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Googler... ex-Googler

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Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#11

Post by hyperliner »

ivraatiems wrote: post #9

The reality of one's lack of value to one's own employer is often baffling. It makes you wonder how anyone manages to stay employed at all, since apparently everyone is replicable and unimportant. I have been through layoffs where other people on my team, doing the same job I did approximately as well, got laid off. No explanation given for why them and not me. And it could happen to me at any time. It doesn't matter…

If you do only the minimum necessary to not get fired, then wouldn’t you be the person that needs to be fired the next time the the budget is cut, since you are the lowest ROI of all, all other things equal?

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#12

Post by hyperliner »

musicale wrote: post #5

It can be shock to discover how little the company as an entity, and its upper management in particular, actually values you (or any other employee.) Employees are indeed cogs in a megacorp, and the relationship is transactional. The company demands loyalty because it can and because it is profitable, not because it will be reciprocated.

Even those in “upper management” are cogs.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#13

Post by physicsguy »

sangeeth96 wrote: post #3
snvzz wrote: post #2

That's just how it is for a lay off, in megacorp and elsewhere. Not sure how this is HN-worthy.

Adam was a very prominent Chrome DevRel and top voices of the web platform. I personally owe to his content (blog, snippets, podcast, talks, youtube, social media etc.) to stay up-to-date on things. It’s a bit of a shock to me that he of all people is getting laid off and that too in such an ugly way.

DevRel is unfortunately something that’s going the way of the dodo though now that interest rates are up. A position that doesn’t directly contribute to the bottom line of a company, so it’s easy to justify getting rid of.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#14

Post by ivraatiems »

hyperliner wrote: post #11
ivraatiems wrote: post #9

The reality of one's lack of value to one's own employer is often baffling. It makes you wonder how anyone manages to stay employed at all, since apparently everyone is replicable and unimportant. I have been through layoffs where other people on my team, doing the same job I did approximately as well, got laid off. No explanation given for why them and not me. And it could happen to me at any time. It doesn't matter…

If you do only the minimum necessary to not get fired, then wouldn’t you be the person that needs to be fired the next time the the budget is cut, since you are the lowest ROI of all, all other things equal?

No. It's clear individual level of effort doesn't matter. That's the point.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#15

Post by rdtsc »

Sadly two management levels above we’re just a line in a spreadsheet. Maybe even one level above.

“Hey look, this one is cog is spinning at a cost $200k/year, why don’t we replace it with a cog from a low cost country and save some money?” Or “remove it and make this one other cog do the work of this obe?” People doing the replacement have to show they did something, as well!

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#17

Post by walterbell »

https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/google-layoffs-andr...

> Google laid off hundreds of employees from its platforms and devices unit, the team responsible for the Android operating system, Pixel phones and Chrome browser. The move, first reported by the Information, comes months after Google offered voluntary buyouts to all 20,000 employees in the division, signaling deeper structural changes at the tech giant.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#18

Post by zem »

having been in your position a year ago, I can definitely sympathise :(

the one thing I can say (again, from experience with having worked for google while engaging with the open source world as part of my job) is that the relationships you have been building up might well survive the loss of your job, especially if your next job ends up being in the same general area. also, i can highly recommend starting a group chat with your ex-team, that was really good for all of us in the time following the layoff.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#19

Post by fragmede »

uptownfunk wrote: post #16

Google is one of those places where you never need to ask if someone worked there.

self fulfilling prophecy though, because the people who worked at Google but don't tell you about it, won't tell you about it, so you don't know they did so you're only going to hear about it from the ones you hear about it from

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#20

Post by fragmede »

ycombinatrix wrote: post #7
sangeeth96 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adam was a very prominent Chrome DevRel and top voices of the web platform. I personally owe to his content (blog, snippets, podcast, talks, youtube, social media etc.) to stay up-to-date on things. It’s a bit of a shock to me that he of all people is getting laid off and that too in such an ugly way.

What was specifically ugly about it? It seems ugly like any other layoff except maybe he liked his job more than most.

the obligations listed on the page that he got rug pulled off of seem kinda ugly to me.
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