Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

news.shopify.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

421–430 of 531 posts

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#421

Post by jacques_chester »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #419
tgtweak wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet they're not offering those managers IC positions, they're just cutting and targeting managers with higher salaries for the most part. Also heard of a few staff engineers that went.

I'm a rubyist, and they have been recently known for hiring people to work on ruby as a language and contribute to ruby/rails ecosystem in a general way, not always directly and specifically related to their own codebase. I wonder if they're gonna stop all that stuff. https://shopify.engineering/shopify-ruby-at-scale-research-i...

To my knowledge most of those folks have been retained (until today I worked in that group).

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#422

Post by codegeek »

Rafert wrote: post #22

Things changed quite a bit since this quote from February 17: > “There’s no cuts coming for us,” Harley Finkelstein told The Canadian Press. “We’re in a really good place.” https://globalnews.ca/news/9494197/shopify-outlook-no-layoff...

Happens all the time. I remember Figma founder saying they will never be acquired and then boom.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#423

Post by annexrichmond »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #402
annexrichmond wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did that interview. Borderline illegal. My life story I consider pretty personal and was so was a pretty uncomfortable interview.

Maybe that attitude is one of the things it is good at screening for?

That’s a bit presumptuous. I was enthusiastic about the interview until afterwards

The interview was conducted by the recruiter and while she didn’t flat out ask personal questions, she asked questions that would almost cause me to reveal personal information such as my marital status and sexuality. It was not fun coming with made up responses to avoid that because it’s none of her business.

There’s a reason interviews should stay professional. I’m surprised they haven’t been sued.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#424

Post by mattgreenrocks »

dfjkdksjds789 wrote: post #417
mattgreenrocks wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case, "too high" = "we haven't figured out how to commoditize it well enough yet because the skill floor/ceiling is too high to scale with cheaper talent." This was one of the primary reasons I began to specialize partially in tech domains that are regarded as "hard" (compilers/perf): much smaller market means employees have a bit more leverage.

Do you feel there is much demand in those areas? I'm interested in more theoretical things but have doubts that many jobs would be available or for them to be valued even though its more difficult

Definitely a tradeoff: much fewer companies, but the ones that are left are higher quality if they are seeking out that sort of thing. It really depends on what you're looking for.

I settled into a role of research software engineer, where I do both applied research and development, applying a lot of compiler-ish stuff to different domains within cybersecurity, such as building out control flow graphs from binaries, thinking about how to instrument assembly code efficiently, fast pattern matching, and static analysis, where I am currently. The role fits me like a glove, but it isn't for everyone. In my job search, I started at, "I want a job doing compiler work," and eventually broadened scope a few times until I landed on, "I want a job where compiler-type approaches are on the table of possibilities." This offers a wider variety of work, which I like.

I can discuss more over email (check my HN profile) if you'd like, but most of what I know is US-centric due to how funding works for these types of research. Larger orgs like FAANGs also have it, but the pool is much more competitive, as you'd expect.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#425

Post by TeMPOraL »

monero-xmr wrote: post #413
overrun11 wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't care one iota about craftsmen who can no longer conduct their craft in the way they want because a better technology came around. You'll care when they actively subvert the rollout of the new technology. If the technology truly benefits society more than it hurts the craftsman then you can share some of the gains with them so they too can benefit.

You are honestly arguing that if I create a better widget factory, I need to pay everyone else who owns the means of producing widgets in inferior ways some of my money?

Directly? Maybe not. But no man is an island, and no one's factory is a continent either. Your widget factory wasn't created by you ex nihilo, it's built on the labor and skills of people in your community, it is possible for it to exist and be profitable thanks to the larger society being what it is and generating wealth it does. It's in your interest to care that the society supporting you thrives, and if your factory is threatening to damage it, then even if you're 100% selfish, you owe it to yourself and your children to help mitigate it somehow.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#426

Post by jkestner »

brotoss wrote: post #141

Referring to "main quests" and "side quests" in a mass layoff notice is extremely cringeworthy

Explained here, it's part of their company vocabulary.

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/04/how-shopify-bungled-its-la...

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#427

Post by jkestner »

nickstinemates wrote: post #270
bartread wrote: post #266

"We are changing the shape of Shopify significantly today to pay unshared attention to our mission." What a way to lead, and what an absolutely grotesque euphemism (not to mention a barbaricly tortuous use of English). Why do companies write like this? It's just awful. I'm only half-joking when I suggest that if they'd taken this text and asked GPT-4 to rewrite it in a compassionate tone they'd have got a better resu…

It's written like a prologue for an RPG. Main Quest, Side Quest, Crafters... that's dedication.

Not going to defend it, but apparently gaming vernacular is a company thing:

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/04/how-shopify-bungled-its-la...

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#428

Post by nickstinemates »

jkestner wrote: post #427
nickstinemates wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's written like a prologue for an RPG. Main Quest, Side Quest, Crafters... that's dedication.

Not going to defend it, but apparently gaming vernacular is a company thing: https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/04/how-shopify-bungled-its-la...

To be fair, it shows some character/culture/? which makes it stand apart from all of the other corporate releases out there. If it were good news it'd certainly hit different.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#429

Post by AlbertCory »

mbesto wrote: post #344
bartread wrote: post #266

"We are changing the shape of Shopify significantly today to pay unshared attention to our mission." What a way to lead, and what an absolutely grotesque euphemism (not to mention a barbaricly tortuous use of English). Why do companies write like this? It's just awful. I'm only half-joking when I suggest that if they'd taken this text and asked GPT-4 to rewrite it in a compassionate tone they'd have got a better resu…

> Why do companies write like this? It's just awful. You aren't the audience, that's why.

I don't know; every time one of these corpy announcements comes out, I check to see if I have Bingo:

https://1fish2.github.io/buzzword-bingo/corp-bingo.html

none yet. Jerry's working on adding weights to the buzzwords.

Re: Shopify will be smaller by about 20% and Flexport will buy Shopify Logistics

#430

Post by wouldbecouldbe »

marcinzm wrote: post #29
Rafert wrote: post #22

Things changed quite a bit since this quote from February 17: > “There’s no cuts coming for us,” Harley Finkelstein told The Canadian Press. “We’re in a really good place.” https://globalnews.ca/news/9494197/shopify-outlook-no-layoff...

In my observation absolute statements about no layoffs are a strong indication of future layoffs in this economy. It's impossible to be certain in this economy so giving an absolute statement is basically a lie. Someone who is so brazen about lying to/deceiving their employees will have no qualms with doing layoffs. On the other hand someone who uses more careful language even if it costs them in the short term is so…

I'm not sure if it's a flat out lie or if someone just tries to take responsibility they dont' have, or a promise they can't live up to.
Post reply on HN