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Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#791

Post by epgui »

vore wrote: post #758
epgui wrote: post #721

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what I think: there's too much uncertainty around what he meant by that. So I refer to the principle of charitable interpretation.

At the level of Elon Musk's influence, if something you can say is so uncertain that there is an uncharitable interpretation you can drive a truck through, I think that arguing that he meant it the charitable way is kind of meaningless when it's just as easy for people to interpret it as his support for the conspiracy theory. We don't live in Elon Musk's head and someone, at a personal level, can choose to take it as…

You're preaching to the choir. I wish he'd think a bit more before tweeting, because I know what he says can have consequences.

However, that doesn't mean I have to interpret his tweets in the worst possible way, or that I can't remind other people of basic principles of civility.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#792

Post by [deleted] »

nharada wrote: post #469
saurik wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elsewhere in this thread, people are discussing a potentially-credible (but maybe you disagree) report on this from Gergely Orosz that does not paint this as "only the 3 senior executives". https://twitter.com/gergelyorosz/status/1587042365084209153?... > I talked with an engineering manager who was at Twitter for 5+ years, and got laid off on Sunday "for cause". They were too exhausted from working over the weekend…

I don't understand why so many people celebrate when Elon treats his underlings like trash. Is it because people hate Twitter and think if you work there you deserve this? Is it because they want to have Elon's level of power and fame where the rules don't apply to them? Something else?

[deleted]

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#793

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

akira2501 wrote: post #241
gwd wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually salespeoples' pay is highly incentivized: I doubt the base salary of those salespeople is $300k. Those $300k people are probably bringing in millions of dollars of revenue apiece. Firing them will reduce operating expenses some, but drastically reduce income as well, unless they're replaced with something else.

Sales managers will just hand the accounts to new executives. It's not as if the business walks away because their AE isn't there anymore. They're spending money on twitter for the benefits it brings them, not to do favors for their favorite executive.

> It's not as if the business walks away because their AE isn't there anymore.

They absolutely will. Media buyers for the gigantic companies expect to be wined and dined very aggressively. Early in my career I worked for an agency that had a couple truly massive EU companies as clients. You know these names. I saw first hand that the personal charisma and relationship of the agency owner was the only reason those execs kept coming back. And he went to very great lengths to stroke their egos.

With buyers that big, there's always another agency. So as soon as the buyer doesn't like something, buh bye.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#794

Post by therealdrag0 »

noirscape wrote: post #504
jdm2212 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything in life is tradeoffs. American software engineers get paid more than basically anyone else in the world, but we also have less job security. What's preferable just depends on your risk aversion vs marginal utility of money.

To offer a bit of counter-perspective, do keep in mind that while American SWEs do get paid more on the average, the costs of living in the US are also sky-high the areas where big software companies operate. Yes, in the EU I get paid a lot less, but the cost of living in Europe is also not nearly as expensive (although we also do pay more taxes). That's not even accounting for job security or workers rights, I seem…

Anytime you compare things anecdotally to people you know be verrry careful. It’s easy to not be comparing apples to apples. Do those people have kids? Rent vs own? How nice of cars? Commute? Sq footage of house? Etc etc. for example, I don’t work for FANG and you probably haven’t heard of my employer, but out of ~300k TC I save 48k cash + 100k stock + ~20k 401k retirement, which I think is pretty good. Tell me if you think I could do better in EU. . And while I live in suburbs of HCOL area, I’m fully remote so could move and save even more. Also remember if you own your house the money is usually not being drained it’s building into an equity nest egg. So at the end of the day the HCOL person will have more wealth even if they have to sell a house and move to use it; that arrow only goes one way (LCOL can’t sell and move to HCOL area and come out ahead).

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#795

Post by filmgirlcw »

stonogo wrote: post #722
IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #713

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to open up this question again after some decades. I don't think it will play out as you might think. Innovation hubs move. Historically, this has always been true. Right now those are SV and NY. It won't remain so.

