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Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

blog.dropbox.com

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Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

#331

Post by alfalfasprout »

fHr wrote: post #316
fullshark wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't cynical enough. This incentive structure is what keeps us employed and our salaries going up and you should encourage it (assuming you're a laborer). If companies weren't doing this they'd hire to build a product with a minimal feature set and then layoff at a much larger rate once it was done. In other words, encourage this mindset wherever possible, it's going to be what causes the next wave and spike in…

Honestly there are just to many SWE then. FAANG just paid moonsalarys and lot of bad SWE joined the space who ofcourse never get to FAANG or only for 1 axed project but still are in the space not needed at all with I worked FAANG on cv. We can't all be SWE. The skilled will survive it no doubt.

Agreed. The field has become flooded w/ bad talent. I in large part blame leetcode hiring. Folks that are used to "cram cultures" just cram for that test but have zero idea how to engineer and architect good software and systems.

Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

#332

Post by goodpoint »

nsxwolf wrote: post #311
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snark aside, this is something that's always kind of baffled me. If I built a company and eventually found myself in extremely high value (ie, 9 figures), I'd be looking to retire ASAP. That would be it. I won capitalism. Time to spend the rest of my life on Maui sipping Mai-Tais on the beach. Why anybody would want to continue to work when they already have enough wealth to live an extremely lavish lifestyle without…

This is what always frustrated me about people like Steve Jobs. Don't you like, ever enjoy stuff?

Oh he very much enjoyed pestering his employees.

Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

#333

Post by fcantournet »

pdntspa wrote: post #99
soared wrote: post #18

> In an ideal world, we’d simply shift people from one team to another. And we’ve done that wherever possible. However, our next stage of growth requires a different mix of skill sets, particularly in AI and early-stage product development. We’ve been bringing in great talent in these areas over the last couple years and we'll need even more. Imagine building a company that lets users store files online, seeing chatg…

Really tired of how everyone is always trying to take over the world. Can a utility just stay a utility?

Not without regulation, and the US decided to do away with those for some reason. It's just too much money to abuse your position in market A to pivot into market B.

Capitalism - regulation => utilities's entire point is to capture a monopoly to then abuse it.

Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

#334

Post by jimbokun »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #199
spamizbad wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having worked in this industry for two decades (and a Dropbox user since its public launch) the "product strategy" of most of these companies is close to just spitballing. If you want a recent example you can look at Facebook lighting almost $40 billion with their Metaverse product. To add to that, Product leadership at technology companies has evolved to be much less technical, so they aren't going to have any deep…

I'll add my 2c because I'm getting a little annoyed that folks who only have familiarity with Dropbox's consumer offering seem to think they have any idea what they're talking about. In an enterprise, it can be extremely difficult to ensure your permissions are what you want them to be: that people can share things easily with the right groups, but also that sensitive data is not inadvertently exposed. Dropbox in par…

Needing strong AI to manage permissions on a file sharing program sounds like something out of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Like the sentient AI stuck operating an elevator.

Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

#335

Post by jimbokun »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #275
birdyrooster wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously it’s embarrassing how leadership in many companies has ZERO vision for AI right now. Too focused on buying houses, drinking wine and riding horses. I think these people need to retire already.

Snark aside, this is something that's always kind of baffled me. If I built a company and eventually found myself in extremely high value (ie, 9 figures), I'd be looking to retire ASAP. That would be it. I won capitalism. Time to spend the rest of my life on Maui sipping Mai-Tais on the beach. Why anybody would want to continue to work when they already have enough wealth to live an extremely lavish lifestyle without…

It’s just because you don’t here about all the wealthy people who already quietly did that.

Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

#336

Post by vlz »

arthurofbabylon wrote: post #177

So hopeful. People are so hopeful that AI will pan out favorably for them, even when their arguments are a stretch. On this thread, there’s the following sentiment… “Dropbox has access to your data so they are well positioned to do some AI stuff on your data.” But also you have your data so you could work with really any party you want, and Dropbox has few advantages by being an existing custodian. Custodian status p…

> But also you have your data so you could work with really any party you want

As a private individual, yes. However if you are a company you might not be legally able to send your data to just any party or it might be a hassle to set up. If you have a contract with Dropbox already…

Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

#337

Post by ZephyrBlu »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #275
birdyrooster wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously it’s embarrassing how leadership in many companies has ZERO vision for AI right now. Too focused on buying houses, drinking wine and riding horses. I think these people need to retire already.

Snark aside, this is something that's always kind of baffled me. If I built a company and eventually found myself in extremely high value (ie, 9 figures), I'd be looking to retire ASAP. That would be it. I won capitalism. Time to spend the rest of my life on Maui sipping Mai-Tais on the beach. Why anybody would want to continue to work when they already have enough wealth to live an extremely lavish lifestyle without…

Having an executive job confers high status. Being retired does not.

Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

#338

Post by Hard_Space »

tapoxi wrote: post #118
meling wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree… I wish I could buy Dropbox’s minimal feature set: syncing files. And that they’d improve that feature rather than adding features I don’t use or want.

I'll happily recommend https://syncthing.net/ , it's open source, end to end encrypted, and peer to peer (your machines send files directly to each other).

Second this. I De-Googled/De-Dropboxed my life about 15 months ago with the help of Syncthing, and a third-party cloud backup provider (the '1' in my 3-2-1) strategy, and I haven't looked back.

Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

#339

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

lostlogin wrote: post #276
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LoL - you won't need files in the future. ChatGPT will just generate your documents on the fly from prompts you memorize.

> ChatGPT will just generate your documents on the fly from prompts you memorize. These generated documents are presumably files? And the long list of prompts would ideally be stored somehow, likely in a file.

It was sarcasm

Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff

#340

Post by eric-hu »

dhammack wrote: post #292
arthurofbabylon wrote: post #177

So hopeful. People are so hopeful that AI will pan out favorably for them, even when their arguments are a stretch. On this thread, there’s the following sentiment… “Dropbox has access to your data so they are well positioned to do some AI stuff on your data.” But also you have your data so you could work with really any party you want, and Dropbox has few advantages by being an existing custodian. Custodian status p…

On the broader point though, there certainly are some companies that have access to unique datasets that they can take advantage of. Meta and Google come to mind as obvious ones, probably Microsoft too. Apple I'm less sure given their privacy stance. Any others?

Tesla

https://www.jwz.org/blog/2023/04/murderbot-is-watching-you-p...

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