4 ms·

It seems like you are in the stage of your career where you are mostly making decisions based on who you want to work with and what interests you. So, if this m

by harryh 10y ago

It seems like you are in the stage of your career where you are mostly making decisions based on who you want to work with and what interests you. So, if this meets those criteria, you should do it. That being said: A) I think you underestimate how out of wack their expenses are. There is a decent chance that larger cuts will come in the next 12 months. B) Additional cuts, along with internal management turmoil, are likely to effect your day to day job there to some degree. Are you comfortable with your manager changing? With the composition of your team changing? Are you the kind of person that just rolls with this sort of thing or will you find it frustrating as it impedes your ability to plan and execute? If I were you, I'd be asking myself these sorts of questions.

wpietri 10y ago
Hi, Harry! (We met at a Scala unconference a while back.) You are a person who knows from turmoil, so I take this advice seriously. You're correct about my motivations; this is a problem I want to work on. After a career in startups I'm more comfortable with turmoil than most, but you're right ability to keep delivering user improvements is very important to me. I suppose the question I have to struggle with is how much this crunch will force positive change versus pathological contraction-cycle chaos. I've seen organizations do both, and from the outside it's hard to guess which one will win out.
- raywu 10y ago
  How Twitter handled Greg Gopman's press situation seemed alarming to me. I wonder how much of it is PR vs cost cutting.
- harryh 10y ago
  (Yes I remember meeting you. I hope you're doing well!) I agree that it's hard to guess how things will go. Predictions are hard, especially about the future. Overall I think that if you go into it with open eyes and are comfortable with the fact that things might not work out the way you hope (but they might!) then it's probably the right thing to do for you. I think you'll get to work on pretty interesting stuff that's very important to the company right now. And if things get too weird/annoying you can always go work somewhere else.
Hydraulix989 10y ago
Re-orgs happen on a yearly basis even in big companies that are stable.
jamesroseman 10y ago
Twitter employee here. Admittedly I work in a remote office and not in HQ, but I've noticed NO day-to-day changes. The work, the management, the atmosphere have all been remarkably consistent despite wild rumors and general craziness. I can't speak to the financials, but this... > Additional cuts, along with internal management turmoil, are likely to effect your day to day job there to some degree. ...is false (in my, and every employee I've spoken to about this, opinion). I'm not saying you shouldn't consider these points, but if you turn down Twitter expressly because you imagine the madhouse inside, I'm here to report no such thing.
- harryh 10y ago
  You are a frog in a slowly boiling pot of water. I see that you are a very young employee in a remote office. As such you are more likely than average to be cut in future layoffs. Depending on your financial situation you should possibly be looking for a new job already. You should definitely start looking for a new job when you hit your year cliff next March. It would be a significant career mistake not to.
  - aswanson 10y ago
    Great objective perspective and advice.
- empath75 10y ago
  It takes a few years, but once you're no longer a growth company and the lay offs start up, the company because a less interesting, more stressful place to work. And the best people stop wanting to work there. (See Yahoo, Aol, etc). What's going to happen now is twitter is going to try and trim down their own projects to siphon as much profit as they can from them, and then try to grow by acquisition instead of innovation...
  - zump 10y ago
    So what? This is happened to every successful startup in existence. A company can't be a startup forever. What it needs to find is a niche which can continue churning out successful products even when the majority of employees are concentrated in the range of 35-50. This is what Microsoft, Intel and Qualcomm do and they're still largely profitable companies.

by harryh 10y ago

wpietri 10y ago

Hi, Harry! (We met at a Scala unconference a while back.) You are a person who knows from turmoil, so I take this advice seriously. You're correct about my motivations; this is a problem I want to work on. After a career in startups I'm more comfortable with turmoil than most, but you're right ability to keep delivering user improvements is very important to me. I suppose the question I have to struggle with is how much this crunch will force positive change versus pathological contraction-cycle chaos. I've seen organizations do both, and from the outside it's hard to guess which one will win out.

raywu 10y ago
How Twitter handled Greg Gopman's press situation seemed alarming to me. I wonder how much of it is PR vs cost cutting.
harryh 10y ago
(Yes I remember meeting you. I hope you're doing well!) I agree that it's hard to guess how things will go. Predictions are hard, especially about the future. Overall I think that if you go into it with open eyes and are comfortable with the fact that things might not work out the way you hope (but they might!) then it's probably the right thing to do for you. I think you'll get to work on pretty interesting stuff that's very important to the company right now. And if things get too weird/annoying you can always go work somewhere else.

Hydraulix989 10y ago

Re-orgs happen on a yearly basis even in big companies that are stable.

jamesroseman 10y ago

Twitter employee here. Admittedly I work in a remote office and not in HQ, but I've noticed NO day-to-day changes. The work, the management, the atmosphere have all been remarkably consistent despite wild rumors and general craziness. I can't speak to the financials, but this... > Additional cuts, along with internal management turmoil, are likely to effect your day to day job there to some degree. ...is false (in my, and every employee I've spoken to about this, opinion). I'm not saying you shouldn't consider these points, but if you turn down Twitter expressly because you imagine the madhouse inside, I'm here to report no such thing.

harryh 10y ago
You are a frog in a slowly boiling pot of water. I see that you are a very young employee in a remote office. As such you are more likely than average to be cut in future layoffs. Depending on your financial situation you should possibly be looking for a new job already. You should definitely start looking for a new job when you hit your year cliff next March. It would be a significant career mistake not to.
- aswanson 10y ago
  Great objective perspective and advice.
empath75 10y ago
It takes a few years, but once you're no longer a growth company and the lay offs start up, the company because a less interesting, more stressful place to work. And the best people stop wanting to work there. (See Yahoo, Aol, etc). What's going to happen now is twitter is going to try and trim down their own projects to siphon as much profit as they can from them, and then try to grow by acquisition instead of innovation...
- zump 10y ago
  So what? This is happened to every successful startup in existence. A company can't be a startup forever. What it needs to find is a niche which can continue churning out successful products even when the majority of employees are concentrated in the range of 35-50. This is what Microsoft, Intel and Qualcomm do and they're still largely profitable companies.