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Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

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201–210 of 251 posts

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#201
post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what languages? Obviously location is important but I am writing C++ on multiple platforms in the UK and $200k is far away.

I don't believe the parent is referring to the salary of the employee, but rather the overall cost to the company for that employee.

Ahhh thanks! That's a relief. Mighty expensive employing someone though.

Thanks again.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At Google, if you don't make it to level 5 sweng within a certain amount of time(2 years from being hired at level 4), you will most likely get fired. After that you can relax more. So the fluff in software engineering(including managers) is minimal. Facebook though... Ask their employees how that build system is working out for them. There's a lot of doing, agreed, but sometimes you need to just take a chill pill, s…

Can you elaborate on the build system?

I think GP meant the system at Facebook where the only goal is to build build build, referencing an earlier comment that said that if you can't prove your value at facebook after a year, they fire you.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#204
post #162

Companies ruined or almost ruined by imported Indian labor (US) http://sammyboy.com/showthread.php?98021-Companies-ruined-or...

Is this serious? Many of those companies were suffering from severe structural issues, and this article is just cherrypicking any problems related to India while happily ignoring everything else. I'd like to think that racism (and sheer idiocy) of this level isn't appreciated on HN (coming from a US citizen).

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#205

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…

This describes working at NASA down to a T.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contractors can be cheaper than employees, despite paying a higher salary. The reason is that they don't need to do so much legal work or pay their insurances and etc, etc. When a project is finished, they can just end the contract and avoid all of the legality. I've known many people that leave their job as employee and get contracted to the same company for those reasons (and more).

> Contractors can be cheaper than employees, despite paying a higher salary. The reason is that they don't need to do so much legal work or pay their insurances and etc, etc. Unless they're independent contractors, I've never understood how this can be true. Sure, the company paying the contracting company doesn't have to directly pay for that kind of thing, but the contracting company does , and on top of that, has…

Having worked for several subcontractors, I can tell you there's a vast difference between the cost of Microsoft doing HR and a much smaller company doing HR.

Microsoft probably keeps good records and actually has good HR staff.

A lot of subcontractors don't keep very good records, outsource their HR staff to India and aren't against closing up shop and reincorporating with a new name.

Edit: Out of 5 of these companies that I actually needed employment verification from after leaving, only 1 of them could actually locate a record saying I worked from them. I always have to go to pay stubs.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#207

As someone starting at Microsoft in the near future, should this make me worried?

It should make you cautious and curious. A few years ago I accepted an offer from a large company who announced massive layoffs in the near future. I contacted my recruiter and asked if this affected my offer and they said no. I later pushed them for more details about who I would report to, if I could speak with a member of the team, what I should do to prepare, and what I would work on. They were very closed about…

One other thing I would add to this is that I believe there are legal problems if they were to revoke a job offer in a situation like this (what I heard - IANAL). Keep in mind that an obligation to still hire you may mean you're walking into a situation where they no longer wanted to hire you. In my case, people I went to for advice kept pointing out that if the company was making such a drastic cut of their engineering staff, they shouldn't have been hiring less-experienced employees anyway. That doesn't seem to be the case in Microsoft's specific situation with Nokia, though.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#208
post #113
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you're having trouble hiring people at the market rates, you need to revisit your assumptions (at minimum, the one about paying market rates)

If they have people regularly turning down offers, then yes, it's likely explained by compensation. If they can't get talented people to apply in the first place, then there are countless other reasons that could be at play.

Bump the numbers by, let's just say 50k, and I'm sure they'll find talented people applying.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in silicon valley and it seems like there is a huge shortage of people with software development skills. I am not talking about geniuses, just people with skills. I work at a company that isn't the sexiest (but a good stable employer) and man, it is hard to find people.

Honest question as a developer looking eventually to move to the Valley in a year or so: is it really that hard to find good people? Is software development really that hard? I taught myself 99% of what I know and found it to be pretty easy, and currently do iOS dev work. Just wondering.

No. It's just hard to find good people willing to work for crap. A lot of what startups offer is crap.

Re: Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft

#210
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know people who have lived in the US easily that long and are still stuck on H1B. Countries with worse policies are no excuse for the embarrassment that is the state of US immigration.

You can only be on a H1B for 6 years (3 years renewed twice). After that, its either greencard or go home for a few years, and everyone I know has been able to get greencards even if the "process" is kind of tough. However, I cannot get a greencard in the country of my residence (where I have many coworkers with USA greencards, ironically enough), so I think it is not very fair.

You can stay longer than 6 years if you have a pending Green Card application.
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