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Oracle slashes 30k jobs

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Re: Oracle slashes 30k jobs

#671

Post by torginus »

mft_ wrote: post #240
kyledrake wrote: post #157

The bulk of the comments in here are focused on comparing Larry Ellison to a lawn mower, so I'll try a new tack and say that I'm genuinely confused at what the value prop of Oracle is. Given the history of their business model being licensing of important databases that are hard to switch off of, I've actually made a point to avoid using Oracle as much as possible (even so far as to leave MySQL when they acquired it,…

They sell to cash-rich organisations who are a bit clueless about technology and so can't or wouldn't want to either roll their own, or go with a better but smaller provider? e.g. I was unsurprised when I spotted that Novartis (no connection, btw) was deep in with Oracle. Big pharma, lots of money, typically-clueless-big-org-IT-leadership, etc. (LOL, Novartis also uses SAP.)

The whole medical industries business model is that they create so much compliance regulation that you need every compliance product under the sun to comply with them, thereby you can keep out competition.

Re: Oracle slashes 30k jobs

#672

Post by duskwuff »

tombert wrote: post #298
rbanffy wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Clojure Apple should do more of that - they make cool computers, and should use cool languages.

Yeah, I wish they did more Clojure as well. As far as I could tell, it was kind of snuck in about ~12 years ago, and it kind of grew from there. To be fair, I know people hate on it, but I honestly do kind of think Objective C is kind of a cool language. I think it's ugly but I think the message-passing style semantics are kind of neat.

Objective C is neat inasmuch as it managed to add a simple but practical object system to C without all the added baggage of C++. It wasn't without its downsides - in particular, the overhead of a method call was significantly higher than in C++ - but I still appreciate it for its minimalism.

Re: Oracle slashes 30k jobs

#673

Post by mort96 »

tombert wrote: post #443
mort96 wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure GraalVM is nice enough technology but I don't understand why anyone would actively choose to use a JVM from Oracle if they can avoid it.

The Ahead of Time compilation is pretty nice for some stuff. Generally startup time is significantly improved, so if you're writing command line tools in particular it can be cool.

Most languages I write are ahead of time compiled with pretty good startup time so it's not really a need I have that I feel GraalVM solves?

Re: Oracle slashes 30k jobs

#674

Post by kleiba »

sneak wrote: post #299
kleiba wrote: post #224

Between employers and employees, loyalty is only expected one way.

Not really. You can quit at any time, too. A job today isn’t (and shouldn’t be) any guarantee of a job tomorrow.

I guess what I meant to say is that clearly, one side here expects loyalty from the other side but isn't really giving any themselves.

Re: Oracle slashes 30k jobs

#675

Post by bombcar »

shepherdjerred wrote: post #432
js8 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, it is. You have been blinded by capitalism to consider it ethical. The tribes usually treat the members as a family. While kicking someone from a tribe can happen, it's considered to be a harsh punishment. In a tribe, when hard times come, people usually redistribute. That's a normal, human way of dealing with that situation. Not a layoff. The other aspect is the economic crises. When a central bank decides…

My employer is not my “tribe”. That is crazy. We have a contract saying I do X units of work and they pay me Y in return. Either of us end it at any time. At least this is in the case in the US. What you are saying might be true in other cultures.

What we have in the USA is not necessarily the final and best form of all interactions, as much as it pains me to say it.

Most people's reactions to large-scale movements like this seem to imply that we feel there should be something more than a simple "money duty" between employer and employee, and we seem to also have respect for companies that act that way (e.g, some Japanese companies perhaps, or baseball teams keeping a sick player on the payroll so they get healthcare even though they never play another game).

Attempting to realize that duty and at the same time abscond it to the state or the family may be an aspect of the failing.

Re: Oracle slashes 30k jobs

#676

Post by Rapzid »

niek_pas wrote: post #406
chekibreki wrote: post #110

Full text of e-mail: We are sharing some difficult news regarding your position. After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change. As a result, today is your last working day. We are grateful for your dedication, hard work, and the impact you have made during your time with us. After signing your termination pap…

> As a result, today is your last working day. As a European, I never realized that this is allowed under US labor law. That is absolutely insane. EDIT: some commentors have pointed out that the workers collect severance and unemployment --- I was not aware this is law in California, and that changes matters. I would, though, still find being suddenly out of a job fairly traumatic.

All the extra notice in the world wouldn't make me want to trade our tech jobs market and salaries for that of Europe's.

Re: Oracle slashes 30k jobs

#677

Post by [deleted] »

tombert wrote: post #622
bsimpson wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since moving to NYC, I'm surprisingly close to cashflow neutral. The cost of living is crazy expensive here. I'm for sure timing my exit based on the vesting schedule.

Just an FYI, if you're ok with not being in Manhattan or the cool parts of Brooklyn, it's really not that bad. I live pretty far east in Brooklyn. I'm still only a few blocks away from a train; apartments in this area, even with a bedroom, can go for less than $2,000/month. Not "cheap" but not unlivable either.

[deleted]

Re: Oracle slashes 30k jobs

#678

Post by cyberpunk »

DrJokepu wrote: post #453
chasil wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are three different Db2 databases. I believe the mainframe version was first. There is a version baked into the os/400 operating system (i series). Then unix/windows Db2 came last, if memory serves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Db2

I only ever worked with the Linux/Windows variant. I can’t believe I am saying this about an IBM product, but I found it to be actually rather pleasant to work with.

It’s def got 80’s hacker movie vibes, typing “Iniate log rotation sequence;” etc just screams out for a green terminal emulator.

Re: Oracle slashes 30k jobs

#679

Post by superfrank »

dafelst wrote: post #2

More victims of AI. Not actually of "AI is replacing jobs", more "oh shit we are spending too much and the product isn't good enough for us to ever make a return on our absurd over-investment".

I think you're mostly right.

This round of layoffs was telegraphed at a month or so ago. It's all related to banks getting spooked and pulling funding for their massive data center project and the OpenAI deal being on the rocks.

So, I don't think it's really about their product being good enough, it's more that they've bet the company on data centers and it's starting to look like they just don't have the skills to execute on it.

Re: Oracle slashes 30k jobs

#680

Post by bombcar »

Aurornis wrote: post #537
niek_pas wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point was that going from (let's say) 'employed, productive member of the workforce, with social relationships at work' to 'sitting at home collecting unemployment' with no transition, no coaching, in the scope of 5 minutes seems like a traumatic rupture. (I'm not saying I _know_ better, just how I think I would _experience_ such a thing.) Losing a job happens everywhere, but there are different ways to handle it,…

I've been laid off. It's not fun and there a lot of emotions to process at first. Let me tell you, though. All of the gestures that come from the company doing the layoff like coaching services or transition resources felt pretty useless. They were actually trying, but everything in it seemed more like it was to soothe their conscience than to help me out. When other people get laid off I recommend they try not to pu…

The best "layoff" support I've received has been early notice (e.g., you're laid off at the end of next month, but we give fuck-all cares if you even bother coming in anymore, feel free to) and personal support from managers/those remaining behind.

Anything an employer can do at scale can be reduced to cash, and cash is king.

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