10 ms·

Laid-Off Tech Worker Kills 3 in Silicon Valley

39 points by Mistone 18y ago

jmah 18y ago
http://www.siport.com/ http://www.siport.com/ : SiPort is a fabless semiconductor company, incorporated in 2004, that received its first round of funding in 2005. Sounds like they design ASICs for portable devices (audio, video decoders). Or perhaps "designed". http://www.siport.com/management.htm http://www.siport.com/management.htm : The system cannot find the file specified. How morbidly apt.
- alaskamiller 18y ago
  There's a lot of fabless IC design startups around here in Silicon Valley and some of them are run like white-collar sweatshops. Second-rate engineers are imported from China or India with low pay but the lure of H1-B sponsorship to work on designs in hopes of flipping it to a bigger semiconductor company or back to OEMs in Asia. This might be what happened but I think his project, or maybe the whole startup since they ride or die on a single product, got fubared and he was let go. He might be in the middle of relocating to the US or trying to get his family over, or maybe the company screwed him over on pay. Either way, it's not an excuse to kill but that might be the motive. He probably already landed back in China by now.
cool-RR 18y ago
holy shit.
dfarm 18y ago
I always thought this kind of thing was always done by uneducated postal workers and the like. Pretty disheartening to see a fellow engineer act so stupidly. Time to reconsider getting a concealed weapons permit I guess. Condolences to Agarwal and Pugh's (and anon woman's) families.
- ricky_clarkson 18y ago
  What will you do with the concealed weapon? Shoot his bullet in mid-air?
  - mechanical_fish 18y ago
    I think it's the placebo effect. That's why I carry a homeopathic concealed weapon: a small vial of water with some floating specs of rust in it.
    - maximilian 18y ago
      You mean you are carrying a small vial of water that says it has rust in it, but doesn't actually (or at least has a very low probability of having a rust molecule).
      - mechanical_fish 18y ago
        That's more correct, actually, and I used to use one of those. But I decided it didn't have enough firepower. Now I prefer my homeopathic Death Star, in case I get attacked by a whole planet at once.
  - ivank 18y ago
    Maybe prevent the deaths of two or more people? Is this really so far-fetched?
  - yummyfajitas 18y ago
    It's also completely useless for the police to carry weapons. After all, the best we can possibly hope for is that they might shoot someone's bullet in mid air. Therefore, I propose we stop giving weapons to the police as a cost saving measure.
    - abstractbill 18y ago
      British police don't usually have guns, and I always felt safer for it when I lived there, fwiw.
Prrometheus 18y ago
Is this what the 80s recession felt like?
- dhughes 18y ago
  Yes, except for the feathered hair and skinny ties.
vaksel 18y ago
it was bound to happen eventually. Isn't TC's tracking of layoffs now up to something like 60K people in the last 2 weeks? With odds like that, it'll be impossible to find a new job...add on top of that the crappy stock market that wiped out people's savings, the downturn in the economy that slashed new job opportunities and many people simply won't be able to survive(hell this guy had a mortgage payment on top of everything else). So they turn to blaming the guy who made their life miserable. And that would be the guy in charge, who yanked the ground from under their feet.
- time_management 18y ago
  More appropriate is the "law of extremely large numbers". The vast majority of people will not resort to homicide over a layoff, but 1 in 500,000 might, so when you have a few million layoffs, bad news like this occurs. I think people are more freaked out about the economy than is necessarily reasonable. It's very bad, but it's not like the entire technology sector is in a hiring freeze. There are still good jobs available; it's just harder to find them. I actually think that this upcoming decade-long crisis will be good, in the long run, both for technology people and average Americans, because the bloat and parasitism of the corporate/managerial/financial class has essentially starved the real economy and those who work within it, and this crisis stands to bring about their demise.
- anaphoric 18y ago
  I agree with you to a point. But people can 'survive' on a dollar a day if they have to. Food, water and air is all we really need.
  - vaksel 18y ago
    But we are supposed to be better than that. This guy wasn't some bum who dropped out of high school, and now spends all his money on drugs and liquor. I mean what happened to the American dream? You work hard all your life, get a good education, get a good job then someone else fucks up and you have to go live on the street?
    - 18y ago
mindaugas 18y ago
It makes me sad. Because the saddest news makes biggest headlines. And I hate this when people love disasters. I'd rather hear the success stories.
code_devil 18y ago
This is really sad. Recession or No-Recession, he would have done the same thing. I mean you can always cut your expenses, get a low paying job or go back to your home country(if you are an immigrant). His actions basically affected 3 families directly + also might indirectly bring uncertainty in the lives of other fellow colleagues at the startup.
browngeek 18y ago
"Police arrest alleged gunman in office park slayings that left 3 dead" http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931 http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931
- natch 18y ago
  Login-free link: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931?source=most_viewed http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931?source=most_viewed
byrneseyeview 18y ago
Hacker News is not Slasher News or Shooter News. This is a generic crime story. Flagged.
aneesh 18y ago
I'm surprised at comments here condoning the murder. Getting fired from your job is no excuse for taking someone's life. I don't care what the economy is like - I don't think this guy deserves sympathy, especially not from an educated, smart community like this. Millions of people have lost jobs before, and they've struggled, tried hard, and moved on without resorting to violence. I know a family member of one of the victims, and they didn't deserve this.
- BFalkner 18y ago
  Some people were just speculating what the motive(s) might be. I read nearly all of the other posts before getting to yours and didn't notice any even imply that it was justified.

