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> I'm not a fan of Zuckerberg, but his communication about the layoff at Meta was much more timely, clear and empathetic than this note from Jassy. Ironically

> I'm not a fan of Zuckerberg, but his communication about the layoff at Meta was much more timely, clear and empathetic than this note from Jassy. Ironically I remember some rabblerousing around Zuck's announcement as well but overall I would have to agree; Meta was a bit more transparent vs the staggered approach we are seeing from Amazon. It's weird because there's still a 'public gap' with at least Amazon's announcement; as a person who has been at bigcorps, I know a hiring freeze is not a hard freeze or transfer-freeze, necessarily. But the overall messaging here is a bit more grim. > Plus the added departures just from the stress of not knowing who gets cut next. My cynical and experienced self knows that I've sat in interviews where beforehand I was given a psychological profile based on how the candidate answered a questionnaire. (The company was sub 2k employees, which is worth mentioning because it obfuscates who I'm referring to but also shows how 'accessible' this service is.) From this viewpoint, I'd have to say they are hoping that the people who don't jump ship are those confident enough their existing options will vest that they will stay, and can handle the impending work-life-balance disruptions. Of course, they might not -actually- be able to. And some who think they can, cannot, and that will come out in the woodwork. Perhaps more sadly though, are those who couldn't make it and suffered external effects. It's a real concern. I was 'stuck' in a job due to the Great Recession and the consequences of not just quitting and doing some random minwage gig cost me a good 5+ years of my life to get back on my feet (There's still parts I'm trying to fix!) tl;dr - This sounds like turnover for SDEs may get closer to warehouse worker turnover.

bink 4y ago
I remember complaints about Zuckerberg's announcement too, but they were more about the tone of the announcement than the fact that people were being laid off. His email suggested that some people weren't pulling their weight and needed to pick it up or resign. Even if that were the case that's a management or business culture problem and shaming people isn't the proper way to solve it.
lunarpunk 4y ago
I'm very curious, how did staying at a job throw you off your feet more than doing a random minwage gig? Sometimes I have a feeling I could do with a random minwage gig for some time due to fatigue from programming in a corporate environment, but have been putting it off due to it being a questionable financial decision, especially now with a looming recession. Wha
- to11mtm 4y ago
  > I'm very curious, how did staying at a job throw you off your feet more than doing a random minwage gig? At the time, minimum wage was a lot less and other expenses (helping pay for my now-ex-wife's college and car insurance, then a whole long story of undiagnosed ADD) made doing so untenable, especially since about half of that time was before the ACA was in a usable state. I'll note however that there is a difference between fatigue (1), an unhealthy working environment (2), and abuse (3). The job in question was in category 3. It is just over 10 years ago, at that job that my boss told me I couldn't have a day off when my mother had a 50/50 shot of surviving the next 48 hours. Category 2, is something you have to recognize as such, because it has a subtle difference between 1 and 3. (Or, maybe, 3 is a subset of 2.) I've been in that boat, and it tends to be a situation where you can't take a proper break, or every 1-week vacation you ever take makes you regret taking it.

bink 4y ago

I remember complaints about Zuckerberg's announcement too, but they were more about the tone of the announcement than the fact that people were being laid off. His email suggested that some people weren't pulling their weight and needed to pick it up or resign. Even if that were the case that's a management or business culture problem and shaming people isn't the proper way to solve it.

lunarpunk 4y ago

I'm very curious, how did staying at a job throw you off your feet more than doing a random minwage gig? Sometimes I have a feeling I could do with a random minwage gig for some time due to fatigue from programming in a corporate environment, but have been putting it off due to it being a questionable financial decision, especially now with a looming recession. Wha

to11mtm 4y ago
> I'm very curious, how did staying at a job throw you off your feet more than doing a random minwage gig? At the time, minimum wage was a lot less and other expenses (helping pay for my now-ex-wife's college and car insurance, then a whole long story of undiagnosed ADD) made doing so untenable, especially since about half of that time was before the ACA was in a usable state. I'll note however that there is a difference between fatigue (1), an unhealthy working environment (2), and abuse (3). The job in question was in category 3. It is just over 10 years ago, at that job that my boss told me I couldn't have a day off when my mother had a 50/50 shot of surviving the next 48 hours. Category 2, is something you have to recognize as such, because it has a subtle difference between 1 and 3. (Or, maybe, 3 is a subset of 2.) I've been in that boat, and it tends to be a situation where you can't take a proper break, or every 1-week vacation you ever take makes you regret taking it.