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

Googler... ex-Googler

nerdy.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

481–490 of 1001 posts

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#481

Post by trelane »

shagie wrote: post #460
Y_Y wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A business continuity plan (BCP) is a system of prevention and recovery from potential threats to a company. I feel like global acronym bankruptcy is overdue.

I'm reminded of the last part of 'TLA' form the Jargon File (I had a hard copy back in college that I read cover to cover). http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/T/TLA.html ... The self-effacing phrase “TDM TLA” (Too Damn Many...) is often used to bemoan the plethora of TLAs in use. In 1989, a random of the journalistic persuasion asked hacker Paul Boutin “What do you think will be the biggest problem in computing in the 9…

Now I want to use the dictionary file to figure the actual probability of a letter appearing in a TLA. It's not nearly 1/26.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#482

Post by ajb »

ajb wrote: post #322
ahtihn wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they have the option of putting them on 'gardening leave' during the notice period. This is extremely rare That must depend on the country. In Switzerland it's standard that employees don't work during the notice period when they're laid off.

Must do. I wonder if that's because of the wide access to weapons? Although I thought I'd heard that there still wasn't much gun violence in Switzerland.

Puzzled by why anyone would downvote a pure question. Wide distribution of guns is an obvious commonality between the US and Switzerland; if that's offensive observation please let me know why!

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#483

Post by jonp888 »

gnfargbl wrote: post #326
yodsanklai wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't want to work for another US company again if I can help it You can work for a US company in the UE. They have to follow the local rules like anybody else.

Well, sure, but unless the US company is willing to set up an EU subsidiary and employ you via that then you'll be working as an independent contractor. That status gives you zero employment rights, because you're explicitly not an employee.

That's usually illegal, unless you're a genuine independent contractor that completes work packages for multiple clients.

If it was legal to work in the office of your only "client" 40 hours a week on a permanent basis, then any EU company could ignore the entire employment legislation of their real country by setting up a shell subsidiary in the US.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#484

Post by rqtwteye »

abdj8 wrote: post #110

Layoffs are a difficult thing for employees and their managers. I have seen people (one was a VP of Engineering) escorted out of the building, sent in a cab to home along with a security guard (this was in India), not allowed access to computer or talk with other employees. But, recently have had a very different experience. The current company I work for announced 30% layoffs. The list was made public within one hou…

"I have seen people (one was a VP of Engineering) escorted out of the building, sent in a cab to home along with a security guard (this was in India), not allowed access to computer or talk with other employees. "

Some companies are just paranoid. My company has now had several rounds of layoffs, people were kept on for a few months, got severance and everything went as harmonious as layoffs can be.

The cruelty the way some companies and now Musk with DOGE are doing it is simply not necessary and reflects a lot on the character of leadership. To me it looks like they are deeply insecure and hate their people.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#485

Post by antisthenes »

nehal3m wrote: post #240
antisthenes wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This person apparently had a great time working this job and I imagine it’s difficult to end up with the responsibilities they had without being intrinsically motivated. I think you can have a great time and build good relationships with teammates while still realizing you are a cog in the machine. The way author writes the blog, you'd think they were working on the first Moon flight or the Manhattan project, where…

Not to disrespect you, but I don't think your opinion on the value of their work is relevant, the author's is.

Sure, and water is wet.

Yet the blog was posted in the public domain, so saying what is and isn't relevant is...irrelevant.

It's in a public forum, up for discussion. End of story.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#486

Post by whiplash451 »

noosphr wrote: post #404
azangru wrote: post #324

I've skimmed through the comments; and seen that most people have commented on the cog in the machine thing, or on layoffs in general and how they suck. To me, the shock from this blog post was about seeing a Chrome developer relations engineer whom I have grown to admire and who has been doing a stellar job educating web developers on new html and css features, get the sack. He was one of the best remaining speakers…

>What does this say about Google's commitment to developer excellence? Look inside the tensorflow code base for your answer. I had the Kafkaesque experience of reporting a bug, being told there is no bug by a help desk employee, while the bug was throwing up errors in the official docs. To top it off I got a message by one of the onshore team months later that they were going to solve it only for the person to be fir…

Hasn't Google given up on tensorflow for JAX now?

