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Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

nytimes.com

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Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#91

Post by neves »

arielweisberg wrote: post #9
Sirizarry wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Programmers in my experience are some of the least risky people I know. The majority will absolutely take their talents to the next highest bidder regardless of moral or ethical scruples. I don’t blame em, personally, I also see it as the only logical outcome

In a country with not much of a social safety net and runaway medical/elder care costs is there really another option? You need to sock away massive amounts of money as quickly as possible if you want to reduce tail risk and as a side bonus you might get to reach financial freedom earlier. My choices would be very different if I didn't think I was more or less on my own.

Well, that's why your country has no social safety net. It is a feature, not a bug :-)

That's why you don't have public health system, or maternity leave, or you have high student debt. To take way your freedom and power where to work.

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#92

Post by rocky1138 »

JohnnyD10 wrote: post #61

I have worked for a company similar in size to Google for a long time. During covid I experienced the highest high of my 18 years here. Flexibility was suddenly rampant (it was forced, but still) in a company that had been stodgy and inflexible since its founding. They began hiring just like Google and every other company did, so jobs were plentiful. This had a 'rising tide' effect on everyone (I got a promotion with…

Your story reminds me a bit of what the working environment of Atari was like according to those who were there during it's heyday.

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#93

Post by aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA »

iainmerrick wrote: post #24
asah wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Xoogler as well - arguably, you could see this coming in the late 2000s. but also: it depends a LOT on which division/group you're in and especially who your manager is - I know a lot of happy googlers who continue to knock-out kickass stuff.

I was thinking about this when reading John Calhoun's post about Tom Dowdy, which has been doing the rounds recently (probably via Daring Fireball): https://www.engineersneedart.com/blog/dowdy/dowdy.html This was the 2nd half of the 90's and Apple was at that point in its history when it was circlng the drain. It was another lesson that would be reinforced over and over in my three-decade career as a programmer: if y…

I ran the strings command on the iTunes application once. Inside the app somewhere were the words "We miss you, Tom."

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#94

Post by infotainment »

dekhn wrote: post #89

They should just shutter Google News. The product quality is abysmal. I get shown articles about astrology because I have shown an interest in astronomy. I often see recommended articles about the "Bay Area" which turns out to be the Chesapeake (or any number of other) Bay Area. It's clear whoever is working on recommendation quality has been asleep at the switch (or fired, or working to make money for crappy clickba…

> I'd like to see Sundar gone too but I don't know who they could find to replace him.

I think a piece of slowly rotting cheese could probably do a better job. You could use the mold growth as a random seed for making decisions, and you’d have about the same hit rate as Sundar.

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#95

Post by nytesky »

Sirizarry wrote: post #87
nytesky wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s an interesting change, from when I graduated two decades ago. I remember I did not want to work for defense contractor and wanted to work on worthwhile work like NASA or something. Course is early-Internet, and I had no idea how expensive life was going to be. But a lot of people did not want to work for a big company, like Microsoft, and open source was a much more heralded movement.

I think that attitude is definitely still around with hackers and enthusiasts but tech and programming as a job has expanded so much that it’s picked up anyone who wants a high paying job with little/less qualification. It’s become a means of rising out of poverty without having to spend thousands on school. I had a solid 7 year run as (mostly) a web dev and I was fully self taught so it was definitely the case for m…

Interestingly, I came from a very modest family (rural south, one parent was a teacher, the other disabled), so I never knew how expensive “city” life would be that most professionals aspire to. So I was mostly interested in interesting and meaningful work, and assumed literally any salary for a college graduate would be more than I ever need.

Wow was I wrong.

So current tech gens are making a killer salary as early and often as possible are making the wise choice. I do also thing the class of grads who used to go to investment banking and consulting now go to tech, and they were always “mercenaries”.

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#96

Post by asadotzler »

scarface_74 wrote: post #78
reaperducer wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The money is too good to give up. Not everyone is motivated by greed.

But surprisingly, as far as I know, no one has found a treatment for people’s addiction to food, clothes and shelter. The reality is that there is a huge difference between what your average CRUD/enterprise developer makes - which describes the vast majority of the 2.7 million developers in the US - and what you can make working at BigTech. Your average CRUD developer in most major cities in the US is going to top ou…

Those can all be had, even decent quality, for far less than a Google salary.

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#97

Post by Sirizarry »

nytesky wrote: post #95
Sirizarry wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that attitude is definitely still around with hackers and enthusiasts but tech and programming as a job has expanded so much that it’s picked up anyone who wants a high paying job with little/less qualification. It’s become a means of rising out of poverty without having to spend thousands on school. I had a solid 7 year run as (mostly) a web dev and I was fully self taught so it was definitely the case for m…

Interestingly, I came from a very modest family (rural south, one parent was a teacher, the other disabled), so I never knew how expensive “city” life would be that most professionals aspire to. So I was mostly interested in interesting and meaningful work, and assumed literally any salary for a college graduate would be more than I ever need. Wow was I wrong. So current tech gens are making a killer salary as early…

I think mercenary is a very apt word to use here. I think I’ll have to use it more often

Re: Google's once happy offices feel the chill of layoffs

#100

Post by scarface_74 »

asadotzler wrote: post #96
scarface_74 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But surprisingly, as far as I know, no one has found a treatment for people’s addiction to food, clothes and shelter. The reality is that there is a huge difference between what your average CRUD/enterprise developer makes - which describes the vast majority of the 2.7 million developers in the US - and what you can make working at BigTech. Your average CRUD developer in most major cities in the US is going to top ou…

Those can all be had, even decent quality, for far less than a Google salary.

Yes, and I did just that. I had my first house built in metro Atlanta making $70K in 2002, it was $170K and my second house built in the north metro area in the “good school system” - 3200 square feet - in 2016 for $335K. I was making $115K when I qualified for it.

I bought my 3rd place - a condo in a resort area in Florida 2 years ago and this is the life we live now - thanks to being able to sell our house that doubled in value in six years.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36306966

Good luck with doing any of that now.

But unless you’re working for a non profit, you’re working for a company whose only motivation is profit. Why wouldn’t you work for BigTech and exchange as much money for your labor as possible?

Especially when you’re young and you have the time value of money working for you?

Right now, I’m only making about $30K more than an entry level dev at BigTech makes and I’m 50. But I don’t have kids to put through college or ever have to think about kids or starting a family (we are empty nesters), my own student loans, trying to buy a home in today’s real estate market etc.

But I also wasn’t able to max out my 401K plan and HSA at 22 years old like a 22 year old that I mentored when they were an intern when they came back the next year.

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