5 ms·

What I don't understand about this: What's the point of bringing on so many engineers with the expectation of firing many of them? It takes time to get producti

• boringg 4y ago
  I dont think they intended to have to lay off people. If everyone recalls during the core of the pandemic people really thought that this was the new normal. Im sure they thought that this was a full time step change in demand. I doubt they anticipated a recession (much like most companies). The executives at most companies aren't that smart on long term macros, much more reactionary to immediate needs
  • hw 4y ago
    I doubt anyone would do it differently if put in Tobi’s place. If you see a bump in demand and growth for your product, do you just wave it off and hope the existing team can handle the increase stress on infrastructure, product needs, customer support, sales, etc? Why not capitalize on it while you can, and if it doesnt pan out just reverse course and fire fast.
    • zht 4y ago
      I mean this is fine if you just abstract away those people being fired as resources without feelings, bills, families, or opportunity cost…
      • boringg 4y ago
        I mean alternatively they wouldn't have had those jobs and i think the team hired on hope of sustained growth. If we always hired on expectations of layoffs (which i believe were incredibly generous from news reports) your current staff would be be beyond burnt out. Damned if you do damned if you don't situation.
• junofan 4y ago
  Can pitch as growth stock on road show.
• sbarre 4y ago
  In large companies, don't assume that there is a coherent and unified vision on hiring or growth. Different managers/directors/VPs have their own portfolios, their own budgets, their own roadmaps and KPIs. This leads to duplication, inefficiencies, and more.. But tech companies make so much money that in most cases this is accepted as cost of doing business - up to a point. Also in some places, if you don't hire for your headcount, it becomes harder to get it back later when you truly need it.. There is a ton of organizational dysfunction like that in very larger companies (thousands of employees or more), even in the "best" companies that HN likes to fawn over.
  • logifail 4y ago
    > In large companies, don't assume that there is a coherent and unified vision on hiring or growth ...or indeed a coherent and unified vision on anything at all
  • dv_dt 4y ago
    Execs should also get held responsible for some churndex number because that ultimately reflects on how good the execution is in a way that cash flow deltas alone does not reflect.
    • sbarre 4y ago
      Yes but since execs make the rules, they never will... Class solidarity is real.