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Databricks counts being laid off as “red flag”

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Re: Databricks counts being laid off as “red flag”

#11

Post by ramesh31 »

RajT88 wrote: post #8
SQueeeeeL wrote: post #4

Damn, the top comment on the article is about how you need to lie in tech interviews. How far have we fallen if we don't even have enough dignity to walk away from garbage tier companies who can't even put any real effort into hiring. Lying is not a solution, letting companies like Databricks die a slow painful death because they create toxic environments and all their programmers keep quitting is the solution.

> Lying is not a solution Agreed. You should not lie in interviews. A common way of avoiding having to lie is registering your own consulting company after getting laid off. No resume gap! As far as if it fools recruiters, no idea. It's got to sometimes, right? I see it too often on LinkedIn for it to be useless.

>A common way of avoiding having to lie is registering your own consulting company after getting laid off. No resume gap! As far as if it fools recruiters, no idea. It's got to sometimes, right? I see it too often on LinkedIn for it to be useless.

"Consulting" is the programmer equivalent of claiming "Entrepreneur" as a job title. Sure it exists, but it generally translates to "Unemployed".

Re: Databricks counts being laid off as “red flag”

#12

Post by ezekiel68 »

In a labor market where Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft haven't recently released collectively dozens of thousands of well-qualified workers into the pool, I suspect this situation might have ended differently. It's "buyer's market" out there now and employers can afford to be extra picky. This dynamic may not have applied to the poster's case since those other available resources would have been laid off as well. But the core point stands.

Re: Databricks counts being laid off as “red flag”

#13

Post by jsnell »

xyzelement wrote: post #7

There's a missing bit of context here about what "laid off" actually means in this person's case. We are assuming it means a non-performance related reduction in force, but it may be something different. If I had to guess, I'd suspect the hiring committee found reason to suspect this person was laid off for performance / behavior. For example, perhaps their company has not conducted a large layoff, or is known for la…

> There's a missing bit of context here about what "laid off" actually means in this person's case. We are assuming it means a non-performance related reduction in force, but it may be something different.

But that's basically the definition of a layoff; the elimination of roles from a company due to reasons unrelated to the performance of the laid off people (e.g. lack of work, economic conditions). If somebody loses their job due to reasons related to their individual performance, they were not laid off. They were fired.

Re: Databricks counts being laid off as “red flag”

#14

Post by garbanzo69 »

My partner recently left Databricks (or "Datadicks", as we like to call it) after a year of dysfunction, unrealistic deadlines, many breakdowns, and severe burn-out.

He took a few months off to recover and is now back in the game at a small consultancy with some incredible peers. Half the pay but absolutely worth it.

Re: Databricks counts being laid off as “red flag”

#15

Post by frellus »

This is asinine, discriminatory and unfair. I'd even say it's borderline malicious.

Glad they named and shamed. I would't do any business with this company, nor attempt to work for them.

A RIF has nothing to do with a person's performance .. at least officially. One has to assume it was a business decision only, not performance based, although with a large reduction it seems improbable that the people left would be, now or in the past, under-performers. More than likely, the person being laid off was due to their salary being high, and their function being covered by someone else. Nothing more complicated than that.

Re: Databricks counts being laid off as “red flag”

#16

Post by bojo »

hlieberman wrote: post #3

Fun fact: in some jurisdictions such as New York and DC, this is illegal. It's called "discrimination against the unemployed". Check the laws of your state, the state you would work in, and the state the company is headquartered in to see if this may apply to you.

While it's nice to know these laws exist, what would you really do with it? The company proved it has a terrible culture. Doesn't seem worth it to fight for a job with them.

Re: Databricks counts being laid off as “red flag”

#17

Post by onphonenow »

In my area it’s still a sellers market, we struggle to get folks. Yes, industry articles talking about the continued shortage in area X. So we have hired folks who have had shorter tenures / been laid off etc. I think sometimes folks can be a bit blind to why they’ve ended up getting laid off especially if it’s been repeatedly because it can become obvious.

Re: Databricks counts being laid off as “red flag”

#18

Post by frellus »

rqtwteye wrote: post #5

Instead of laying off maybe companies should make a press release like they do with top execs that get fired “15% of our staff has decided to spend more time with their family”.

I'm not sure about that, but I do think that phrase is going to work its way into my resignation letter soon.

"I'm very sorry (not sorry), I've decided to spend more time with my family."

Re: Databricks counts being laid off as “red flag”

#20

Post by eddsh1994 »

_t4za wrote: post #10
cochne wrote: post #6

I think their HR culture may be a little toxic. When I told them their offer was not enough, they got very irate. They said if I only care about money I’m not a good fit for their culture of builders, and that I should watch out because there are lots of lay offs happening. It all left me with a very poor impression of them.

> They said if I only care about money I’m not a good fit for their culture Is this meant to convince you to take the offer, or is this just to vent off some steam before closing your file?

Hopefully the latter
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