Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft • Hacker News Board

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#21

Post by zer0nes » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 1:40 AM UTC

TheMagicHorsey wrote: post #18

Any company that has been around for as long as Microsoft, has a huge amount of dead weight in its mid-level management. I mean people whose main skill is mastery of the internal political process. Lest people think I'm singling out Microsoft specifically, this same problem is present at Google as well, but is less of a problem because Google has not been around long enough to pick up the same amount of dead weight p…

The problem is that if the culture is already bad, it's very easy to shed the false positives, i.e. the good people, and keep the false negatives.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#22

Post by TallGuyShort » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 1:42 AM UTC

zer0nes wrote: post #19

tdicola wrote: post #13

Never good news to hear about layoffs, but for those that are affected I can say there is life beyond Microsoft. (it might even be better!)

Why can't it be good news? And good news to whom? To me, who cares about this company, this is good news because I think that MS needs to get much more nimble. I'm saying this as someone who can receive very bad news tomorrow.

To quote, perhaps inaccurately, Louis CK: "Divorce is always good news. It would be terrible if there was a couple who as happy and in love, and they had this perfect life, and then they got divorced? Oh that would be horrible! But that has happened exactly zero times."

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#23

Post by nness » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 1:42 AM UTC

arthurcolle wrote: post #5

I guess this means between 7000-9000 layoffs based on the crude calculation 600M/(60,000 ~ 75,000)~ approximately

USA Today ran with a prediction of 5-10% of Nokia staff, around 12,000 to 25,000 employees.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#24

Post by cesarbs » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 1:42 AM UTC

tdicola wrote: post #13

Never good news to hear about layoffs, but for those that are affected I can say there is life beyond Microsoft. (it might even be better!)

Microsoft employee here. My main concern is the fact that I'm the US on an H-1B visa. I really, really, really don't want to go back to my country, but that will be the case if I'm laid off and unable to find another H-1B sponsor in a very short time. :(

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#25

Post by li-ch » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 1:43 AM UTC

And these positions will be soon filled by Indians.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#26

Post by yulaow » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 1:43 AM UTC

chc wrote: post #6

I wonder how much of Nokia is going to get rejected. A friend of mine is a former Nokia employee who was really psyched to be working on the Surface team now — that would be pretty rough if that team got laid off just after getting settled into the company.

On zdNet they say that 1/5 of ex-Nokia workers in Finland could be axed [ http://www.zdnet.com/one-in-five-ex-nokia-workers-in-finland... ]

Personally I think it will be even more

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#27

Post by TallGuyShort » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 1:43 AM UTC

tphan wrote: post #10

I knew Microsoft was on the way out but I didn't know the situation was so bad. Hopefully those who lost their jobs will find a place at Google or Apple.

Layoffs are a sign that a company has been struggling, or has been slowing, or has grown disproportionately in personell, but that someone is doing something that probably needs to be done. It is not always the solution, but it is also not a sign of ultimate doom.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#28

Post by simpleblob2 » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 1:44 AM UTC

arthurcolle wrote: post #5

I guess this means between 7000-9000 layoffs based on the crude calculation 600M/(60,000 ~ 75,000)~ approximately

Good 1st estimation. you also need to add in the impact of severance packages.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#29

Post by AVTizzle » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 1:44 AM UTC

tphan wrote: post #10

I knew Microsoft was on the way out but I didn't know the situation was so bad. Hopefully those who lost their jobs will find a place at Google or Apple.

Sometimes, as was the case with Zynga for example, I get the sense that layoffs are an indicator of imminent demise.

For some reason, under Nadella, I get the feeling that these MSFT layoffs are an indicator of an imminent rise. Maybe it's just a story I'm looking for after watching Mayer at the helm of an increasingly relevant Yahoo.

Similarly, I really get the sense that MSFT under Nadella is going to be an exciting company to watch.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#30

Post by tdicola » Thu, Jul 17, 2014, 1:44 AM UTC

zer0nes wrote: post #19

tdicola wrote: post #13

Never good news to hear about layoffs, but for those that are affected I can say there is life beyond Microsoft. (it might even be better!)

Why can't it be good news? And good news to whom? To me, who cares about this company, this is good news because I think that MS needs to get much more nimble. I'm saying this as someone who can receive very bad news tomorrow.

It's certainly not good news for someone who might lose their job. It's also not good because it can scare off good people too--if you're watching the company you work for go through a massive round of layoffs and make the cut, won't you start wondering if maybe it's time to look elsewhere before things get worse?