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> Anyway, it's really telling that these tiny little things are what the article presents as signs of some kind of tech job market recovery. FWIW, depressing as

> Anyway, it's really telling that these tiny little things are what the article presents as signs of some kind of tech job market recovery. FWIW, depressing as it is, my money is on the tech job market as we know it being a ZIRP. A huge chunk of the tech sector is dead in the water without infusions of VC cash, as we're now seeing, and I don't think things can go back to the way they were without interest rates dropping to near-zero again (and that seems impossible in the near future). If antitrust were enforced against Google, Facebook, etc., and the companies split into 3-4 companies, there might be enough jobs created by that lack of consolidation to soak up all the extra labor. The profits for the shareholders might go down a little, but there could still be many profitable companies. It might also be good for the ecosystem as a whole because 3-4 Facebooks would likely purchase common services from a new, 5th company that sells certain services all "Facebooks" use, which could then ALSO be used by a startup trying to compete with Facebook.

fidotron 3y ago
If the last few years have taught us anything it's that if Google, FB etc. were forced to return money to shareholders instead of spending it on R&D those shareholders would be even more lost as to what to spend the money on which would almost certainly not be good for tech employees. People are desperate for good things to invest in, it's just there aren't a whole load of things that actually work as contrary to idealist expectations the web seems impossible to make money on unless you are a monopoly.
- epicureanideal 3y ago
  > People are desperate for good things to invest in, it's just there aren't a whole load of things that actually work as contrary to idealist expectations the web seems impossible to make money on unless you are a monopoly. Yeah, unfortunately the really obvious things to invest in are made difficult to do by regulations. For example, building a bunch of housing would be a great way to deploy capital, but the red tape makes it extremely difficult and unprofitable. And if there were more housing, and cheaper rents and mortgages, then the middle and working classes would have more money to spend, which would mean they could spend on other things besides housing, causing other businesses to be created...

fidotron 3y ago

If the last few years have taught us anything it's that if Google, FB etc. were forced to return money to shareholders instead of spending it on R&D those shareholders would be even more lost as to what to spend the money on which would almost certainly not be good for tech employees. People are desperate for good things to invest in, it's just there aren't a whole load of things that actually work as contrary to idealist expectations the web seems impossible to make money on unless you are a monopoly.

epicureanideal 3y ago
> People are desperate for good things to invest in, it's just there aren't a whole load of things that actually work as contrary to idealist expectations the web seems impossible to make money on unless you are a monopoly. Yeah, unfortunately the really obvious things to invest in are made difficult to do by regulations. For example, building a bunch of housing would be a great way to deploy capital, but the red tape makes it extremely difficult and unprofitable. And if there were more housing, and cheaper rents and mortgages, then the middle and working classes would have more money to spend, which would mean they could spend on other things besides housing, causing other businesses to be created...