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Ask HN: Where are laid off employees gathering?
I'm in SF. Besides the linkedin posts... is there a forum, discussion etc? I feel like I saw a thing/form launched on HN. Also - might be time for an old fashioned meet up!
- nnurmanov 4y agoThere is xgooglers community https://xoogler.co/ https://xoogler.co/, I think they hold meetings
- schience 4y agothanks.. I remember hearing about that in 2009 :) There must/should to be something thats more open to the thousands of people recently forced into the job market across many companies?
- nnurmanov 4y agoI am not a part of that community, but I believe the purpose of the community is to help colleagues. They even have a jobboard!
- flat-pluto 4y agoBlind[1] is a decent community to get a glimpse into what employees truly feel about employers, get referrals and overall tech career advice. It can get rather toxic and troll-ey at times, but you can filter that out to focus on the useful stuff. [1] - https://www.teamblind.com/ https://www.teamblind.com/
- dangwhy 4y agoblind has to be the most toxic community in tech. I don't know if i can handle the mental damage for referrals and insider info on prospective employers.
- kulahan 4y agoEveryone on Blind is a Principal Engineer making $750k TC while only working 8 hours a month
- danpalmer 4y agoI get a similar impression. The community is deeply negative, and deeply cynical about everything. Everyone seems to only care about compensation. It seems full of the sort of people who put zero effort in but who know how to play the corporate game enough to negotiate big salaries, only to then moan about poor performance reviews or getting laid off.
- cactusplant7374 4y agoThis is a typical Blind response: https://imgur.com/a/X7tSrGf https://imgur.com/a/X7tSrGf Bragging about their workplace.
- twalla 4y agoYou forgot the weekly posts about which brand of toilet bowl cleaner has the most prestige.
- cvhashim04 4y agoAside from referrals channel, Blind is terribly neurotic and toxic.
- maximinus_thrax 4y agoAt times? It's a cesspool of negativity and lies. Good content is the exception on Blind. Deleting that app is one of the best things someone can do for their mental health.
- pm90 4y agoI can second this. I made the mistake of downloading it once big players started layoffs in hopes of getting in on the news before it hit. But that forum is toxic sludge for anyone’s mental health. I don’t use it anymore. The only time I download the app is like glassdoor when figuring out if a company is ok or not.
- anon7725 4y agoI would not trust Glassdoor reviews whatsoever. Companies can pay to curate reviews.
- cactusplant7374 4y agoThey are discussing this thread here: https://www.teamblind.com/post/The-Hacker-News-community-views-Blind-negatively-eQPnBugm https://www.teamblind.com/post/The-Hacker-News-community-vie... Partial archive: https://archive.ph/npoh6 https://archive.ph/npoh6 As you would expect, it's horrible. The moderation is quite bad too. They'll ban you for just saying you disagree with someone depending on the topic.
- maximinus_thrax 4y ago> The moderation is quite bad too. What moderation? There's been a picture of feces inside a toilet bowl on that Blind thread for the past 3 hours.
- cactusplant7374 4y agoFeast or famine, as they say. Whole new meaning to the phrase "shit hole."
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- Vibgyor5 4y agoDoes anyone have ANY recommendations for referral platform? Cold application is fairly useless in today's age and time. A referral puts your application much ahead in the pool so that a human actually reads it. Blind used to be a tolerable place until they made it exclusively US-centric. Importantly, I really loved their side product - Rooftop Slushie - where you could have resume reviews, interview prep, and get trusted referrals for a small sum. They seem to have closed that though.
- sebzim4500 4y ago>Cold application is fairly useless in today's age and time. Really? 95% of the people I've been involved in hiring have been cold applicants or via a recruiter (where normally those connections aren't made by referrals either).
- zug_zug 4y agoI'll go ahead and defend blind. It's absolutely negative to the extreme, but it gave me the heads up on a layoff and has all sorts of relevant information. I've come to realize I (we?) trust companies so little that many people would never even complain in a private direct message to a coworker -- pretty hard to commiserate if you're remote. Most coworkers I know refuse to fill out any "how happy are you at work?" surveys or fill out max scores because they think (and I don't doubt them) that any and all information could be used by management to jeopardize their career -- basically they see their work an totalitarian information state...
