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This certainly feels real to me. Yesterday, I was laid off from my job at Easypost. We had a very big and very painful layoff because my company took on way too

This certainly feels real to me. Yesterday, I was laid off from my job at Easypost. We had a very big and very painful layoff because my company took on way too much leverage. The circumstances of COVID19 were tough to foresee but I really wish we hadn't taken on so much debt while times were good. I have experience in Go, Ruby, Python and I'm excited to hack again.

dijit 7y ago
If you feel like coming over to this side of the pond I’m hiring. We assist in relocation. https://www.massive.se/job/online-infrastructure-engineer-site-reliability-engineer-743999687955339/ https://www.massive.se/job/online-infrastructure-engineer-si...
- justinzollars 7y ago
  thanks I'll check it out
kypro 7y ago
Best of luck finding your next job. It can be hard while you're searching, but some how it always works out for the best.
Dumblydorr 7y ago
Nothing personal, but how is it not a company's fault to take on tons of leverage and not have cash reserves? I know this is typical SV growth mindset, but it isn't conventional financial wisdom. Seems to me companies need to get lucky if they go growth at all costs, because if you havent flipped the profit switch before a recession, your balance sheets are too red.
- dustingetz 7y ago
  When one org takes on too much leverage it is the org's fault When every org, smb, landlord and individual takes on too much leverage, it is the macro economic system we exist in that is at fault
  - watwut 7y ago
    It is not case that every org, smb, landlord and individual took on too much leverage. Quite a few among those who are laying people off run out of money because their customers are not buying services now or because they were flat out closed. Which is something else then "my company took on way too much leverage".
    - dustingetz 7y ago
      Do you have a credit card, a car payment, a mortgage, rent or lease, or a student loan? Can you make payments for several months without a salary? Several years? Literally everything for the last 50+ years is financed with debt, labor doesn't own anything anymore, and it's not possible to opt out of debt and simultaneously compete, which is how we got in this Chinese finger trap in the first place.
      - watwut 7y ago
        I can make payments for a year without changing lifestyle much. That was intentional, I had the option to spend all money. I never pretended I am poor. I work as programmer and so does my partner. Most people on this forum are not poor. We are comparatively well paid group. There is debt and then there is excessive debt or "leverage". Ans when management take on excessive leverage so that you fulfill your dream of being big and then company fails, yes it is management fault. "We took excessive debt and then failed by no mistake of ours" is an oxymoron and illogical statement. That is not nearly the same as debt because your kid would die without it or something like that.
        dustingetz 7y ago
        Sorry wasn't aiming at you individually. My point is that debt == leverage and every one of us is complicit in this insane and unsustainable system.
  - frockington1 7y ago
    If you look at some of the biggest winners out of '08/'09 it was the institutions with large balance sheets and cash reserves. With earnings season just starting we are able to see the value of a strong balance sheet. Seems to me the macro economic system is rewarding those who bothered with risk management
- jazzyk 7y ago
  I wholeheartedly agree with you, but the fault lies with the Federal Reserve, which has been promoting reckless behavior for years now. Artificially setting interest rates so low (say 1%) that by saving money, you are actually losing money to inflation (real inflation at least 5%, if you include healthcare, real estate and higher education) promotes over-leveraging and that's what we got.
treyfitty 7y ago
> It was no fault of our own because the circumstances of COVID were impossible to foresee. This is one of the biggest fallacies in modern finance. COVID was merely the catalyst which exposed terrible finances. The idea of unforeseeable black swans has become nothing more than a trope of an excuse that it's lost all meaning. Sure, the pandemic itself is a "black swan" but the subset/collection of events that lend itself to economic disaster is actually not that rare. Case in point: 9/11, Tech Bubble burst, Financial Crisis, Covid-19. This was all in a span of ~20 years. So let's revisit this: Is economic collapse really that rare? No. But people construct their businesses as if they are, and we always see these house of cards tumble. The other group of businesses who acknowledge the possibility of an economic collapse subscribe to the false pretense that THEIR company is immune because they're so "essential." In both cases, growth at all costs seems to be the mantra. How is this sustainable beyond the Fed Lottery? At this point, it hasn't become a Lottery anymore.
- watwut 7y ago
  Issue is that system in normal state favors "house of cards" companies. Both as simply value thing, but also in material financial terms. In values, I have read a lot praise for risk taking over years and rewards for it. I have read comparatively less praise for prudent decision making or what happen when risk part of risk happen. People are said to get rich because they "took the risk" and are poor because they were either lazy or did not took risk. But the part when people take the risk and become poor is never said, as if we wanted to pretend it never happens. In finances, companies that risk a lot and grow and now are about to fail are way more likely to be saved then a company that was more responsible.
- 2019-nCoV 7y ago
  COVID is not a black swan (unknown unknown), but a white swan (known unknown). A looming Coronavirus pandemic was a well known global catastrophic risk.

dijit 7y ago

If you feel like coming over to this side of the pond I’m hiring. We assist in relocation. https://www.massive.se/job/online-infrastructure-engineer-site-reliability-engineer-743999687955339/ https://www.massive.se/job/online-infrastructure-engineer-si...

justinzollars 7y ago
thanks I'll check it out

kypro 7y ago

Best of luck finding your next job. It can be hard while you're searching, but some how it always works out for the best.

