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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.

#201

Post by cpwright »

ggamecrazy wrote: post #149
Quanticles wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of these locations don't have any other companies in the area. Example: You're 22, straight out of college, you take a job at IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY because it was a great fit for you and you liked the area. You raise a family there, get friends there, establish a lot of roots over 10+ years. Now IBM is "transforming", what are you going to do? There are no other companies in the area

You can commute to NYC. It's a 1 hour ride on the Metro-North. It's not ideal but when times are hard you survive by any means necessary. It's also quite enjoyable. I get so much reading and personal time commuting on the train.

People do commute to NYC; but it sucks from Poughkeepsie. The train is not 1 hour, it is 1 hour 45 minutes. You need to drive to the station and park, figure at least 15 minutes. That also assumes you're going to be working very close to 42nd street. Otherwise add another 20 minutes for the subway/walking.

You're lucky if this is going to be less than 2.5 hours each way.

I live 38 miles north of the city; Poughkeepsie is 73.5. It takes me about an hour and 45 minutes door-to-door to get to work at 22nd street. 10-15 minutes to the train station, probably about 5 minutes of waiting [because if you miss one train, you have to wait 20-30 minutes or so for another depending on the time of morning], 60 minutes on the train, then about another 25 minutes of walking (or alternatively 5 minutes to get to the subway, 2-5 minutes to wait for it, then 5 minutes on the subway, and another 5 minutes of walking).

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

#202

Post by dpark »

ams6110 wrote: post #185
patrickaljord wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People probably don't use it because at every English school in non English-speaking countries, they teach you that "they" is for plural only. I had personally never heard until recently that "they" could be singular too. It also really sounds weird to a French like me.

They also taught that "they" is plural in American schools up until the last decade or so. I remember getting points off of papers for misusing "they" in a singular context. So it sounds weird to me too. We were always taught that "he" is a gender-neutral singular as needed.

When were you taught to use "he" as a gender neutral pronoun on English? I've never heard anyone in an educational position advocate that.

I was taught to use the horribly awkward "he or she" (his or hers, etc) or alternatively to restructure to actually refer to plural. e.g. Instead of "A software engineer should test his code" use "Software engineers should test their code".

I'm glad the "neutral they" is catching on.

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

#203

Post by licoricetic »

vacri wrote: post #176
dandelany wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I don't know why people dismiss it "because it sounds a little funny to me", but are okay with abominations like "he/she" or "zhe"...

maybe those are different people

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

#204

Post by licoricetic »

gozur88 wrote: post #199
jjnoakes wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you take a pay cut and work your way back up. Maybe go from $120k+ to $70k. The sky is not falling...

You can, but only if someone's willing to hire you. Employers are leery of hiring you for substantially less money than you made in the last job. The fear is you're still looking, and a few months down the road (before you've really accomplished anything) you'll quit.

There is no need to tell an employer your previous salary.

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

#205

Post by vacri »

licoricetic wrote: post #203
vacri wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why people dismiss it "because it sounds a little funny to me", but are okay with abominations like "he/she" or "zhe"...

maybe those are different people

A venn diagram will provide all possible combinations of opinions, but there are definitely people out there who suggest 'he/she' or 'zhe' instead of 'they' because the latter 'sounds funny'

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

#206

Post by dclowd9901 »

jwiley wrote: post #97

During the dot-com bust of the early 2000s, I was working at a super-market. One of the guys stocking shelves was a software engineer laid off by a large company after 40 years. The management at Winn Dixie put him stacking boxes in the freezer section...since they knew he needed the money and wouldn't quit. Maybe he deserved to get fired, maybe he didn't. The lesson to me that has been reinforced over my career in t…

After being laid off twice during my short career life (I'm only 33), I've learned one lesson loud and clear: Always be ready for a great opportunity, and when it comes, go for it.

That and always keep learning, because there's going to be some young go hard ready to come in and fuck your shit up.

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

#207

Post by fdej »

Godel_unicode wrote: post #187
nonanako wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there was some recently published research that claimed X actually can be explained by Y. X and Y are arbitrary

I assume you're being down voted for being new, but I read your comment as a more verbose "citation needed"

The paper: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smj.2192

The PR version: http://today.tamu.edu/2015/10/15/ceo-effect-on-firm-performa...

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

#208

Post by mdorazio »

gozur88 wrote: post #43
JustSomeNobody wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stock market doesn't reward investing in R&D because you can't benefit from it in three months.

I see people repeat this but it's not true. The stock market heavily rewards investing in R&D if investors think the research is going somewhere. Biotech companies are a good example.

Tesla is another. Their expected future value is based almost exclusively on R&D, and the stock is massively overvalued in comparison to other manufacturers.

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

#209

Post by askafriend »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #206
jwiley wrote: post #97

During the dot-com bust of the early 2000s, I was working at a super-market. One of the guys stocking shelves was a software engineer laid off by a large company after 40 years. The management at Winn Dixie put him stacking boxes in the freezer section...since they knew he needed the money and wouldn't quit. Maybe he deserved to get fired, maybe he didn't. The lesson to me that has been reinforced over my career in t…

After being laid off twice during my short career life (I'm only 33), I've learned one lesson loud and clear: Always be ready for a great opportunity, and when it comes, go for it. That and always keep learning, because there's going to be some young go hard ready to come in and fuck your shit up.

That's me right now, early in my career. I'm ready to go hard and fuck your shit up. Sorry!

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

#210

Post by dclowd9901 »

askafriend wrote: post #209
dclowd9901 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After being laid off twice during my short career life (I'm only 33), I've learned one lesson loud and clear: Always be ready for a great opportunity, and when it comes, go for it. That and always keep learning, because there's going to be some young go hard ready to come in and fuck your shit up.

That's me right now, early in my career. I'm ready to go hard and fuck your shit up. Sorry!

Haha, come at me, youth!

Seriously, though, as long as you keep up, and avoid being a curmudgeon, you're gonna be fine. The only ones who die in this industry choose to stop swimming.

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