- pastacacioepepe 4y ago> I've come to realize I (we?) trust companies so little that many people would never even complain in a private direct message to a coworker We claim to live in democracies, while in fact we spend good part of our adult life in parallel societies where we can't even express dissent in private.
- anon7725 4y agoThis right here. Blind contains a lot of noise but also some signal. Internal corporate comms are 100% noise and unless you have a trusted and informed coworker the grapevine doesn’t tell you much.
- schience 4y agoMaybe I was thinking of this: https://layoffs.fyi/ https://layoffs.fyi/. The "list of employees" must be an opt in spreadsheets where people are posting their own info. Could be improved with a forum IMO.
- zeptonaut22 4y agoThe closest thing to gathering I've seen is the consistency of posting on LinkedIn with the #layoffs and #opentowork tags. I've also seen a decent amount of activity in the ex-Googler community where former Google leaders (e.g. Laszlo Block, former head of HR) host Zoom discussions about what life's like on the outside and whatnot.
- eldritch_4ier 4y ago"what's life like on the outside" haha. It blows my mind how disconnected some people in tech are.
- firstfewshells 4y agoEach man for himself. I'm seeing a dog eats dog mentality.
- PaulHoule 4y agoPast that, why do you want to hang out with other people who are doing poorly when you could be hanging out with people who are doing better?
- galleywest200 4y agoBeing laid off does not equate to doing poorly. Some people just get cut because some people who wear suits to work seem to not care.
- DiggyJohnson 4y agoI think you're interpreting "doing poorly" wrong. I read GP as saying that people who are laid off are currently going through a stressful time in their life: "doing poorly".
- asdff 4y agoIf your buddies are going through a stressful time in their life then you should be spending even more time with them if possible.
- DiggyJohnson 4y agoI completely agree... My comment was based on the assumption this conversation isn't about helping your buddies through a tough time, it's about who to network with when you've been laid off.
- lazyasciiart 4y agoSupport groups are common for all kinds of things, so there seems to be some kind of value in it.
- dokem 4y agoThey're probably either working a new job, job hunting, or vacationing. If I got laid off I'd probably grab a beer with a couple employees or fellow ex employees. Maybe grab a couple numbers. Then.. adios. Don't make it a bigger thing than it needs to be.
- jjgreen 4y agoWe're sitting in the park, drinking Thunderbird and arguing with the pigeons.
- agent281 4y agoUh, can I get one of those layoffs?
- bink 4y agoCareful. I hear the pigeons use the British Parliamentary style of debate rather than the American style.
- pelagicAustral 4y agoThat's funny, there are no pigeons where I live. I recently came back from holiday and I enjoyed looking at them and analyse their seemingly erratic alas scavenging behaviour all along. I even felt sorry for the not-so-well-groomed ones... We don't think enough about pigeons... oh well... back to work.
- yellow_lead 4y agoReminds me of the movie 'A Beautiful Mind' - https://youtu.be/GmlSSSN7C78?t=14 https://youtu.be/GmlSSSN7C78?t=14
- calacatta 4y agoIf you can make it to Texas they'll buy you a one-way ticket to the coastal metropolis of your choice
- tricky 4y agoDrinking Night Train and yelling at clouds over here...
- neilv 4y agoLost original lyrics to Little River Band's "Reminiscing": o/~ We'll be sitting in the park sipping Thunderbird till dark debating pigeons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBETVhHpcPk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBETVhHpcPk
- throwawaaarrgh 4y agoIt just occurred to me that so many people were laid off, we could start the world's largest software co-op (and arguably one of the largest tech orgs, period). We could build software products that every industry needs, that every worker owns a part of and can vote on org-wide decisions. Literally everyone you need was laid off... Tech people, business people, marketing, sales, etc. We just need a forum and some volunteers to organize. We all know what products companies/individuals would pay for, because we used to build/buy them. (there are lots of different kinds of co-ops, and I'm not suggesting any particular model other than a worker owned organization where the workers own and control the company)
- pipeline_peak 4y ago> Literally everyone you need was laid off... All the least valuable people were laid off…
- janalsncm 4y agoWhat products would companies/individuals pay for?
- quacked 4y agoYeah the difficulty isn't even thinking of a good idea, it's reconstructing the enormous legal barriers, government contracts, and relationships with private capital that the existing tech companies have cemented over decades.
