3 ms·

It's worth remembering, there are two kinds of yes-men: 1) the sycophant who loves authoritarian institutions; the "true believers" and 2) the young, brillia

It's worth remembering, there are two kinds of yes-men: 1) the sycophant who loves authoritarian institutions; the "true believers" and 2) the young, brilliant visa holder who was the talk of his parents' social circle in Hyderabad three years ago when he graduated and was able to get on board at a household-name NorCal tech company, but who is now being abused by the employer who sponsors the thing that lets him stay in the US. You'll always have type one; some humans simply love following a dolt. The second type is a result of our laws, and laws can be changed to keep people like Elon from taking advantage of workers.

triceratops 3y ago
The visa holder thing might have been true for maybe 3 months before and after the takeover. The job market was absolutely on fire at the time (early 2022). Anyone who wanted to leave should have been able to, especially considering they were good enough to be hired at Twitter.
- clipsy 3y ago
  > The visa holder thing might have been true for maybe 3 months before and after the takeover. The job market was absolutely on fire at the time (early 2022). The Twitter takeover (and subsequent layoffs, ultimatum, etc) happened in late 2022.[0] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_Twitter_by_Elon_Musk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_Twitter_by_Elon...
  - triceratops 3y ago
    But it was announced in April. And it wasn't hard to predict what would happen post-acquisition.
    - Jcowell 3y ago
      I would argue laying off an insane chuck of the company was not predicable. Some? Yes happens all the time. What Elon did? No. But visa holders would probably be the first to go. But if you did manage to survive, no way you’re quitting in that job market and getting a new gig in a saturated market.
      - lenerdenator 3y ago
        Visa holders wouldn't be the first to go. Not by a long shot. 1) They come from places that have much lower pay for software engineers. Seriously, people forget just how much more American tech companies pay their devs than just about anywhere else. That means that you can wave a smaller pay package in front of them and they'll be more likely to take it. Replacements from local labor markets are more likely to know what they're actually worth. 2) If they aren't making you 100% happy and they're at-will employees, you can hang their entire lives over their heads. Do you want to have to pack up everything in a few weeks and move back to your home country in shame after your families sacrificed so much to get you here? No? Sounds like you'd better sleep in that conference-room-turned-bedroom, then, and be ready to work 90 hour weeks until this company's in the black.
        triceratops 3y ago
        You're thinking of people who work at consulting body shops. Literally none of these things applied to visa holders at Twitter.

triceratops 3y ago

The visa holder thing might have been true for maybe 3 months before and after the takeover. The job market was absolutely on fire at the time (early 2022). Anyone who wanted to leave should have been able to, especially considering they were good enough to be hired at Twitter.

clipsy 3y ago
> The visa holder thing might have been true for maybe 3 months before and after the takeover. The job market was absolutely on fire at the time (early 2022). The Twitter takeover (and subsequent layoffs, ultimatum, etc) happened in late 2022.[0] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_Twitter_by_Elon_Musk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_Twitter_by_Elon...
- triceratops 3y ago
  But it was announced in April. And it wasn't hard to predict what would happen post-acquisition.
  - Jcowell 3y ago
    I would argue laying off an insane chuck of the company was not predicable. Some? Yes happens all the time. What Elon did? No. But visa holders would probably be the first to go. But if you did manage to survive, no way you’re quitting in that job market and getting a new gig in a saturated market.
    - lenerdenator 3y ago
      Visa holders wouldn't be the first to go. Not by a long shot. 1) They come from places that have much lower pay for software engineers. Seriously, people forget just how much more American tech companies pay their devs than just about anywhere else. That means that you can wave a smaller pay package in front of them and they'll be more likely to take it. Replacements from local labor markets are more likely to know what they're actually worth. 2) If they aren't making you 100% happy and they're at-will employees, you can hang their entire lives over their heads. Do you want to have to pack up everything in a few weeks and move back to your home country in shame after your families sacrificed so much to get you here? No? Sounds like you'd better sleep in that conference-room-turned-bedroom, then, and be ready to work 90 hour weeks until this company's in the black.
      - triceratops 3y ago
        You're thinking of people who work at consulting body shops. Literally none of these things applied to visa holders at Twitter.