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Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

reuters.com

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Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#771

Post by tayo42 »

s_dev wrote: post #542
scott01 wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve seen managers hiring people with an intent to lay them off when winds change to protect themselves and their close circle. I can only imagine they’ve had great KPIs in both cases: first for scaling the team, and then for cutting costs.

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…

> 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.

This strategy basically puts you in the top 5% earners though.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#772

Post by ChrisLTD »

kilroy123 wrote: post #545
senexex wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The level of group think here is unbelievable. Any opinion other than this is down voted immediately. A whole page of people bargaining and not wanting to face reality. At my work, our healthcare plan renewed May 1st. We have great insurance. The CEO told us that the healthcare premiums just went up 50% so enjoy this year because it is going to be less great next year. It doesn't matter how many people have a type of…

Yeah, I just don't understand the thinking here on HN anymore. (My account is 15 years old) It was clear to me even before ChatGPT arrived that software was eventually going to go the same way agriculture went. We will simply need fewer people to do the job than before. I don't buy that AI will completely automate away all software engineering. I think if you're not in the top ~40% skill wise, you're in serious troub…

I think we're probably past peak employment for software engineers, but I'd also be surprised if these layoffs were directly related to Cloudflare thinking they can replace their engineering teams with AI agents.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#773

Post by ChrisLTD »

llama052 wrote: post #100
RSHEPP wrote: post #42

Any other engineers just living life frozen at this point. I am unable to make any life decisions because it seems like I won't have a career in the near future. I am unable to purchase a home to settle down for my family, because dad might not have a job next week. I know I am fortunate to have a job, many don't, but fuck if this career isn't the worse thing ever for my overall health and happiness.

Yeah I'm there with you. I got lucky as a kid with delving into this as a hobby and it turned into a professional career. Thought we could change the world for the better, what we made instead was social media cancer and LLMs that can pretend to make everyone 10x more productive. I loathe it.

As long as it's pretend productivity, things should settle in a decent place. How long that takes, who knows.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#774

Post by danaw »

_heimdall wrote: post #727
shimman wrote: post #671

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it should be the companies job, being jobless in the US is a potential death sentence and since we don't have universal healthcare, universal childcare, or universal higher education/vocational training the onus should be forced on the companies to provide welfare for workers since they are so adamant about not paying taxes to create a welfare system that doesn't mean homelessness or death. There is also no ind…

I'd be very hesitant to throw out so many of the fundamentals that made America into what it has been for the last couple centuries. The goal, at least here, is to expect individuals to mostly take care of themselves rather than depending in the state or some other authority to do it for them. Universal healthcare, guaranteed indefinite severance, universal childcare, etc are completely antithetical to our system. Ma…

you mean that system that has created the most wealth inequality in many decades if not ever?

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#775

Post by toast0 »

sunrunner wrote: post #457
throwaway2037 wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the United States (where most Cloudflare employees work): > The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older. To answer your question: Probably not. Even so, it is incredibly hard to prove workers 40 and older were laid off as a result of age discrimination.

So you can’t be discriminated against if you’re less than 40, but that seems somewhat discriminatory (maybe you wanted to be), but that means that you are being discriminated against, but that’s meant to be forbidden. I sense a paradox.

There's no paradox.

The law is you can't descriminate against a protected class. Lots of things are protected classes, like race and religion. Old age is, but young age isn't. Clothing choices in general aren't, but if it's a religous choice, it likely is protected.

Etc.

It's kind of weird that you can fire young people because they're young, but not old people because they're old. But it's not a paradox, it's just how the system is codified.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#776

Post by Aurornis »

romaniv wrote: post #756
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 seems to be the new normal in Big Tech. They regularly announce massive layoffs, but if you look at their size over time it stays stable or grows. Cloudflare size grew every year. Microsoft size was stable for the past 4 years despite all the layoffs. Google had lost some (4%) employees in 2023, but has grown back to 2022 size last year. Meta shrunk by 22% in 2023, but has been growing in size since then and is…

> This seems to be the new normal in Big Tech. They regularly announce massive layoffs, but if you look at their size over time it stays stable or grows.

Periodic layoffs always happen at all big companies.

I think it’s only surprising to people now because it’s being tied to the AI worries at the same time where we’re exiting an unusual period where layoffs all but stopped for a few years after COVID.

The layoff sizes are also larger because there was so much overhiring in those years after COVID. Some rebound effects in play.

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#777

Post by the_af »

acdha wrote: post #720
the_af wrote: post #678

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know you're arguing a more general point, but it's worth pointing out in their layoff announcement, CloudFlare is claiming: - This is NOT performance related. - This is NOT a cost cutting exercise. They say both things explicitly. What they don't say very clearly is what the layoffs ARE about.

That to me is a pretty clear reason to question the accuracy of those two claims. Insiders are saying that even people who were performing well in very profitable groups are being cut, which is hard to square with the stated motivations.

Agreed. One of the two things must be false. But that's what they are saying (not saying I buy it).

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#778

Post by jelsisi »

delfinom wrote: post #723
scott01 wrote: post #451

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve seen managers hiring people with an intent to lay them off when winds change to protect themselves and their close circle. I can only imagine they’ve had great KPIs in both cases: first for scaling the team, and then for cutting costs.

I know a medium sized defense contractor that ultimately had to sell itself a few years because they did this. They would come recruiting in bulk at our school only to fire the majority within a year to satisfy their stack ranking nonsense. 10 years later, the engineers they were protecting retired and they couldnt find anyone willing to work for them, even people still in school knew the reputation.

People are so desperate for work nowadays I don't think a negative reputation would deter applicants

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#779

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

scott01 wrote: post #451
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’ve seen managers hiring people with an intent to lay them off when winds change to protect themselves and their close circle. I can only imagine they’ve had great KPIs in both cases: first for scaling the team, and then for cutting costs.

This has a name, and also a poster boy.

Amazon's well known "hire-to-fire" [1]

https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/amazons-controversial-hire-to...

Re: Cloudflare to cut about 20% of its workforce

#780

Post by RHSeeger »

s_dev wrote: post #766
xp84 wrote: post #702

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reads to me almost like saying “Why are pigs not avoiding the most problematic slaughterhouses?” A. We have to work somewhere, and in 2026 honestly it’s actually the employer’s market which is kinda new to me, as someone who always just passively waited until an interesting job offer fell in my lap. B. They all pretty much work the same. Everywhere is “like a family” and “cares about sustainability” and all, unt…

>This reads to me almost like saying “Why are pigs not avoiding the most problematic slaughterhouses?” I don't think that's a fair comparison. Pigs are literally reared for slaughter and have no autonomy. Employees can and do choose these companies completely of their own volition.

> Employees can and do choose these companies completely of their own volition.

Except for the part where, some of the time, it's "this company, or I can't buy food or pay my rent".

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