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Google Cuts Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions

nytimes.com

501–510 of 1001 posts

Re: Google Cuts Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions

#501
post #108
post #35

My firm made billions last year too and just laid off hundreds of engineers (a decent %) Some of the best engineers, those that I respected the most, went. People who make no sense. After last year's layoffs they told us they were "done" and it was "all behind us". Last year then turned out to a better year financially than 2022 (we have access to the top line numbers) You can't trust anything anyone above you in the…

I see what you are saying. I am an engineer-turned-EM and you don't know me, so please take everything I say with a grain of salt: > Your job is NOT safe. Nothing will make execs happier than having this line of thought popularized amongst engineers. It will allow them to hire cheaper, and exploit existing engineers more. I think a better way to put it is: "A job is not your family, and a job is not your identity. Yo…

> "a job is not your identity"

This is so important.

Re: Google Cuts Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions

#502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people who do IT can become an electrician ? Im curious why you think that. Also Im not too sure about high demands for electricians. This seems to rely on a booming real estate market which is in a whole world of trouble

> Most people who do IT can become an electrician ? Im curious why you think that. It's fundamentally the same kind of mix between following bureaucratic rules and manipulating man-made technology. > Also Im not too sure about high demands for electricians. This seems to rely on a booming real estate market which is in a whole world of trouble Real estate prices are still incredibly high, driven by undersupply of hou…

> If prices crash the Fed is likely to lower interest rates which makes construction profitable again, because the prices are lower but so are the construction company's borrowing costs.

The Fed? Not everyone lives in the Empire

Re: Google Cuts Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions

#503
post #35

My firm made billions last year too and just laid off hundreds of engineers (a decent %) Some of the best engineers, those that I respected the most, went. People who make no sense. After last year's layoffs they told us they were "done" and it was "all behind us". Last year then turned out to a better year financially than 2022 (we have access to the top line numbers) You can't trust anything anyone above you in the…

> Take their fucking money, build a big emergency fund, save, invest, and focus on the rest of your life outside of work.

That will lead you back to the same place when the fund runs out.

Invest in yourself instead of Google. Especially as a SWE. It's never been easier to start your own company.

Re: Google Cuts Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions

#504
post #491
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does it make sense for Google to keep laying off people (many of them skilled overperformers) while continuing to hire? It seems they have alienated a large part of their workforce with these decisions. Plus they are running into legal fights in Europe where it's not so easy to randomly fire employees. I would truly like to understand this, but I haven't heard an explanation of why the actions make sense for the…

The people they are hiring are probably cheaper than the people being laid off. The costs of the layoff are massive in morale, lost know how, missed opportunities, etc. But to the finance people, that's just as well because it's not their problem to deal with.

I understand it might make sense for specific managers who meet some goals and get bonuses, etc.

But I'm asking for an explanation of why it would be reasonable for the organization as a whole and for its shareholders (the ones who understand what's going on).

Re: Google Cuts Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions

#505
post #35

My firm made billions last year too and just laid off hundreds of engineers (a decent %) Some of the best engineers, those that I respected the most, went. People who make no sense. After last year's layoffs they told us they were "done" and it was "all behind us". Last year then turned out to a better year financially than 2022 (we have access to the top line numbers) You can't trust anything anyone above you in the…

I'm not a libertarian, but since there are many people here tempted by its simplicity and claimed intellectual elegance [1], I want to share "The Libertarian Argument for Unions":

> This essay examines the arguments that many self-proclaimed libertarians make against unionization. It examines whether unions could be expected to arise in a libertarian utopia; whether we could expect them to arise in both the private and the public sector; what limits, if any, we could expect to be imposed on union organizing and behavior; and specifically, whether rules that make the workplace a union shop – that is, a place where all non-management employees are required to be members of the union and contribute to the cost of collective bargaining, or whether rules similar to those embodied in what are typically called “right-to-work” laws are more likely to prevail and be thought consistent with the demands of libertarianism. Finally, I close by examining the relationship between libertarianism and some popular conceptions of liberty a little more closely and argue that, while many people who think of themselves as libertarians believe that maximizing individual negative liberty is fundamental, this is actually a mistake. Libertarianism actually rejects that concept of liberty in favor, I will argue, of a more republican conception, under which liberty is defined as an absence of domination, and a high degree of unionization and this form of liberty are totally compatible.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/in-the-name-of-libe...

[1] I personally reject "elegance" as the driving first principle when weighing ethical and normative theories. There are higher standards to seek: most importantly, a rejection of dogmatism and the embrace of continual learning. Any calcified definition of "elegance" cannot stand the test of time; what is elegant to one generation may be deeply immoral to the next. To be clear, I don't mean to say that notions of ethics must be left ambiguous. I certainly do not defend ethical "systems" which amount to little more than evergreen debates over weighing contradictory principles. Rather, I mean ethical systems must improve as our intelligence and awareness improve.

Re: Google Cuts Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions

#506
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait until your manager is laid off and you're talking to them afterward. This has happened to me twice in my career and both times its like you're talking to a whole different person. In my cynical opinion, being that different person is the number 1 trait companies look for when selecting managers

The Stanford prison experiment in action

Was that ever replicated?

Re: Google Cuts Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions

#508
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully cyberpunk will get an inflow out of this situation. Don't ever trust corporations, even if they promise not to be evil, Lol

Cyberpunk is hypercapitalism with less ethics and even more survival of the fittest, plus cybernetics… and apart from the cybernetics part is actually not that far from some societies already. Social resilience and social welfare have been vilified enough that I see just enough blanket downvotes in some social fora, as if its an icky subject or an allergy. Those who are at the top benefit from it, as long as as they…

To me cyberpunk is something entirely different. To me it just means going back to "the garage", inventing cool shit, not worrying about making +200K per year while being your bosses toy, and sticking it to The Man

Re: Google Cuts Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions

#509
post #309
post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The more you earn, the higher the risk that at some point somebody decides that they want to spend less / smarter. And it applies to everyone up to the CEO. At my company a new CEO came in to much fanfare. A year later they were unceremoniously turfed out because the board decided they weren’t up to the “new direction” the company needed to go. And not to mention the people under the CEO who road her coattails. The…

> If the company starts to look wobbly, be the first out the door, not the last. For individual contributors leaving isn’t always that easy as most interviews now require Leetcode prep. If you haven’t already been practicing, it can take a few months to get prepared for the grind. This is even worse for folks who work and have obligations outside of work such as children or sick family members.

I haven't interviewed in years, but I had the impression that Leetcode interviews were mostly for FAANG type jobs. Are non-software companies (i.e. ones where software is not the product) doing this too now ?!

Re: Google Cuts Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions

#510
For context: Google One Year Stock Chart https://www.google.com/finance/quote/GOOGL:NASDAQ?sa=X&sqi=2...

These companies are companies. Meant to maximize profit.

We've also gotten to the point where we're pursuing Capitalism for Capitalism's sake. The idea of how layoffs affect people doesn't matter. That's for society to figure out.

Oh, and these companies which have high earnings (I avoided the use of "profit" because these companies often shuffle money around to manufacture or negate profitability), a also pay some of the lowest marginal taxes by entities in our society. Sucks, that's not their problem... they're hear to maximize shareholder profit.

Just an ouroboros of capitalistic sociopathy.

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