- koheripbal 4y agoThe larger barrier will be coming up with products that people are willing to pay for.
- asdff 4y agoThats one way to market yourself, but not the only way. For example, consultancies don't come up with products people are willing to pay for. They are hired as a service to do work on a project, but they aren't selling things off the shelf. A software "consultancy" could operate in a similar way, where customers say "we need engineering labor to achieve our goals" and this agency comes in with the labor that develops the product to meet the companies needs.
- ARandomerDude 4y agoProbably around the water cooler with their new coworkers.
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- fergie 4y agoRelated question: are any actual software engineers getting laid off or is it just support/admin/management who work in the tech sector? (I have been dealing with consulting contracts for software engineers lately, and was surprised to see that hourly rates are significantly higher than they were 5 years ago)
- sempron64 4y agoYes, I know talented engineers from several companies that were laid off simply due to being unlucky enough to have ended up on the “wrong” project
- richmond1111 4y agoOr maybe they are not so talented after all.
- ianlevesque 4y agoI mean we’re all just trading anecdotes but absolutely people that were fantastic were also let go by being in the wrong place. I feel I dodged a bullet with choice of project personally when comparing to two specific other people I know that were laid off.
- pm90 4y agoSoftware Engineers are being laid off for certain.
- noman-land 4y agoYes. Software engineers. Senior engineers. TLs. Folks with 10 years at the company. No one seems safe. Except executives probably.
- roland35 4y agoThe executives have already "suffered enough" with their stock compensation going down so much (eye roll)
- dadrian 4y agoMastodon
- flashgordon 4y agoThe problem is same as with any group of people coming together especially at scale. That of aligning incentives. 100k people or even 1k can create a pretty formidable force. But Who decides influences which problems to solve and when? Who holds said unit accountable and how? How do you split the rewards? This ends up devolving into yet another big company no? A good example is even in yc startup school you meet so many awesome cofounders and still it is so hard to just align on a problem to solve!
- _448 4y agoI created a discord server here for everyone to connect: https://discord.gg/TyQfcSZk https://discord.gg/TyQfcSZk Hope this helps.
- caeril 4y ago[flagged]
- 800xl 4y agoThis reads like a r/pfjerk post. Well done!
- thebigspacefuck 4y agoSounds like Blind
- jagermo 4y agothe big echo chamber of negativity.
- esel2k 4y agoHad a good laugh - thanks for the creativity. Sometimes I used to get career advice on reddit and that’s exactly the type you find there. Now I am more cautious.
- throwaway5959 4y agoWho hurt you? I've never worked at FAANG or made over 300k/year, but I can't fault people for making bank if companies are willing to pay for it and they're not breaking the law.
- roland35 4y agoGeez Louise have you actually ever met anyone working at a big tech company? Trust me we are all just like any other tech worker. Compensation is higher but there is still the same dynamic of capital against labor - just look at all the talk about "coasters" and "low performers" from CEOs across the industry. They are trying to trim fat as fast as they can now that there is the cover story of "economic uncertainty". Everyone has their own story so please don't assume and judge. Many of my colleagues are H1B, or support their family back home, or has student loans, or whatever else.
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- Vibgyor5 4y agoDoes anyone have any recommendations for referral community/platform?
- GSCrawley 4y agoHey folks! I'm a member of just such a cooperative, worker-owned tech community / consultancy. It's still early stages but we're growing really fast! Let's make that dream a reality. Check out the following link and if it resonates for you then shoot me a message on LinkedIn (https://LinkedIn.com/in/gscrawley https://LinkedIn.com/in/gscrawley) to discuss next steps and answer any questions you might have. https://wiki.quorum.one/blog/what-is-quorum1 https://wiki.quorum.one/blog/what-is-quorum1
- bilater 4y agoI started a Discord if y'all wanna join: https://discord.gg/5k2HDF7J https://discord.gg/5k2HDF7J
- tudorw 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation
- pogopaule 4y agoHopefully somewhere here or at similar companies, solving some of the important issues of our times. https://github.com/pogopaule/awesome-sustainability-jobs https://github.com/pogopaule/awesome-sustainability-jobs
- wpietri 4y agoOoh, I like this. I would be happy to co-organize, say, an evening at Zeitgeist. Contact me via email or mastodon!
