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Googler... ex-Googler

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Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#521

Post by shadowgovt »

raffael_de wrote: post #386
chilmers wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the OP explained the broader significance very well: If Google is firing one of the most successful and active web developer relations people they have, it suggests a strategic downgrade of the Chrome, the web, and engagement in human developers. That's bad news for anyone who builds for the web or who relies on it as an open platform for the dissemination of information and software. I think the position you…

The history of Chrome and Google is interesting but not very relevant for assessing their status quo. If anything you'd have to factor in the trajectory (which I did: "by now") and given its direction it certainly wouldn't improve a valuation. Regarding your "reductive" opinion of Firefox and Mozilla, all I can say is I use Firefox and I'm quite satisfied with it. Ironically, the worst part about Mozilla and its busi…

The worst part about Mozilla and its business decisions is that making a browser isn't something you can build a business on because you're competing with free.

Anyone who thought Mozilla wasn't going to eventually turn to evil to maintain their liquidity has no stones to throw at Mr. Argyle regarding naïveté. Is Mozilla Corp (not Mozilla Foundation) a non-profit? No? Then they need to turn a profit, and I don't see a price-tag attached to that browser they make.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#522

Post by magicstefanos »

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…

Good for you but how sad that being treated like a human is remarkable.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#523

Post by BXlnt2EachOther »

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.

also, the pacing of:

"I hope, considering your [pause to check personnel file] over nineteen years of service to the firm you will understand that these measures are in no way a reflection of the firm's feelings towards your performance or your character"

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#524

Post by tspng »

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.

It's definitely not related to the population's gun ownership ratio. I would say gun violence is probably comparable with our European neighbours. It's just way lower compared to the US.

Also, from my experience, there is not a clear trend whether companies in Switzerland want employees to keep working or if they just let them go during the notice period. I've seen many examples of both.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#525

Post by kouteiheika »

slivym wrote: post #448
kouteiheika wrote: post #257

Right, okay, let's look at their most recent SEC filling to see how much money they lost in 2024 to justify layoffs... right, they made 350 billion in revenue (the highest ever in their history from what I can see) with a 100 billion in net income. Yep, this checks out, they definitely need to lay off people, can't afford them.

They're not a charity. What do you want them to do? Hire $100Bn worth of engineers until their net income is 0? The possibly difficult truth at Google is that there's probably <1% of the company that is really essential to their monopolistic search business. The rest are either working on other projects which might be strategically interesting but not essential, or are working on the core product but not in a way tha…

> What do you want them to do? Hire $100Bn worth of engineers until their net income is 0?

Take responsibility for the people they hired and have an ounce of human decency and empathy?

Don't need extra people? Fair enough. Then stop hiring! No one is pointing a gun to their head telling them to hire. Layoffs (for reasons unrelated to people's job performance) is such an asshole thing to do because with a competent/non-sociopathic management it's completely unnecessary, as you can just do a hiring freeze, and your headcount will reduce by itself through normal attrition.

The management of a lot of corporations acts this way, prioritizing "shareholder value" over people while giving exuberant bonuses to themselves, and then they make a surprised pikachu face when people hate them and individuals like Luigi Mangione come out of the woodwork and take matters into their own hands.

Remember in 2014 when Nintendo was having huge financial troubles? What did the CEO do? Did he fire half of his people? No, he kept his people, halved his own salary and kept going. And this was when they were losing massive amounts of money, and not breaking revenue records making 100 billion in profit. That is how a CEO and a leader should act, and not like the sociopath CEOs we have nowadays.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#526

Post by Mithriil »

underdeserver wrote: post #376
palata wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Without Google Translate I'd have had a much harder time in a recent trip to Japan. I haven't used Google Translate in years. You do know there are alternatives, don't you?

I do. I try them from time to time, they weren't better.

Try out the big LLMs for translating and explaining translation (e.g. ChatGPT). Much better than Google translate in my experience.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#528

Post by fullshark »

vzaliva wrote: post #516

I guess the lesson is: don’t get emotionally attached to your job. Despite all the “we’re like a family” talk, at the end of the day, you’re just an employee. Never forget that.

We all want to be seduced though, we all want to believe we are special, we all want to believe our work has value and we anthropomorphize the company on the other end of the relationship, believing it's a partnership.

Protect yourself, but it's a sad way to spend 40-60 hours of your life, constantly reminding yourself that your job is just a paycheck and not putting yourself into your work.

Not sure how so many can do it and be motivated. My current strategy is compartmentalization, and it all just seems unsustainable long term, cause in the back of my mind it all seems so empty.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#529

Post by transcriptase »

chilmers wrote: post #374
raffael_de wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While possibly a traumatic experience for Adam, I fail to see the significance of this beyond anecdotal level. And I find it rather odd to argue that after all Google did and didn't do that this is what is causing disillusionment with Google. By now Chrome is basically just a Trojan Horse with advertisement and surveillance for this purpose hidden in the inside.

I think the OP explained the broader significance very well: If Google is firing one of the most successful and active web developer relations people they have, it suggests a strategic downgrade of the Chrome, the web, and engagement in human developers. That's bad news for anyone who builds for the web or who relies on it as an open platform for the dissemination of information and software. I think the position you…

The fact that manifest V3 went through and fundamentally nerfed all extensions that just so happen to block ads and offer privacy means these people failed, regardless of their intentions.

Re: Googler... ex-Googler

#530

Post by thatguysaguy »

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…

The user love/passion on the JAX team is super high. Interacting with them is whatever the opposite of Kafkaesque is.
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