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That comparison is however completely irrelevant to Twitter. It may seem to ignorant people that a space program is more advanced than "just a website" but act

That comparison is however completely irrelevant to Twitter. It may seem to ignorant people that a space program is more advanced than "just a website" but actually running these kind of websites is extremely complex. Especially when you're needing to compete with Facebook and Google at serving ads in a relevant and effective way. It is really interesting reading through their infrastructure challenges alone: https://blog.twitter.com/engineering/en_us/topics/infrastructure https://blog.twitter.com/engineering/en_us/topics/infrastruc...

whywhywhywhy 4y ago
> at serving ads in a relevant and effective way. Anyone ever seen a relevant Twitter ad? Just seems very dumb location based placement. Nowhere near the level of IG.
- threeseed 4y ago
  > Nowhere near the level of IG Facebook and Google are in a completely different league which is why for most brands ~95% of online ad spend is spent there. Twitter has been slowly getting better until now when Musk's attitude has frightened the brands off i.e. GM, L'Oreal, Pfizer etc.
- marsven_422 4y ago
pushkine 4y ago
It's crazy the number of people on HN somehow claiming that Twitter is this well run and well functioning tech company now that bad rocket man took the reigns and decided to lay off everyone... Isn't it a consensus among tech people that Twitter is the absolute worst tech company?
- KaiserPro 4y ago
  Twitter was a bit shit. But its up and running more or less in real time for millions of users. Thats pretty impressive. Its business is shit, yes. Musk looks like hes done the classic: "the office is clean why do I need cleaners" dance. I am surprised he can fire that many people that quickly and still expect momentum. It doesn't help that he appears to be shitting out product ideas that he's just "dreamt" up. Rather than talking to people to see why twitter didn't do it in the first place. He clearly has a low opinion of the entire company.
  - type-r 4y ago
    There's a ton of websites that are up and running for millions of users. That should be table stakes for running an online service.
- cheeze 4y ago
  > Isn't it a consensus among tech people that Twitter is the absolute worst tech company? I don't think so. I see far more hate towards Meta and Amazon.
- kristjansson 4y ago
  I think a lot of people viewed Twitter as poorly-monetized and -managed as product and business, but generally competitive as a technical organization.
  - alex_sf 4y ago
    Not really. It's been known for a while that the tech side of Twitter is incredibly low-performing.
  - Strom 4y ago
    Over the years in various hiring threads it's been common to describe Twitter as the giant tech comapny you go to when you can't get hired anywhere else. Twitter has definitely had a reputation for a long time for being bloated and filled with less-than-competent employees. It's only earlier this year that I've seen the discussion shift towards this idea of Twitter being a competent group.
i_like_apis 4y ago
Whew - even with your empty caveat against saying what I’m about to say: Designing reusable rockets and launching hundreds of them into space for profit, is more complicated and requires a different caliber of frankly higher IQ worker, than building and maintaining the existing Twitter. Not that there aren’t some smart web people, obviously.
- Der_Einzige 4y ago
  Well up till now, Twitter paid better and was considered a near FAANG caliber gig. Tesla is known for fucked up WLB and low compensation compared to FAANG. I bet Twitter employees have higher average IQ. Especially compared to whoever at Tesla authorized removing radar and parking sensors.
  - EricDeb 4y ago
    I assume tesla could attract talent at those salaries due to the stock prospects. Wonder if that's the case nowadays.
  - throwaway29303 4y ago
    Especially compared to whoever at Tesla authorized removing radar and parking sensors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W1JBAfV4Io https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W1JBAfV4Io
    - nikau 4y ago
      Their crappy auto wipers and auto highbeams haven't dissuaded customers, so why not crappy parking sensors.
- jpalawaga 4y ago
  Just because it's easy for you, doesn't mean it's easy for everyone. rocket science and software engineering are two skills that take years of experience to hone. they come with their own set of challenges. i feel like this sentiment belongs alongside "isn't netflix just an ftp server and a media player?"
NotYourLawyer 4y ago
How many employees would it take to just maintain the status quo? Code freeze, no more features and bug fixes. Just keep the lights on and keep selling ads.

whywhywhywhy 4y ago

> at serving ads in a relevant and effective way. Anyone ever seen a relevant Twitter ad? Just seems very dumb location based placement. Nowhere near the level of IG.

threeseed 4y ago
> Nowhere near the level of IG Facebook and Google are in a completely different league which is why for most brands ~95% of online ad spend is spent there. Twitter has been slowly getting better until now when Musk's attitude has frightened the brands off i.e. GM, L'Oreal, Pfizer etc.
marsven_422 4y ago

pushkine 4y ago

It's crazy the number of people on HN somehow claiming that Twitter is this well run and well functioning tech company now that bad rocket man took the reigns and decided to lay off everyone... Isn't it a consensus among tech people that Twitter is the absolute worst tech company?

KaiserPro 4y ago
Twitter was a bit shit. But its up and running more or less in real time for millions of users. Thats pretty impressive. Its business is shit, yes. Musk looks like hes done the classic: "the office is clean why do I need cleaners" dance. I am surprised he can fire that many people that quickly and still expect momentum. It doesn't help that he appears to be shitting out product ideas that he's just "dreamt" up. Rather than talking to people to see why twitter didn't do it in the first place. He clearly has a low opinion of the entire company.
- type-r 4y ago
  There's a ton of websites that are up and running for millions of users. That should be table stakes for running an online service.
cheeze 4y ago
> Isn't it a consensus among tech people that Twitter is the absolute worst tech company? I don't think so. I see far more hate towards Meta and Amazon.
kristjansson 4y ago
I think a lot of people viewed Twitter as poorly-monetized and -managed as product and business, but generally competitive as a technical organization.
- alex_sf 4y ago
  Not really. It's been known for a while that the tech side of Twitter is incredibly low-performing.
- Strom 4y ago
  Over the years in various hiring threads it's been common to describe Twitter as the giant tech comapny you go to when you can't get hired anywhere else. Twitter has definitely had a reputation for a long time for being bloated and filled with less-than-competent employees. It's only earlier this year that I've seen the discussion shift towards this idea of Twitter being a competent group.

i_like_apis 4y ago

Whew - even with your empty caveat against saying what I’m about to say: Designing reusable rockets and launching hundreds of them into space for profit, is more complicated and requires a different caliber of frankly higher IQ worker, than building and maintaining the existing Twitter. Not that there aren’t some smart web people, obviously.

Der_Einzige 4y ago
Well up till now, Twitter paid better and was considered a near FAANG caliber gig. Tesla is known for fucked up WLB and low compensation compared to FAANG. I bet Twitter employees have higher average IQ. Especially compared to whoever at Tesla authorized removing radar and parking sensors.
- EricDeb 4y ago
  I assume tesla could attract talent at those salaries due to the stock prospects. Wonder if that's the case nowadays.
- throwaway29303 4y ago
  Especially compared to whoever at Tesla authorized removing radar and parking sensors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W1JBAfV4Io https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W1JBAfV4Io
  - nikau 4y ago
    Their crappy auto wipers and auto highbeams haven't dissuaded customers, so why not crappy parking sensors.
jpalawaga 4y ago
Just because it's easy for you, doesn't mean it's easy for everyone. rocket science and software engineering are two skills that take years of experience to hone. they come with their own set of challenges. i feel like this sentiment belongs alongside "isn't netflix just an ftp server and a media player?"

NotYourLawyer 4y ago

How many employees would it take to just maintain the status quo? Code freeze, no more features and bug fixes. Just keep the lights on and keep selling ads.