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Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

blog.pragmaticengineer.com

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Re: Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

#171

Post by rimliu »

arthurcolle wrote: post #87
xvector wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a world where when Apple puts a dialogue on your phone, that when they try track you with ads, they ask "allow us to enhance your experience?" whereas when other companies try to track you, they ask "allow to track you across apps and websites?" In a world when you can't even hint at the existence of a payment mechanism outside the App Store to get subscriptions? It's not the most anticompetitive but it's definite…

They single handedly killed PWA in iOS, they should get split up just for that

PWAs killed PWAs. The only people who want PWAs are the devs too lazy to learn anything outside half-baked react.

Re: Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

#172

Post by gpt5 »

papruapap wrote: post #159
gpt5 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Amazon new hire numbers represent all workers (and almost entirely - warehouse/logistics). The Amazon layoffs numbers represent corporate roles. Someone is comparing Apples and Oranges

"(and almost entirely - warehouse/logistics)" any source for that claim?

You'll need to some some algebra + this source https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/our-workforce-dat...

  Global workforce as of end of 2021: 44.8% women, 55.2% men
  Only field and customer support: 48.3% women, 51.7% men
  Corporate Employees: 32.8% women, 67.2% men
you get the following two equations:

  44.8% (global_women) = corp_employees * 32.8% + field_employees * 48.3%
  55.2% (global_men) = corp_employees * 67.2% + field_employees * 51.7%
solution:

  corp_employees: 22.5%
  field_employees: 77.5%

Re: Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

#173

Post by pjmlp »

pcurve wrote: post #152
pjmlp wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A/UX, Taligent, Dylan, Pippin, Java Bridge, Quickdraw 3D, Copland,... We don't know more due to the secrecy. EDIT: A few more I just remembered, MacRuby, OpenCL, WebObjects, Quicktime

These are over twenty years old with some pushing thirty

Age doesn't change facts.

Re: Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

#174

Post by simonh »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #117
tyre wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the company but yes. Stripe, as an example, drastically slowed down hiring when the pandemic hit expecting an economic slowdown. It then turned out that so much commerce moved to online—rather than stopped—so they ramped up hiring to meet demand. The bet that companies like Shopify and Stripe [1] made was that COVID created a “new normal”; much of the economic activity that went online would stay there. Th…

I’m not sure I believe that. It honestly sounds like an excuse to fire people. Or leadership has no clue. The biggest thing I got from the pandemic is flexible work arrangements. But I and everyone I knew all wanted to get back out there. Just not back out on public transport to work. We were doing things online because there was no other option. But once the borders opened and restrictions eased, everyone did what t…

You’re being very absolutist, people don't have be doing “everything” online for the shift in habits to have a significant effect.

Yes on the whole most people do go out and travel again, but on average much less frequently than they used to because they retained the desire but not the same habits. They find they can scratch the itch with fewer outings.

All it takes is for people to go out 20% less than they used to, averaged out, and that’s a massive shift in economic terms that can heavily impact businesses.

Re: Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

#175

Post by [deleted] »

gpt5 wrote: post #37
trynewideas wrote: post #15

https://techpp.com/2023/01/25/tech-layoffs-apple-2023/ > Amazon, for instance, hired about 780,000 people during the pandemic. Meta, too, had more than doubled its staff in this period, going from about 40,000 to 87,000. Even Microsoft had hired about 77,000 people just before the pandemic. > Apple, in comparison, is believed to have hired under 20,000 people during the period of the pandemic. Can't layoff people you…

The Amazon new hire numbers represent all workers (and almost entirely - warehouse/logistics). The Amazon layoffs numbers represent corporate roles. Someone is comparing Apples and Oranges

[deleted]

Re: Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

#176

Post by sangnoir »

webwielder2 wrote: post #10

Apple is a generally more well run, mature, patient, and scrupulous company than most others.

The answer is rather pedestrian: Apple is mostly a hardware company.

Apple isn't primarily in e-commerce, streaming or online ads and did not get as big a boost from millions of people suddenly trapped in their homes as other tech companies. Apple was never tempted to overhire, I suspect Apple had the opposite pressure during lockdowns due to its many retail workers seeing fewer customers, while Amazon's warehouses were brisk.

Re: Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

#177

Post by sbuk »

asdff wrote: post #101
azinman2 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always insane to hear about CEOs saying that they take full responsibility, but never resign, donate their money to keep employees around, or anything of the like.

The CEO is ultimately following the direction of the board though, right? That kind of makes it the board's responsibility. The CEO is just the public whipping boy who goes on TV and is stuck making keynotes.

It was Cook’s suggestion to the board. From the proxy statement:

“The Compensation Committee evaluates and makes compensation decisions prior to the start of each fiscal year. The results of the 2022 Say on Pay advisory vote led to broader shareholder engagement on executive compensation in 2022 of approximately 53% of institutional shares held. The Compensation Committee balanced shareholder feedback, Apple’s exceptional performance, and a recommendation from Mr. Cook to adjust his compensation in light of the feedback received.”

Re: Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

#178

Post by sangnoir »

pcurve wrote: post #152
pjmlp wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A/UX, Taligent, Dylan, Pippin, Java Bridge, Quickdraw 3D, Copland,... We don't know more due to the secrecy. EDIT: A few more I just remembered, MacRuby, OpenCL, WebObjects, Quicktime

These are over twenty years old with some pushing thirty

Titan is another recent big bet that went nowhere, but so happened to be too big to hide. Who knows gow many other secret dead-end projects they buried.

Re: Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

#179

Post by kergonath »

amatecha wrote: post #142
lanza wrote: post #75

This is such a weird topic. The comparison is between companies that didn't exist 20 years ago like Meta and the 50 year old industry veteran Apple. Of course Apple didn't hire as fast, they were established. That's like saying a 20 year old college student grew more over the past decade than a 40 year old engineer. Yea, that's how life works.

What does the age of the corporations have to do with how responsibly they staff their business(es)? Also, I'd suggest that the assertion that corporations somehow all move towards responsibly managing staffing numbers warrants some supporting documentation. The article we're talking about already indicates a pretty significant example that directly contradicts what you're suggesting: Microsoft -- actually an older b…

> Also, I'd suggest that the assertion that corporations somehow all move towards responsibly managing staffing numbers warrants some supporting documentation.

Definitely. Though it might be difficult to test properly. I expect a lot of survivor bias, with companies having a reasonable long-term strategy faring significantly better in the long run (Microsoft notwithstanding, in this case).

Re: Apple: The only big tech giant going against the job cuts tide

#180

Post by arthurofbabylon »

Beyond hiring and into product design and even marketing I see Apple’s approach as generative. They’re willing to step into new territory, which precludes following others and frequent reactivity. This generative, self-directed style is juxtaposed by the reactive approach of Google, Amazon, and most other huge megacorps.

I’m not sure what’s going on. Obviously Apple has a stronger vision than most tech companies. Obviously most tech companies chase returns and live in fear of missed opportunities. Maybe it is simply this combination of factors that sets Apple apart from the crowd.

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