Silicon Valley, New York, and arguably Texas have been the hubs of computing innovation as long as there has been a commercial computer industry. Other tech hubs have sprung up, but we're looking at forty years of unceasing domination here. Innovation hubs move when new industries arise.

Absolutely.

My only note it is that isn’t 40 years. For SV it’s more like 60 years (going back to the founding of Fairchild) or even longer if you want to go back as far as HP and other radio shops.

For NYC, it’s even longer. IBM has had a major NYC presence since at least the 30s (and obviously its main HQ is less than 40 miles from midtown)! Bell Labs/AT&T was based in Manhattan before moving to New Jersey and obviously is still in the NYC are. And that goes back to the 20s I think.

Not to mention other NYC and NYC adjacent companies like GE. So we’re going back 100 years or more for NYC and 80 for SV.

Xerox’s history combines both areas.

And as you said, Texas has a strong history too with the Motorola stuff and Silicon Prairie.

Historically speaking, Seattle is a relatively new entrant in computing and innovation, only really being a hub for 40 years or so (unless you count Boeing and then it back over 100 years), but is the home of two of the biggest companies of the last 50 years, Microsoft and Amazon.

Dozens and dozens of cities all over the world have tried to be the Silicon Valley of X and none have succeeded. And New York is extremely unique as a global center in dozens of different industries from finance to media to fashion to the arts.

Obviously things could be disrupted. But both of these areas have been innovation hubs for over 100 years, which given the short history of this country, is remarkable.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#796

Post by lupire »

saurik wrote: post #589
eqbridges wrote: post #426

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you cite where it’s been said he’s firing 25% (or any significant percentage) “for cause”? The only parties being cited as fired for cause are the outgoing executives, and WaPo article at the top of this post provides reasons for that.

(I am not responding to the "25%" part as I did not use a percent myself, but am responding to the second, stricter, statement.) Elsewhere in this thread, people are discussing a potentially-credible (but maybe you disagree) report on this from Gergely Orosz that does not paint this as "only the 3 senior executives". https://twitter.com/gergelyorosz/status/1587042365084209153 > I talked with an engineering manager wh…

> laid off "for cause"

This is an oxymoron, so either the tweeter or the manager have no idea what he is talking about.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#797

Post by lupire »

skirmish wrote: post #754
watwut wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zero code situation is wishful thinking - poster just made it up.

I spent the last month prototyping code for a demo that will not be checked in. I have a few small unrelated CLs submitted (minor fixes) but I spent 5 minutes per each, my main work for the month is completely unaccounted for in version control. Should I be fired?

Yeah your shoddy practices are certainly suspect. Why aren't you using version control to checkpoint your prototype?

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#798

Post by lupire »

xeromal wrote: post #599
nharada wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why so many people celebrate when Elon treats his underlings like trash. Is it because people hate Twitter and think if you work there you deserve this? Is it because they want to have Elon's level of power and fame where the rules don't apply to them? Something else?

Probably the same reason people watch drama TV and soaps. It's entertainment

But why are they cheering for the villain?

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#799

Post by xeromal »

lupire wrote: post #798
xeromal wrote: post #599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably the same reason people watch drama TV and soaps. It's entertainment

But why are they cheering for the villain?

Loads of people like negative drama. Housewives, Love is Blind, 90 day fiance are all full of really terrible shitty people.

Re: Musk’s inner circle worked through weekend to cement Twitter layoff plans

#800

Post by JoeJonathan »

Aleksdev wrote: post #645
gaadd33 wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did Twitter already file a WARN act notice about the layoffs? If not, how can it be justified under that?

Correct me if I’m wrong but it all really depends on the contract. I understand there are labor laws in place but if the person agreed to something then I don’t think California law can do much.

California has some of the most stringent labor laws in the country, and labor attorneys have told me judges tend to not look favorably upon contracts that are in direct violation of those laws… especially when those contracts are drafted by high powered legal teams.
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