39 points by Mistone 18y ago

jmah 18y ago

http://www.siport.com/ http://www.siport.com/ : SiPort is a fabless semiconductor company, incorporated in 2004, that received its first round of funding in 2005. Sounds like they design ASICs for portable devices (audio, video decoders). Or perhaps "designed". http://www.siport.com/management.htm http://www.siport.com/management.htm : The system cannot find the file specified. How morbidly apt.

alaskamiller 18y ago
There's a lot of fabless IC design startups around here in Silicon Valley and some of them are run like white-collar sweatshops. Second-rate engineers are imported from China or India with low pay but the lure of H1-B sponsorship to work on designs in hopes of flipping it to a bigger semiconductor company or back to OEMs in Asia. This might be what happened but I think his project, or maybe the whole startup since they ride or die on a single product, got fubared and he was let go. He might be in the middle of relocating to the US or trying to get his family over, or maybe the company screwed him over on pay. Either way, it's not an excuse to kill but that might be the motive. He probably already landed back in China by now.

cool-RR 18y ago

holy shit.

dfarm 18y ago

I always thought this kind of thing was always done by uneducated postal workers and the like. Pretty disheartening to see a fellow engineer act so stupidly. Time to reconsider getting a concealed weapons permit I guess. Condolences to Agarwal and Pugh's (and anon woman's) families.

ricky_clarkson 18y ago
What will you do with the concealed weapon? Shoot his bullet in mid-air?
- mechanical_fish 18y ago
  I think it's the placebo effect. That's why I carry a homeopathic concealed weapon: a small vial of water with some floating specs of rust in it.
  - maximilian 18y ago
    You mean you are carrying a small vial of water that says it has rust in it, but doesn't actually (or at least has a very low probability of having a rust molecule).
    - mechanical_fish 18y ago
      That's more correct, actually, and I used to use one of those. But I decided it didn't have enough firepower. Now I prefer my homeopathic Death Star, in case I get attacked by a whole planet at once.
- ivank 18y ago
  Maybe prevent the deaths of two or more people? Is this really so far-fetched?
- yummyfajitas 18y ago
  It's also completely useless for the police to carry weapons. After all, the best we can possibly hope for is that they might shoot someone's bullet in mid air. Therefore, I propose we stop giving weapons to the police as a cost saving measure.
  - abstractbill 18y ago
    British police don't usually have guns, and I always felt safer for it when I lived there, fwiw.

Prrometheus 18y ago

Is this what the 80s recession felt like?

dhughes 18y ago
Yes, except for the feathered hair and skinny ties.

vaksel 18y ago

it was bound to happen eventually. Isn't TC's tracking of layoffs now up to something like 60K people in the last 2 weeks? With odds like that, it'll be impossible to find a new job...add on top of that the crappy stock market that wiped out people's savings, the downturn in the economy that slashed new job opportunities and many people simply won't be able to survive(hell this guy had a mortgage payment on top of everything else). So they turn to blaming the guy who made their life miserable. And that would be the guy in charge, who yanked the ground from under their feet.

time_management 18y ago
More appropriate is the "law of extremely large numbers". The vast majority of people will not resort to homicide over a layoff, but 1 in 500,000 might, so when you have a few million layoffs, bad news like this occurs. I think people are more freaked out about the economy than is necessarily reasonable. It's very bad, but it's not like the entire technology sector is in a hiring freeze. There are still good jobs available; it's just harder to find them. I actually think that this upcoming decade-long crisis will be good, in the long run, both for technology people and average Americans, because the bloat and parasitism of the corporate/managerial/financial class has essentially starved the real economy and those who work within it, and this crisis stands to bring about their demise.
anaphoric 18y ago
I agree with you to a point. But people can 'survive' on a dollar a day if they have to. Food, water and air is all we really need.
- vaksel 18y ago
  But we are supposed to be better than that. This guy wasn't some bum who dropped out of high school, and now spends all his money on drugs and liquor. I mean what happened to the American dream? You work hard all your life, get a good education, get a good job then someone else fucks up and you have to go live on the street?
  - 18y ago

mindaugas 18y ago

It makes me sad. Because the saddest news makes biggest headlines. And I hate this when people love disasters. I'd rather hear the success stories.

code_devil 18y ago

This is really sad. Recession or No-Recession, he would have done the same thing. I mean you can always cut your expenses, get a low paying job or go back to your home country(if you are an immigrant). His actions basically affected 3 families directly + also might indirectly bring uncertainty in the lives of other fellow colleagues at the startup.

browngeek 18y ago

"Police arrest alleged gunman in office park slayings that left 3 dead" http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931 http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931

natch 18y ago
Login-free link: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931?source=most_viewed http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10993931?source=most_viewed

byrneseyeview 18y ago

Hacker News is not Slasher News or Shooter News. This is a generic crime story. Flagged.

aneesh 18y ago

I'm surprised at comments here condoning the murder. Getting fired from your job is no excuse for taking someone's life. I don't care what the economy is like - I don't think this guy deserves sympathy, especially not from an educated, smart community like this. Millions of people have lost jobs before, and they've struggled, tried hard, and moved on without resorting to violence. I know a family member of one of the victims, and they didn't deserve this.

BFalkner 18y ago
Some people were just speculating what the motive(s) might be. I read nearly all of the other posts before getting to yours and didn't notice any even imply that it was justified.