Uh Oh....The Layoffs Begin

https://www.tiktok.com/@anjali_tewani_/video/7172595720770342187?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&q=avoid%20layoff&t=1670054764324

Hard truth that would be denied by all SWEs :slight_smile:

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Takes me back to conversations I had with engineers back in my medical device days. Everything in an FDA regulated industry has to be documented. To get the engineers to comply I always had to throw the “it’s a small world” argument at them. Leave a mess for someone else to clean up that’s got your name all over it and they’ll remember that name. Then, 5 or 10 years later, you’ll go to interview somewhere and one of the people on the interview team will remember you. It’s a small word and people move around.

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In software circles, technology companies are preferred than non tech.

Normally, personal growth is at tech companies as SWE work is a product. Even though support functions are there, all SWE considered working on product and paid accordingly. Stock options, benefits are too good.Lot of learning and earning, growth prospects are good.There are lot of pros in tech companies for SWE !

In non tech, SWE are supporting role for companies, less attractive. Even if SWE are not there, companies can continue run. Such companies can remove entire dept and outsource to a consulting firm later.

If I get an offer from WMT and GOOG, if both terms are almost equal, I would prefer GOOG than WMT!

It’s not just Elon Musk. Tech CEOs everywhere are quietly asking their employees to step it up or risk getting fired.

CEOs and investors are now watching how Twitter — with around 66% of its staff cut — will operate. “Twitter may ultimately end up as the case study on efficiency,” analysts at Bernstein Research wrote, “as ‘Elon’s Razor’ will test just how lean these businesses can run.”

Elon’s Razor.

:razor:

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Hmmm, no. My previous company, C, silently allowed WFH and sold many buildings in Tasman road.

My current company created WFH employee role in HR allowed people to WFH permanently

Three of my relatives in different Bay Area companies asked one day office work rest WFH.

Since Elon , top billionaire, became celebrity whatever he does, News/media hypes for circulation purpose.

Major transformation going on for permanent WFH after Covid 2019

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I can guarantee you CEOs are watching how the situation plays out at Twitter and asking themselves whether they should be doing something similar at their own organizations.

The covid 19 labor market gave workers unprecedented bargaining power and managers basically had to bend over backwards to retain their teams. It’s not a situation that bosses like to be in – handing out huge raises and being over the top flexible to retain very average employees. It affects the culture, with everyone at the organization realizing that they can get by with less effort.

Watching Musk try to cull the wheat from the chaff is fascinating, and begs the question of whether other businesses are languishing because management just isn’t tough enough.

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+1 to what dh0 said.
There is an increased focus on accountability where I work and while we may not agree with how Musk is doing things, the end results will inspire other firms.

+1 to what dh0 said
If the US wants to compete with other countries at the very high end of tech, the current overall softness of management is not going to cut it.

Sales is an area for HUGE efficiency gains. The number of humans and hours per deal is absolutely insane. Industry leading products shouldn’t need a huge effort to sell them. There are efficiency and automation efforts under way for customer support too. QA engineers and programs managers are rare now. Testing is automated and software tools do the job of a program manager.

Also, when companies grow fast they throw people at problems to sustain the growth. It’s not until growth slows or reverses that anyone goes back and asks about automation for processes. Pushing for automation during growth just holds your own career back, because it usually takes managing more people to get promotions.

We aren’t doing layoffs, but we are asking serious questions about headcount and automation. The expectation is to go more efficient and scale for growth without growing headcount.

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Work seems nice…

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.

Is why EM fired most of them.

Reinforcing EM’s view.

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Has it been verified if she works for LinkedIn?

This is the most famous in the “day at work” TikTok series:

https://www.tiktok.com/@howyaaldoin/video/7159208272879226155

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Supposedly she has launched and sold 2 or 3 companies.

But yeah, not sure what she’s doing in Meta specifically as shown in her TikTok video.

Watch from @3:35. None of the large companies can/will do this.

Lot of large companies which have large number people who are essentially working 4 hours a day, few even less. Everybody including the managers should know this. Certainly the employees do and I have a feeling lot of the managers who have come up the same chain know as well. Btw, the managers also waste the whole day just blabbering in meetings and wasting time.

@REInv did say the same sometime in the past and I agree with him.

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Nearly all matured established companies are like that :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth:

Is call bureaucracy.

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Exactly. So, to cut out employees in name of efficiency, 1st job to cut should be large number of managers. Large majority of them don’t have skills to do hands on work, specifically in large companies and have to depend on someone else to tell them whether what their team member is claiming is true or bs.

Anyways it’s built into a large corporation, “you scratch my back and I scratch yours and no questions asked on efficiency” culture. Cuz many not all of the decision makers have come up the chain in the organization in the same way.

This is from a Spacex presentation in 2005.

Note bullet #3 from top. It isn’t really rocket science, but it is for a rocket company :slight_smile: .

Note this point

  • high signal(engineering) to noise(management) ratio

The issue is engineering pay tops out earlier and earlier in a career, because college grad pay is growing faster than sr engineer pay. That means promoting people into management to retain them. Eventually, there’s too many managers. It’s that our plan on nearly 100% turnover every 5 years. Even as it is, turnover rates are 20%+ a year.

I bet there’s a case to be made for increasing sr engineer pay and actually using the additional levels that are rarely used. That would let people have more career growth without forcing them into management.

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In medical device some engineers stuck to engineering, mostly because they couldn’t write. Those who could put together part or all of a cogent FDA submission moved to management but still played a active role in engineering. Middle management was light. Engineers accumulated reports if they could manage, which not all could. But even those who didn’t move up the ladder got decent raises if they were top notch engineers.
Of course, due to massive regulatory and marketing barriers to entry in medical device the model was nearly always to get bought by one of the big guys (a big part of why your medical devices are so expensive). Then the top performers moved on and the deadwood worked for the acquiring Fortune 500 company.