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HN Title: Signal app's president-"layoffs in tech are to keep salaries in check" That's not what the linked tweet says. Not literally and not implicitly. The

by c7b 4y ago

HN Title: Signal app's president-"layoffs in tech are to keep salaries in check" That's not what the linked tweet says. Not literally and not implicitly. The tweet literally says "It's not about $" - which presumably means that salary costs aren't the main reason for the layoffs, which still doesn't support what the title claims. The point of the post is that it's about power dynamics and reining in "perks/freedom", not salaries.

arcticbull 4y ago
There's a really good general rule - if someone says it's not about the money, it's literally always about the money. Tech layoffs from my perspective were about many companies hiring in 2021/2022 in line with the explosive growth they saw during COVID. They hired in accordance with the new trend instead of the longer-term trend. Once we reverted to the mean, most tech companies had too many employees. Because all the tech companies were chasing the same employees, each individual employee was paid more than historical average too so it was a double-whammy. It's not about lowering individual salaries it's about lowering aggregate salary expenses. But doing one will cause the other, too.
- klyrs 4y ago
  > There's a really good general rule - if someone says it's not about the money, it's literally always about the money. Horse shit. But independently from that: your rule of thumb, good or bad, does not justify editorializing the headline to literally opposite of what's linked.
  - arcticbull 4y ago
    I wasn't suggesting editorializing the headline.
d23 4y ago
You're right. This is one of the most misleading titles I've seen on here.
mort96 4y ago
Yeah, the tweet literally says layoffs in tech are to keep worker power in check. A mod should really reword the title. It's really an interesting and insightful tweet thread which is horribly misrepresented here.
clnq 4y ago
A lot of upper tech management seems really upset when, despite their best efforts to completely encapsulate themselves with yes-men, people started telling them "no". No to commutes and work in the office, no to unpaid overtime (wage theft), no to toxic mismanagement, no to sociopathic C-suites and investors, no to "we are a family" emotional manipulation, and no to underpaid roles targeting "passionate" (exploited) people. Yes, it hurts when one's "family" finally sets some healthy boundaries against one. And that is what a part of this is. Perhaps these CEOs think that the layoffs have a more rational reason, but such reasons sound like like narcissistic personality meltdown type justifications when contrasted with real figures and facts.
- gremlinsinc 4y ago
  All the laidoff people should form a tech union of sorts, one big agency/union/syndicate combo thing where to get talent you gotta go through the union, maybe union gets 0.05% of wage paid by employer in lieu of dues, etc, encourages the union to fight for higher wages too.
  - adolph 4y ago
    Surely they’ll never get laid off with that approach. <Yes, this comment is intentionally ambiguous>
zozbot234 4y ago
This. It's much more of a reaction to the recent "quiet quitting" or "let it rot" trends and attitudes, where people will purposely do shoddy work because there's no real consequences.

by c7b 4y ago

arcticbull 4y ago

There's a really good general rule - if someone says it's not about the money, it's literally always about the money. Tech layoffs from my perspective were about many companies hiring in 2021/2022 in line with the explosive growth they saw during COVID. They hired in accordance with the new trend instead of the longer-term trend. Once we reverted to the mean, most tech companies had too many employees. Because all the tech companies were chasing the same employees, each individual employee was paid more than historical average too so it was a double-whammy. It's not about lowering individual salaries it's about lowering aggregate salary expenses. But doing one will cause the other, too.

klyrs 4y ago
> There's a really good general rule - if someone says it's not about the money, it's literally always about the money. Horse shit. But independently from that: your rule of thumb, good or bad, does not justify editorializing the headline to literally opposite of what's linked.
- arcticbull 4y ago
  I wasn't suggesting editorializing the headline.

d23 4y ago

You're right. This is one of the most misleading titles I've seen on here.

mort96 4y ago

Yeah, the tweet literally says layoffs in tech are to keep worker power in check. A mod should really reword the title. It's really an interesting and insightful tweet thread which is horribly misrepresented here.

clnq 4y ago

A lot of upper tech management seems really upset when, despite their best efforts to completely encapsulate themselves with yes-men, people started telling them "no". No to commutes and work in the office, no to unpaid overtime (wage theft), no to toxic mismanagement, no to sociopathic C-suites and investors, no to "we are a family" emotional manipulation, and no to underpaid roles targeting "passionate" (exploited) people. Yes, it hurts when one's "family" finally sets some healthy boundaries against one. And that is what a part of this is. Perhaps these CEOs think that the layoffs have a more rational reason, but such reasons sound like like narcissistic personality meltdown type justifications when contrasted with real figures and facts.

gremlinsinc 4y ago
All the laidoff people should form a tech union of sorts, one big agency/union/syndicate combo thing where to get talent you gotta go through the union, maybe union gets 0.05% of wage paid by employer in lieu of dues, etc, encourages the union to fight for higher wages too.
- adolph 4y ago
  Surely they’ll never get laid off with that approach. <Yes, this comment is intentionally ambiguous>

zozbot234 4y ago

This. It's much more of a reaction to the recent "quiet quitting" or "let it rot" trends and attitudes, where people will purposely do shoddy work because there's no real consequences.