It looks like tensorflow is going down the slow legacy/sunset trajectory at this point.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#487

Post by azangru »

weatherlite wrote: post #418
azangru wrote: post #324

I've skimmed through the comments; and seen that most people have commented on the cog in the machine thing, or on layoffs in general and how they suck. To me, the shock from this blog post was about seeing a Chrome developer relations engineer whom I have grown to admire and who has been doing a stellar job educating web developers on new html and css features, get the sack. He was one of the best remaining speakers…

It probably just didn't have enough economic value for the company, from your explanation of the role I'm not sure I see the value either. The guy probably earned enough money in a few years that would take me 15 years of work, I'm not sure this as a "personal tragedy".

> from your explanation of the role I'm not sure I see the value either

Google has traditionally had a fair number of developer relations engineers. Chrome team alone has several. The current devrels include Una Kravets, Bramus van Damme, Rachel Andrew, possibly Jecelyn Yeen, Oliver Dunk, Matthias Rohmer, probably some others... They help prioritise new browser features through developer feedback, document new features, maintain documentation at web.dev, spec up new features and represent Google at various standardizing bodies, write walkthroughs and tutorials, build demos to showcase new browser features, make explanatory videos, give conference talks, and generally keep us, web developers, up to date with modern browser best practices.

Their value to web developers is immense. Their value to Google is possibly in that good devrels are a living advertisement of web technologies in general, and Chromium-based web browsers in particular. The better developers know browser features, the more attractive and capable UIs they can build for the web, the more consumers will be attracted to the web (including Chrome), and the more money Google will ultimately make via advertisements.

Adam has been so great in this role that it does not make sense to me that Google decided to cut specifically his position.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#488

Post by dmoy »

trelane wrote: post #478
Spooky23 wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech is always boom/bust. We’re lucky to have had a long boom. I’m personally well acquainted with many people in tech, especially big tech. Many of them are doing little or nothing, certainly not justifying $300k+ salaries. What you do has risk but is fundamentally more honest - your skills are around technology and output, not navigating corporate bureaucracy.

I am always skeptical of claims that some workers are just lazy bums skimming money. I don't think most folks graduate college and think, "You know what sounds amazing? Sitting at a desk doing nothing five days a week!" I expect most of the time they have good reason to be "unproductive," and would respond positively to those reasons getting addressed, or you're not capturing their contributions accurately with whate…

I haven't seen it on any team I've been on. But also I don't think the implication is people doing literally nothing. Just people doing things that are not worthwhile at all, wasting other people's time, and kinda just puttering around.

Some of it boils down to ineffective management and lack of mentoring, for sure, and could be addressed in a better way. Some of it is people getting in way over their heads.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#489

Post by Squeeze2664 »

Y_Y wrote: post #427
bigfatkitten wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Layoffs in US companies are a BCP event. It's like an earthquake or a tsunami. Weeks of chaos while you figure out who survived, and who's now doing the work previously done by a team that no longer exists. I watched a layoff take out half the security team during an incident. That was fun.

> A business continuity plan (BCP) is a system of prevention and recovery from potential threats to a company. I feel like global acronym bankruptcy is overdue.

GAB, you mean?

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#490

Post by jordanb »

wyclif wrote: post #473
Scandiravian wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having experienced layoffs in both US and EU companies, the difference is massive. In my experience there is very little respect for "the human" being laid off in US companies People literally would just disappear day to day. I've had several instances where I only found out a colleague had been fired because I tried to write them on Slack only to find that their account had been deactivated Personally I felt constan…

If anyone here has only worked in the EU and wants to see what the US layoff process is supposed to be on a good day, just watch the movie Margin Call and the scene where Eric Dale is called into the office by HR to be fired. There's a scene where they put a folder in front of him with a brightly-coloured sailboat on the cover labelled "LOOKING AHEAD." It's exactly as grim as it sounds.

Another "fun" thing about that movie is you see the HR lady who delivered the news with a bunch of false empathy walking out the building with a box in a later scene.
Post reply on HN