Dumblydorr 7y ago

Nothing personal, but how is it not a company's fault to take on tons of leverage and not have cash reserves? I know this is typical SV growth mindset, but it isn't conventional financial wisdom. Seems to me companies need to get lucky if they go growth at all costs, because if you havent flipped the profit switch before a recession, your balance sheets are too red.

dustingetz 7y ago
When one org takes on too much leverage it is the org's fault When every org, smb, landlord and individual takes on too much leverage, it is the macro economic system we exist in that is at fault
- watwut 7y ago
  It is not case that every org, smb, landlord and individual took on too much leverage. Quite a few among those who are laying people off run out of money because their customers are not buying services now or because they were flat out closed. Which is something else then "my company took on way too much leverage".
  - dustingetz 7y ago
    Do you have a credit card, a car payment, a mortgage, rent or lease, or a student loan? Can you make payments for several months without a salary? Several years? Literally everything for the last 50+ years is financed with debt, labor doesn't own anything anymore, and it's not possible to opt out of debt and simultaneously compete, which is how we got in this Chinese finger trap in the first place.
    - watwut 7y ago
      I can make payments for a year without changing lifestyle much. That was intentional, I had the option to spend all money. I never pretended I am poor. I work as programmer and so does my partner. Most people on this forum are not poor. We are comparatively well paid group. There is debt and then there is excessive debt or "leverage". Ans when management take on excessive leverage so that you fulfill your dream of being big and then company fails, yes it is management fault. "We took excessive debt and then failed by no mistake of ours" is an oxymoron and illogical statement. That is not nearly the same as debt because your kid would die without it or something like that.
      - dustingetz 7y ago
        Sorry wasn't aiming at you individually. My point is that debt == leverage and every one of us is complicit in this insane and unsustainable system.
- frockington1 7y ago
  If you look at some of the biggest winners out of '08/'09 it was the institutions with large balance sheets and cash reserves. With earnings season just starting we are able to see the value of a strong balance sheet. Seems to me the macro economic system is rewarding those who bothered with risk management
jazzyk 7y ago
I wholeheartedly agree with you, but the fault lies with the Federal Reserve, which has been promoting reckless behavior for years now. Artificially setting interest rates so low (say 1%) that by saving money, you are actually losing money to inflation (real inflation at least 5%, if you include healthcare, real estate and higher education) promotes over-leveraging and that's what we got.

treyfitty 7y ago

> It was no fault of our own because the circumstances of COVID were impossible to foresee. This is one of the biggest fallacies in modern finance. COVID was merely the catalyst which exposed terrible finances. The idea of unforeseeable black swans has become nothing more than a trope of an excuse that it's lost all meaning. Sure, the pandemic itself is a "black swan" but the subset/collection of events that lend itself to economic disaster is actually not that rare. Case in point: 9/11, Tech Bubble burst, Financial Crisis, Covid-19. This was all in a span of ~20 years. So let's revisit this: Is economic collapse really that rare? No. But people construct their businesses as if they are, and we always see these house of cards tumble. The other group of businesses who acknowledge the possibility of an economic collapse subscribe to the false pretense that THEIR company is immune because they're so "essential." In both cases, growth at all costs seems to be the mantra. How is this sustainable beyond the Fed Lottery? At this point, it hasn't become a Lottery anymore.

watwut 7y ago
Issue is that system in normal state favors "house of cards" companies. Both as simply value thing, but also in material financial terms. In values, I have read a lot praise for risk taking over years and rewards for it. I have read comparatively less praise for prudent decision making or what happen when risk part of risk happen. People are said to get rich because they "took the risk" and are poor because they were either lazy or did not took risk. But the part when people take the risk and become poor is never said, as if we wanted to pretend it never happens. In finances, companies that risk a lot and grow and now are about to fail are way more likely to be saved then a company that was more responsible.
2019-nCoV 7y ago
COVID is not a black swan (unknown unknown), but a white swan (known unknown). A looming Coronavirus pandemic was a well known global catastrophic risk.