of people here and in the industry in general seem to optimise for compensation package and put blinkers on themselves for other factors that are definitely relevant. Companies aren't penalised by candidates for such practices. I'm not saying it's good bu…

How exactly would you ask this in an interview setting? I'm baffled by the idea.

> How exactly would you ask this in an interview setting?

You now know which companies do this.

Every company laying off now has to wear a Scarlett Letter: "we're a layoffs company".

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#566

Post by codethief » Fri, May 08, 2026, 11:13 AM UTC

AloysB wrote: post #135

This is awkward. Exhibit A - September 2025 - "Help build the future" - Cloudflare hires 1111 interns to "help build the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-1111-intern-program/ ] Exhibit B - May 2026 - "Building for the future" - Cloudflare lays off 1100 people, about 20% of their workforce to "continue building the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/building-for-the-future/ ] I'll finish on this quo…

Quoting from the links you shared:

> Cloudflare aims to hire as many as 1,111 interns over the course of 2026. […] That’s why this significantly increased class of interns will have a special focus: to ramp up the creative and widespread application of AI with a fresh approach.

vs.

> The way we work at Cloudflare has fundamentally changed. We don’t just build and sell AI tools and platforms. We are our own most demanding customer. Cloudflare’s usage of AI has increased by more than 600% in the last three months alone. Employees across the company from engineering to HR to finance to marketing run thousands of AI agent sessions each day to get their work done. That means we have to be intentional in how we architect our company for the agentic AI era in order to supercharge the value we deliver to our customers and to honor our mission to help build a better Internet for everyone, everywhere.

lol

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#567

Post by echelon » Fri, May 08, 2026, 11:14 AM UTC

chakintosh wrote: post #466

AloysB wrote: post #135

This is awkward. Exhibit A - September 2025 - "Help build the future" - Cloudflare hires 1111 interns to "help build the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-1111-intern-program/ ] Exhibit B - May 2026 - "Building for the future" - Cloudflare lays off 1100 people, about 20% of their workforce to "continue building the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/building-for-the-future/ ] I'll finish on this quo…

Opus 4.6 was released between those dates

This and the crazy macro economic environment.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#568

Post by wartywhoa23 » Fri, May 08, 2026, 11:18 AM UTC

AloysB wrote: post #135

This is awkward. Exhibit A - September 2025 - "Help build the future" - Cloudflare hires 1111 interns to "help build the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-1111-intern-program/ ] Exhibit B - May 2026 - "Building for the future" - Cloudflare lays off 1100 people, about 20% of their workforce to "continue building the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/building-for-the-future/ ] I'll finish on this quo…

Those 11 be Boaz & Jachin of building the Cloudflare's future.

More than enough to vibecode it down.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#569

Post by LukaszWiktor » Fri, May 08, 2026, 11:18 AM UTC

AloysB wrote: post #135

This is awkward. Exhibit A - September 2025 - "Help build the future" - Cloudflare hires 1111 interns to "help build the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-1111-intern-program/ ] Exhibit B - May 2026 - "Building for the future" - Cloudflare lays off 1100 people, about 20% of their workforce to "continue building the future" [ https://blog.cloudflare.com/building-for-the-future/ ] I'll finish on this quo…

Turns about they only needed 11 interns.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#570

Post by _heimdall » Fri, May 08, 2026, 11:23 AM UTC

lagniappe wrote: post #266

ggoo wrote: post #18

> The packages for departing employees will include the equivalent of their full base pay through the end of 2026. Healthcare coverage is different across the globe, and if you’re in the United States, we’ll continue to provide support through the end of the year. We are also vesting equity for departing team members through August 15th, so they receive stock beyond their departure date. And, if departing team member…

I want to agree, however, it will take every bit of that time for some to find new placement. These AI cuts aren't just making it harder to keep a job, but harder to get a job as well.

For better or worse, it isn't a company's job to pay laid off employees until they find a new role.

The industry standard for severance is 1-2 weeks pay per year at the company, paying out roughly 7 months is a big deal (and yes, an acknowledgment of how rough they know the job hunt will be).