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Layoffs at Block

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Re: Layoffs at Block

#991

Post by sickcodebruh »

nyantaro1 wrote: post #922
sickcodebruh wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Started looking in November, four offers by end of January, all decent, last two competing offers were fantastic with great companies and I accepted one. Past few months and even now I’ve had more inbounds from recruiters than any time since Covid boom. Offer salaries aren’t as high as Covid boom days but there are a ton of startups that need people.

How was the interview process? If you don't mind me asking

Varied. Most were exactly the same processes I remembered from interviewing years ago: some startups with no processes and unable to get signals, big public tech companies abusing leetcode, awkward screeners hoping for keywords, and everything in between for the most part. Biggest change is they all asked about AI and wanted to hear that I embrace modern tools and am hungry to find the best ways to work. I am positive that skepticism about AI in November prevented me from getting some interviews; demonstrating fluency (insofar as one can be fluent in these racing waters) and excitement for it in January was key to getting some (but not all) offers.

Around 12 calls if I remember correctly. With the exception of those who ghosted me, every company was very prompt, respectful of my time, and had a reasonable process that went from first to final interview pretty fast. I got a ton of outright rejections to my resume, which I sent around a lot. Getting the first call was the hardest part. YC job board ultimately led to finding my new role.

The company I went with had the best, warmest process that reflected how they like to work and was built to find people who had overlapping priorities. Thinking back, I think that most companies either deliberately or inadvertently wind up with processes that sync up with how they are organized internally and what kind of people they hope to hire.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#992

Post by EdiX »

veryemartguy wrote: post #962
EdiX wrote: post #710

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And twitter hasn't launched one single meaningful anything since. Longer tweets? Analytics? Premium? Grok? AI autogenerated news summaries? Livestreaming? I honestly have a harder time trying to think of features launched between 2011 and 2022, besides spaces.

lol there’s no way you’re this delusional

Cry more.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#993

Post by agnishom »

make_it_sure wrote: post #883
agnishom wrote: post #611

> i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. Sounds like a false dichotomy. The third option is that he could have kept them around. It would be financially feasible given that "our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving.".

it's a business, why he should keep people if company doesn't need them? A business is not a charity

I am not saying that he should. He is pretending that his hand was forced. I am saying that it wasn't. He made a choice. You may say that it is the rational choice, but that is a different debate.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#994

Post by michaelcampbell »

shaftway wrote: post #444
senko wrote: post #254

This is one of the best (if not the best) layoff letters I've seen online (no affiliation, don't know anyone working there, purely outsider perspective). * Severance packages upfront because realistically that's what everyone worries about first. * Reasoning second. I appreciate the one clean cut vs prolonged bleeding. * Owning the decision and respecting the people that got you there. Opting for an awkward allhands…

It should be good. It's the third time he's written this exact same announcement, including "taking the blame" and "making the difficult choice to cut a large group instead of smaller cuts over time" and "thanking the expendables that got the company where it is."

"some of you may die, but it's a risk I'm willing to take"

Re: Layoffs at Block

#995

Post by atleastoptimal »

orphea wrote: post #977
atleastoptimal wrote: post #937

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That helps, but there's a reason why the collective economy of the EU has produced only like 1/10 the number of unicorns over the past 30 years despite their GDP being around 2/3 the US's

Almost like producing unicorns is not the single most important thing in the world.

Well with respect to economic dynamism it ranks pretty highly.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#996

Post by pembrook »

squidbeak wrote: post #820
pembrook wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is also why your countries social welfare systems are teetering on fiscal insolvency and deficits are ballooning. Your inefficient and non-competitive private sector isn't growing fast enough to fund your growing demand for free stuff in the public sector. Maybe if companies and entrepreneurs were allowed to shift more rapidly to meet market demand your legacy giants (and social welfare meal ticket) wouldn't be…

It's amazing how reflexively the taunts always start with welfare. The case for prioritizing people over corporations shouldn't ever need to be made.

The private sector is who ultimately pays for the welfare, so if you care about people you need to prioritize the health of your corporations.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#997

Post by izacus »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #931
izacus wrote: post #888

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember that economists think that this process you're talking about is healthy, good and this is how companies should be run. Take massive loans, hire, then discard people when you don't need them. DOW is at 50.000.

what is sad is that it's not possible to tell if this is a genuine thought or sarcasm. HN is weird like that.

I want to clarify that it, indeed, was sarcasm. Mostly... I'm honestly not sure myself anymore when I listen to some economics "experts". :(

Re: Layoffs at Block

#998

Post by Rummelj »

the part that gets me is "our business is strong, gross profit continues to grow." they didnt fire 4000 people because things were bad. they fired them because things were good enough that AI could handle the rest. thats a fundamentally different kind of layoff and i dont think we have the language for it yet. theres a novel i read recently (the silicon ceiling, jude sterling) where a swiss farmer gets a report telling him to cull his oldest cow because the algorithm says its inefficient. he knows the cow is fine but the spreadsheet says otherwise. thats basically what happened at block except the cows are software engineers. and the spreadsheet was right about the margins.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#1000

Post by gdilla »

charcircuit wrote: post #209
gdilla wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because that doesn't increase shareholder value, at least in the short term, which is all anyone cares about now.

Have you not noticed the massive datacenter build out consuming tons of capital right now?

sure? and helped paid for culling their workforce, hiring slow downs, and charging higher pricse.
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