4 ms·

I'm starting to notice a trend of mentioning AI in these layoff notices.

gumballindie 4y ago
What’s a ceo supposed to do? Admit incompetence? Lack of skill in growing a company? Instead they blame [insert current media story arc].
- kevviiinn 4y ago
  How about not lay people off to pad profits
  - missedthecue 4y ago
    If there's a decrease in workload do you suggest paying people to sit on their hands?
    - kevviiinn 4y ago
      Yes, if the company has the money then they shouldn't put people's lives at risk to benefit a few CEOs and stockholders, that's insane and it hurts society at large
      - missedthecue 4y ago
        I think the waste involved in having a chunk of the workfoce sit around unproductive is worse for society. Locking in stasis to keep the paychecks flowing? How is that a good thing? Yes, change happens, companies hire and lay off. Businesses start and businesses go bankrupt. Sometimes change is uncomfortable. But policy designed to prevent change in society is a bad thing in my opinion.
        kevviiinn 4y ago
        But the point is that these businesses aren't going bankrupt, they continually report record profits while laying people off
- disruptiveink 4y ago
  This doesn't feel like it's about competence or lack thereof. Reading that post, the cynic in me couldn't help but think that the CEO of Stack Overflow just wanted to do "the hip thing" these days, which is to lay off people for no reason and write a blog post taking "full responsibility". What best way to polish your CEO CV in 2023 than to be in the company of Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai and etc? Of course, the fact that people are getting fired over the performance is a tiny detail easily glossed over.
fatfingerd 4y ago
I was expecting something about competition from AI or potentially customers deciding to wait and see. This just mentions it is one of their own R&D priorities, so presumably no one laid off was working on that.
jstarfish 4y ago
It's typical corporate doublespeak. I guarantee you this is going to be a batch of older workers and PIP candidates. AI is new and fresh. It is the domain of younger employees.
- cableshaft 4y ago
  I'm older (old enough that I should be shot according to the movie Primer). I'm using AI in my workflow with success. It's not that difficult.
  - cnasc 4y ago
    > (old enough that I should be shot according to the movie Primer) I think you mean Looper! Both are great movies though
    - jtimdwyer 4y ago
      I think it's a reference to this scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN-VAdAnoZ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN-VAdAnoZ4
      - cableshaft 4y ago
        Yep, that's the one.
  - jstarfish 4y ago
    My point was less "old people can't" and more "a new grad using AI can function at a senior level for a fraction of the cost."
    - spacephysics 4y ago
      Obviously the definition of “senior” is loosely agreed upon at best. However, I consider the jump from mid level to senior less about programming in general, and more about architecture, collaboration, and requirement gathering in the context of the business. I don’t think AI will make junior devs into senior. That may fool some business folks, but senior, staff, and even fellow junior devs in the field (vs newly grad) will catch on. Like any tool, it’s great to work with until it isn’t. To say, once the guardrails of what the tools designed to do are broken, you must revert to fundamentals to solve the problem. I agree that with AI, the guard rails become far wider, for sure. But I think a tool like this is better at making a senior dev more efficient than actual skill bump of say an entry level to junior or higher.

What’s a ceo supposed to do? Admit incompetence? Lack of skill in growing a company? Instead they blame [insert current media story arc].

kevviiinn 4y ago
How about not lay people off to pad profits
- missedthecue 4y ago
  If there's a decrease in workload do you suggest paying people to sit on their hands?
  - kevviiinn 4y ago
    Yes, if the company has the money then they shouldn't put people's lives at risk to benefit a few CEOs and stockholders, that's insane and it hurts society at large
    - missedthecue 4y ago
      I think the waste involved in having a chunk of the workfoce sit around unproductive is worse for society. Locking in stasis to keep the paychecks flowing? How is that a good thing? Yes, change happens, companies hire and lay off. Businesses start and businesses go bankrupt. Sometimes change is uncomfortable. But policy designed to prevent change in society is a bad thing in my opinion.
      - kevviiinn 4y ago
        But the point is that these businesses aren't going bankrupt, they continually report record profits while laying people off
disruptiveink 4y ago
This doesn't feel like it's about competence or lack thereof. Reading that post, the cynic in me couldn't help but think that the CEO of Stack Overflow just wanted to do "the hip thing" these days, which is to lay off people for no reason and write a blog post taking "full responsibility". What best way to polish your CEO CV in 2023 than to be in the company of Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai and etc? Of course, the fact that people are getting fired over the performance is a tiny detail easily glossed over.

fatfingerd 4y ago

I was expecting something about competition from AI or potentially customers deciding to wait and see. This just mentions it is one of their own R&D priorities, so presumably no one laid off was working on that.

jstarfish 4y ago

It's typical corporate doublespeak. I guarantee you this is going to be a batch of older workers and PIP candidates. AI is new and fresh. It is the domain of younger employees.

cableshaft 4y ago
I'm older (old enough that I should be shot according to the movie Primer). I'm using AI in my workflow with success. It's not that difficult.
- cnasc 4y ago
  > (old enough that I should be shot according to the movie Primer) I think you mean Looper! Both are great movies though
  - jtimdwyer 4y ago
    I think it's a reference to this scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN-VAdAnoZ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN-VAdAnoZ4
    - cableshaft 4y ago
      Yep, that's the one.
- jstarfish 4y ago
  My point was less "old people can't" and more "a new grad using AI can function at a senior level for a fraction of the cost."
  - spacephysics 4y ago
    Obviously the definition of “senior” is loosely agreed upon at best. However, I consider the jump from mid level to senior less about programming in general, and more about architecture, collaboration, and requirement gathering in the context of the business. I don’t think AI will make junior devs into senior. That may fool some business folks, but senior, staff, and even fellow junior devs in the field (vs newly grad) will catch on. Like any tool, it’s great to work with until it isn’t. To say, once the guardrails of what the tools designed to do are broken, you must revert to fundamentals to solve the problem. I agree that with AI, the guard rails become far wider, for sure. But I think a tool like this is better at making a senior dev more efficient than actual skill bump of say an entry level to junior or higher.