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Most SDEs have grown up in a severe labor deficit. It's so interesting seeing the idealism smack in to reality. 1. Those "employee-appreciations" were a cost-s

Most SDEs have grown up in a severe labor deficit. It's so interesting seeing the idealism smack in to reality. 1. Those "employee-appreciations" were a cost-saving measure to retain talent. 20% time towards projects that benefit the employer vs getting paid 20% more, or free food at an incremental cost of $100/mo/employee instead of paying $2000/mo/employee for equivalent comp-based retention. 2. We are no longer in a severe labor demand deficit. Quality of life will converge on the American norm - treating employees like disposable cogs, under layers of brutal middle-management politics. 3. "Believe that people can change the world", or caring for and investing in employees... Can you point to any industry that was sustainably disrupted by a company following such a mindset? The only examples that come to my mind are niche companies that market based on such an ethos, like Patagonia. Of course there are stable European companies, and US union shops, but those aren't disruptive. WeWork had that ethos for a little while I guess.

bornfreddy 3y ago
> Can you point to any industry that was sustainably disrupted by a company following such a mindset? "Don't do evil" comes to mind, though the company ethos changed a lot since then.
- SlightlyLeftPad 3y ago
  It’s interesting to me how important simply having that written down was to both the perception of the company from the outside and the products that it delivered. Since it was removed from writing both are similarly impacted negatively. Could it be a coincidence? Perhaps, but I suspect not.
wolverine876 3y ago
Every industry disrupted by SV, at least up to a point? How about all the FOSS projects?
StopTheWorld 3y ago
> "Believe that people can change the world", or caring for and investing in employees... Can you point to any industry that was sustainably disrupted by a company following such a mindset? The company with the largest market cap in the world, Apple. Steve Jobs believed in recruiting great people, and he entrusted in them and expected of them to create sustainably disruptive products. From Steve Wozniak all the way to Jony Ive. I don't know if I'd say Jobs was caring for all people working at Apple in my conception of things, but he did not look at the people working on an important Apple project as disposable cogs, and he didn't look at the products they were making as junk commodities to raise next quarter's revenue. Whatever it boils down to, and whether it can continue creating things like the M2, there is a reason the company with the largest market cap in the world is Apple.
x86x87 3y ago
For 2: we still have a severe labor demand deficit. Software will continue to eat the world. What we are seeing here is corporation shortsightedness and greed. You can make a killing in a quarter by firing all your workers. You won't be around for the next quarter. A day of reckoning will come triggered by spectacular failures of big corporations that pawned their future + infusion of cash as the economy "recovers". At that point in time the pendulum will swing and hopefully people will not forget the absurd way they were treated.
- el-dude-arino 3y ago
  Bingo. Cost-cutting only works in the short term, and by "working" I mean gaming the financial statements. Despite the oligarch's best efforts we still live in a fairly competitive market in therms of tech products. Competing means hiring people to make things. I'm already seeing a significant uptick in demand for senior+ engineers. This is me talking to multiple companies and recruiters, headcounts are going up again and thankfully their for products that actually provide real value to customers. I haven't heard from a crypto/nft company (see: scam) in a looooong time.

bornfreddy 3y ago

> Can you point to any industry that was sustainably disrupted by a company following such a mindset? "Don't do evil" comes to mind, though the company ethos changed a lot since then.

SlightlyLeftPad 3y ago
It’s interesting to me how important simply having that written down was to both the perception of the company from the outside and the products that it delivered. Since it was removed from writing both are similarly impacted negatively. Could it be a coincidence? Perhaps, but I suspect not.

wolverine876 3y ago

Every industry disrupted by SV, at least up to a point? How about all the FOSS projects?

StopTheWorld 3y ago

> "Believe that people can change the world", or caring for and investing in employees... Can you point to any industry that was sustainably disrupted by a company following such a mindset? The company with the largest market cap in the world, Apple. Steve Jobs believed in recruiting great people, and he entrusted in them and expected of them to create sustainably disruptive products. From Steve Wozniak all the way to Jony Ive. I don't know if I'd say Jobs was caring for all people working at Apple in my conception of things, but he did not look at the people working on an important Apple project as disposable cogs, and he didn't look at the products they were making as junk commodities to raise next quarter's revenue. Whatever it boils down to, and whether it can continue creating things like the M2, there is a reason the company with the largest market cap in the world is Apple.

x86x87 3y ago

For 2: we still have a severe labor demand deficit. Software will continue to eat the world. What we are seeing here is corporation shortsightedness and greed. You can make a killing in a quarter by firing all your workers. You won't be around for the next quarter. A day of reckoning will come triggered by spectacular failures of big corporations that pawned their future + infusion of cash as the economy "recovers". At that point in time the pendulum will swing and hopefully people will not forget the absurd way they were treated.

el-dude-arino 3y ago
Bingo. Cost-cutting only works in the short term, and by "working" I mean gaming the financial statements. Despite the oligarch's best efforts we still live in a fairly competitive market in therms of tech products. Competing means hiring people to make things. I'm already seeing a significant uptick in demand for senior+ engineers. This is me talking to multiple companies and recruiters, headcounts are going up again and thankfully their for products that actually provide real value to customers. I haven't heard from a crypto/nft company (see: scam) in a looooong time.