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Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

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Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#131

Post by midoridensha »

musicale wrote: post #118
kcmastrpc wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that the things you mentioned don't matter, it's that employee employer relationships are transactional. While I maintain a friendly relationship with all the people I work with, very few are actually friends. If they are, we'll still talk after the relationship with my employer ends. Unless you have a contract with your employer around the severing of that relationship, neither parties are beholden to each…

You're not wrong. The economic perspective usually determines company actions more than anything in practice. $bigtech really doesn't care, and it probably is incapable of caring due to its economic and organizational structure and priorities. It's the most realistic and accurate model for work at $bigtech. But layoffs can still feel like being cast out of your tribe. You lose the daily casual social interactions tha…

>Not to mention losing your livelihood, social status, and health insurance.

That last part is a uniquely American problem.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#132

Post by Yoric »

champagnepapi wrote: post #111
Yoric wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learn Rust, C++, Haskell or OCaml. Or get a PhD in mathematics or physics. Other languages or domains might work, too.

Rust mentioned twice here, maybe there’s something too it I don’t think it’s possible for me to go down a PHD path. HFT seems like a cool gig if you can get it

I've been approached several times for HFT or Quant jobs (yes, I know that they're different but I tend to sort them in the same bucket in my mind) because I code in Rust, C++ and OCaml.

I didn't go into the domain because I'm not a big fan of money games. YMMV.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#133

Post by super256 »

scarmig wrote: post #96
super256 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Overwork? I don't know anyone working at Google, nor anyone who worked at Google in the past (except a single intern). Hell, I don't even live anywhere near a Google campus! But I always assumed that Google wants you to spend your whole day there, from morning until evening. Because big tech is usually implicitly aiming at that. - Serve three major meals a day, + you can bring your dog to your office, which elimina…

> I don't know anyone working at Google, nor anyone who worked at Google in the past (except a single intern). Hell, I don't even live anywhere near a Google campus! I did a couple year stint at Google, and I also didn't know anyone who worked there at all.

I just wanted to underline that my "knowledge" comes from reading HN comments. And it looks like I got a lot of stuff wrong too!

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#134

Post by zaphar »

SQueeeeeL wrote: post #2

Was Google really a beloved employer? I feel like that was vapor marketing hype most real people saw through as bs, you'd pretty much see constant stories of overwork and toxic teams run by incompetent "project managers" just like every other overvalued Silicon Valley FAANG shop

I was there roughly about a decade ago. At that time Google was a fantastic place to work. I didn't have toxic teams nor was I asked to overwork. I left the office at 5pm nearly every day. Google at least in the Chicago office deserved it's reputation as the best place to work in tech.

I still know people there and talking to them it does seem like there was a dramatic shift over the last 5+ years or so. I don't think it can claim the same culture that it had when I was there.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#135

Post by drstewart »

sokoloff wrote: post #120
drstewart wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's great, but has nothing to do with the original comment I was responding to

If there is less demand in the future from the overall industry cutbacks, that is definitely relevant to whether the supply and demand are the same.

That's great, but still has nothing to do with the original comment I was responding to. I suggest reading it first before continuing to argue points that are irrelevant.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#136

Post by rejectfinite »

slaw wrote: post #85
rejectfinite wrote: post #53

This whole saga has been funny to someone in Sweden... Here it is 1-3 month lay off time, eg you need to find out in advance and your employer needs to find out in advance if you leave. For full time hires. There is 6month probation. Expecting a company to do good when it does not have to is madness.

Apples and Oranges. There are no jobs in Sweden that pay $300k.

And yet the entire thread is people wanting to guilt trip Google.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#137

Post by munificent »

Firmwarrior wrote: post #116
munificent wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "News flash: you can just buy lunch for yourself at a restaurant using the $400,000 they pay you per year" The magic of free food as a perk is that it's a non-zero value proposition for both employees and the company. Before I worked at Google, I worked at a software job without free food. We could afford to eat out for lunch every day and we did. But it meant at least twenty minutes of driving every day. The food…

Yeah, all that stuff is true.. although most of it's true about the subsidized cafeterias at Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft too

I'm not making a relative comparison to other companies that also offer free food.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#138

Post by sokoloff »

drstewart wrote: post #135
sokoloff wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there is less demand in the future from the overall industry cutbacks, that is definitely relevant to whether the supply and demand are the same.

That's great, but still has nothing to do with the original comment I was responding to. I suggest reading it first before continuing to argue points that are irrelevant.

This one? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35250776

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#139

Post by more_corn »

deltree7 wrote: post #35

The only thing that matters in a layoff is "severance package" Everything else is useless. If your co-workers liked you and wanted to say goodbye, they will call and throw a party. If I'm fired, there is no reason for me to log on to my workstation. All relevant documents are given to you anyway. Your personal items will be shipped to you.

No. It’s dehumanizing to get laid off in the middle of the night. The thing that matters is treating you like a person and telling you to your face.

How would you feel if your wife left you in the night without having the courage to tell you to your face?

That’s how getting laid off by 2am e-mail feels.

Google crowed for years about how employees are family. Middle of the night firings showed that was a lie.

Re: Google was beloved as an employer for years. Then it laid off thousands by email

#140

Post by candiodari »

kneebonian wrote: post #5
SQueeeeeL wrote: post #2

Was Google really a beloved employer? I feel like that was vapor marketing hype most real people saw through as bs, you'd pretty much see constant stories of overwork and toxic teams run by incompetent "project managers" just like every other overvalued Silicon Valley FAANG shop

No, that wasn't always the case, it's the same thing that happenned with MS. Back in the late oughts and early 2010's Google was a fantastic place to work based on the reports I've heard, that was considered work nirvana. They were the ones who introduced things like catered lunchs, and a lot of other amenities that many people consider now standard fare in many tech shops. Based on what I heard it was a wonderful ti…

But now the company has shown that it will use layoffs. So now Google is threatening the livelihoods of it's employees.

So most everyone is a leech now. Not because they want to or it's in their character, it's just something that will at least give you some basic safety.

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