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Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

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Re: Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

#151

Post by Animats »

hackuser wrote: post #62
rdtsc wrote: post #11

That is a good sign. It means the ship is slowly turning around. It sucks for the employees being laid off, no doubt. However they have to do this. There is no other way. They bet big on support and services in early 2000s. So they have lots of those employees. Could they all start to learn new things adapt to the new environment, yeah, some will but not everyone will. Heck, if they didn't lay off people, they'd stil…

Do you have any information about the company's position and needs? About what options they have? About the ranges of outcomes of the various options? About the decision making process and politics that lead to this option? Otherwise, it's just a very speculative assumption, repeated by many, that firing people must be good. Management must be acting in the company's best interests - they couldn't be biased or selfis…

I've made similar comments. That statement is in the International Labour Organization's founding documents, and it almost made it into the UN Charter. The US forced it into Germany's postwar law. Here's a summary of worker's rights in Germany.[1]

[1] https://www.wilmerhale.com/pages/publicationsandNewsDetail.a...

Re: Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

#152

Post by dandelany »

reddytowns wrote: post #133
jacquesm wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She.

Damn English and its lack of gender non-specific pronouns! Seriously, though... what is the implication that I am missing? What is the point of bringing up the CEO's pay? Should it be government mandated, is that what you all believe?

Singular "they" is gender-neutral and grammatically correct, I don't know why more people don't use it.

Re: Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

#153

Post by dave_sullivan »

reddytowns wrote: post #133
jacquesm wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She.

Damn English and its lack of gender non-specific pronouns! Seriously, though... what is the implication that I am missing? What is the point of bringing up the CEO's pay? Should it be government mandated, is that what you all believe?

That pay and performance ought to be correlated? Double standard and all.

Re: Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

#154

Post by rayiner »

dredmorbius wrote: post #117
mathattack wrote: post #40

Here's what I don't get... If you have any options at all, why stay at a company with sub-par technology that abuses their workers? They've been stuck in low 3 Glassdoor [0] range for a while. It's layoff after layoff as they slowly dismantle the company. Why stay? Geographic limitations? Narrow skillsets? [0] https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/IBM-Reviews-E354.htm#trend...

Among other factors mentioned: employer-specific skillsets. Technology jobs are very highly specialised. And I'm not just speaking of computer tech. I'm old enough to have seen several generations of obsoleted "gold tickets". Nuclear Engineering, future destroyed March 28, 1979. Freeway engineers, the freeway protests of the 1960s/1970s. Big Three auto manufacturers, dream destroyed with the first oil embargo, and su…

> Aerospace engineers, dream destroyed with the fall of the Soviet Union and redundancies in the military-industrial complex throughout NATO powers.

Should've seen the writing on the wall when it fell.

Re: Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

#155

Post by rayiner »

IndianAstronaut wrote: post #135
dredmorbius wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Among other factors mentioned: employer-specific skillsets. Technology jobs are very highly specialised. And I'm not just speaking of computer tech. I'm old enough to have seen several generations of obsoleted "gold tickets". Nuclear Engineering, future destroyed March 28, 1979. Freeway engineers, the freeway protests of the 1960s/1970s. Big Three auto manufacturers, dream destroyed with the first oil embargo, and su…

This is why I think learning new marketable skills should be everyone's hobby. Also, in our field or any professional field, you really should be very financially secure after 50 so that a job loss doesn't hurt you.

Software is highly unusual in that you can learn marketable skills as a hobby. It's not like a chemical engineer can learn marketable skills in civil engineering on the side. And not everyone can do software for a living.

Re: Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

#157

Post by bsder »

rdtsc wrote: post #11

That is a good sign. It means the ship is slowly turning around. It sucks for the employees being laid off, no doubt. However they have to do this. There is no other way. They bet big on support and services in early 2000s. So they have lots of those employees. Could they all start to learn new things adapt to the new environment, yeah, some will but not everyone will. Heck, if they didn't lay off people, they'd stil…

Spoken like a 20 year old.

"Hope I die before I get old."

Re: Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

#158

Post by Negative1 »

IndianAstronaut wrote: post #135
dredmorbius wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Among other factors mentioned: employer-specific skillsets. Technology jobs are very highly specialised. And I'm not just speaking of computer tech. I'm old enough to have seen several generations of obsoleted "gold tickets". Nuclear Engineering, future destroyed March 28, 1979. Freeway engineers, the freeway protests of the 1960s/1970s. Big Three auto manufacturers, dream destroyed with the first oil embargo, and su…

This is why I think learning new marketable skills should be everyone's hobby. Also, in our field or any professional field, you really should be very financially secure after 50 so that a job loss doesn't hurt you.

That's a nice dream but most people are probably too busy staying relevant in their current profession to be concentrating on learning skills for another career that may never happen.

Re: Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

#159

Post by gherkin0 »

increment_i wrote: post #38
marcus_holmes wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the article IBM bought Softlayer and has only just launched BlueMix. I tried Bluemix and found it unoriginal and a cit crap. Not that the world of cloud services moves according to my preferences, but I'm not seeing it used anywhere else either. If IBM is "prominent" in cloud services it's from acquisitions. Whereas AWS pioneered the cloud industry. This is certainly "doing things right" in that it's pro…

I had a similar experience with Bluemix. One of the biggest turn offs though was the ridiculously convoluted website for IBM's cloud services. Some serious streamlining is in order there. I had no idea where to go or what to do to get the information I needed for simple things like straightforward API pricing, etc.

> One of the biggest turn offs though was the ridiculously convoluted website for IBM's cloud services.

Has IBM ever made a website that wasn't confusing and terrible?

Re: Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

#160

Post by SilasX »

ryandrake wrote: post #136
SilasX wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's not that these people are dumb, many were brilliant. But they're also laden with a tremendous amount of arcane knowledge, that, unfortunately, gets in the way of learning new skills. I don't use the term "brilliant" for anyone who can't learn outside their narrow specialty.

It's not a matter of not being able to learn. Of course they can learn. It's a matter of not being able to instantly re-specialize in the next "in demand" skill.

You don't have to completely re-specialize to avoid severe underemployment.
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