- hankish 4y agoIf laid off folks are looking for work or side projects, we've got a collective you can join. Based in SF but with members from all around the world. More info here: https://wiki.quorum.one/join https://wiki.quorum.one/join
- whalesalad 4y agohopefully doing absolutely nothing and taking some time off
- motohagiography 4y agoI sort of thought this is what git was designed for. Need to signal your proficiency? Start contributing to projects and answering stackoverflow questions, but with a flag that says you are interested in new work.
- yakireev 4y ago> this is what git was designed for Well here we are, prophecy fulfilled: tech people who see no difference between GitHub and git.
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- 29athrowaway 4y agoSF is the worst place to be unemployed right now. High burn rate, and opportunities are moving out.
- Animats 4y agoPink-slip parties? [1] [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/pink-slip-parties-laid-off-tech-workers-network-jobs-2022-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/pink-slip-parties-laid-off-t...
- schience 4y agoWow.. I didn't expect this many comments.. the amazing extended discussion about software collectives and communities. Some things that looks in the neighborhood is #openforwork, Quorom1, Loomio, and the discord posted here https://discord.gg/TyQfcSZk https://discord.gg/TyQfcSZk But I was looking for a simple meetup organized in San Francisco, and perhaps an online forum/discussion area. No business model, no guild.. just community. Would others join? I've already committed the ultimate sin: registered a domain: openforwork.community. Nothing there yet. To keep the good discussion juice going - what do you recommend for a forum? Last one I installed was Discourse. I think these days a slack/discord channel is what new communities do.. but..I'm old.. and a place on the internet with its own domain could work for this.
- ricudis 4y ago> Where are laid off employees gathering? I'd guess underneath bridges, in public open parks, backside service roads, and similar places.
- elamje 4y agoRight now, the biggest problem is discovery, i.e. who is still hiring vs who just has stale jobs listed on their website. I'm working on making this list so it's much easier to discover the (literally thousands of Seed to Series B companies still hiring!) See companies that are hiring: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OeuaamkeOpMzlufPk6hYrBGZbHIevAZydN7YN6SuUeE/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OeuaamkeOpMzlufPk6hY... Add company here: https://forms.gle/abCCJ5ByvDFcyRP2A https://forms.gle/abCCJ5ByvDFcyRP2A If anyone is struggling and is on the mid/senior/director side of their career (3+ yrs), I'm helping place people at my friends' Seed and Series A companies. Email me at j{at}markovmanagement.com if I can help :)
- BrianHutch 4y agoI'm in a few Slacks where former employees have gathered. Not necessarily just in the most recent round of lay offs. It is critical for me to keep in touch with like minded people not to mention to maintain friendships. Slack is pretty easy and free as long as you don't care much about retention of old content.
- black_13 4y ago[dead]
- bignoggins 4y agoRebound is an event for marketing professionals impacted by layoffs and economic uncertainty. Hear from experts, network with peers, and participate in interactive mentor sessions with marketing leaders. Our goal is to create a supportive community where attendees can find resources, connections, and advice to help them navigate the job market. Join us! See the line up of speakers, mentors and more here: https://www.experiencewelcome.com/rebound https://www.experiencewelcome.com/rebound
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- telis 4y agohttps://discord.gg/aheb8j9b https://discord.gg/aheb8j9b
- telis 4y agoHere: I reckon if you all put your heads together you could coordinate something. I also suspect AI coordinated organisations are very close to being achievable. https://discord.gg/aheb8j9b https://discord.gg/aheb8j9b
- sangyh 4y agofor data science/ML folks, I created a small slack group with 17 ppl who are helping mentor and mock interview each other .. if anyone is interested in joining, pls fill this out: https://forms.gle/CAbVhBYmc34EeBMM9 https://forms.gle/CAbVhBYmc34EeBMM9 we have a notion page to help with introductions/interview scheduling and a slack to chat with each other.
- nubela 4y agoWe wrote a post about ex-googlers who got laid off - https://nubela.co/blog/1-in-3-ex-google-employees-in-15-billion-worth-of-startups-2023-layoffs/ https://nubela.co/blog/1-in-3-ex-google-employees-in-15-bill... The gist is that 1/3 of them joined startups. A couple of them started new startups.