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At this point I have to believe that any significant tech talent is looking at Tesla as a poison workplace. They are going to have to pay pretty damn well to g

At this point I have to believe that any significant tech talent is looking at Tesla as a poison workplace. They are going to have to pay pretty damn well to get anyone with a brain.

ed_balls 2y ago
everyone that was part of lay offs knows they are never as bad as media describe them. They will be alright.
oldpersonintx 2y ago
[dead]
alephnerd 2y ago
Outside of the MechE space, I don't think they were that great of an employer anyhow. The wages at Tesla were always much lower than peers despite having most of R&D in the Bay Area. They also seemed to overhire on boondoggles and not concentrate on execution. Back in the day, I was constantly getting pinged to be a PM for their ML Infra team, but the pay was meh and they probably could have done better by acquihiring additional companies (similar to what they did with Deepscale).
- morkalork 2y ago
  It's a bit like video game companies isn't it? Exploiting people who want to work on their passion.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    That's what it felt like - they were really marketing on the brand. When their stock was rising like crazy it made sense, but now it doesn't.
toomuchtodo 2y ago
I admire Elon’s resolve in making the environment obvious why those left should unionize.
tekla 2y ago
And you would be wrong. Any half decent mech/electrical/aero engineer begs to get a role at SpaceX / Tesla.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  For MechE, AE, and parts of EE you are not wrong - they definitely paid well above market rate because of the stock, but plenty of companies like Toyota, Ford, GM, etc began recognizing this and have begun raising salaries around the 2020-23 period while Tesla's remained stagnant, and we'll probably see the result in the next 5-7 years as these are lagging indicators.
- HumblyTossed 2y ago
  > And you would be wrong. Any half decent mech/electrical/aero engineer begs to get a role at SpaceX / Tesla. Oh come on. Anyone talented doesn't have to beg for anything, and certainly not a role at a falling company.
  - tekla 2y ago
    Ah yes, the HN bubble. The role at these companies are hell to get into, its not a 3 month bootcamp role. Web Dev being hilariously easy to get into was a function of free money.
    - HumblyTossed 2y ago
      Woooooooooosh. I wasn't saying a web dev could. Context is key.
      - tekla 2y ago
        "Woooooooooosh" Still not responding to the argument.
        HumblyTossed 2y ago
        Oh, I did. "Context is key".
CoastalCoder 2y ago
I'm pretty averse to working in any of Musk's companies, not just Tesla. It's not his (pseudo?) conservative views, I'm actually somewhat politically conservative. I just have a ton of antipathy toward him as a person. I'm not proud of this, but he's a person I actively want to fail. I'm curious how common my viewpoint is.
- bckr 2y ago
  Pseudo conservative… I like that phrase. Of course it’s also worth saying that the guy hangs out with neo-reactionaries (people who literally want to install a monarch). Even if he didn’t espouse whatever the hell he’s espousing publicly, his companies are known as incredibly toxic work environments—one friend of a friend talks about hiding whenever Elon visits their building so they don’t get randomly fired for no reason. Not to mention safety hazards, stupidly long work hours for no real reason (if they’re not succeeding, why are they working so hard?)
  - adastra22 2y ago
    He’s gotten himself surrounded by some real nutjobs, then reveals some beliefs that he believes are left-of-center. But that’s true only if you measure based on what he exposes himself to.
  - tivert 2y ago
    > Pseudo conservative… I like that phrase. Of course it’s also worth saying that the guy hangs out with neo-reactionaries (people who literally want to install a monarch). Honestly, I wouldn't call him a conservative in any real sense. He pisses off liberals, but that doesn't make him a conservative. He just has a few shared points of opposition. And I'm with the GP, he's someone who I think should fail, but I'm also torn: I also don't like a lot of the people who dislike him, and I wouldn't like the schadenfreude they'd feel if he fails.
- workingdog 2y ago
  I share his views on many things, but I won't work for him as I need time to be with my family. Eighty weeks aren't for me. I don't want him to fail, however. I'm happy we live in a world where some people work hard to advance our technology.
toolz 2y ago
Where would they go instead? Massive layoffs seem to be happening widely enough across the board that any real alternatives probably aren't hiring that aggressively.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  On the supercharger side, there is a lot of battery tech work and providers now in the US, because Sequoia went gung-ho on GreenTech funding and most automotive companies are now working on charging tech too in order to avail IRA subsidies, so there is a growing Battery Tech and charging tech scene in the US.
tivert 2y ago
> At this point I have to believe that any significant tech talent is looking at Tesla as a poison workplace. Wasn't that already clear, like, five+ years ago? When they were trying to get the Model 3 in production, I remember stories of Musk visiting the site, getting into people's business, and firing them impulsively if he didn't like something. Stuff like that and the repeated lies about FSD led me to write them off years ago.

At this point I have to believe that any significant tech talent is looking at Tesla as a poison workplace. They are going to have to pay pretty damn well to get anyone with a brain.

ed_balls 2y ago

everyone that was part of lay offs knows they are never as bad as media describe them. They will be alright.

oldpersonintx 2y ago

[dead]

alephnerd 2y ago

Outside of the MechE space, I don't think they were that great of an employer anyhow. The wages at Tesla were always much lower than peers despite having most of R&D in the Bay Area. They also seemed to overhire on boondoggles and not concentrate on execution. Back in the day, I was constantly getting pinged to be a PM for their ML Infra team, but the pay was meh and they probably could have done better by acquihiring additional companies (similar to what they did with Deepscale).

morkalork 2y ago
It's a bit like video game companies isn't it? Exploiting people who want to work on their passion.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  That's what it felt like - they were really marketing on the brand. When their stock was rising like crazy it made sense, but now it doesn't.

toomuchtodo 2y ago

I admire Elon’s resolve in making the environment obvious why those left should unionize.

tekla 2y ago

And you would be wrong. Any half decent mech/electrical/aero engineer begs to get a role at SpaceX / Tesla.

alephnerd 2y ago
For MechE, AE, and parts of EE you are not wrong - they definitely paid well above market rate because of the stock, but plenty of companies like Toyota, Ford, GM, etc began recognizing this and have begun raising salaries around the 2020-23 period while Tesla's remained stagnant, and we'll probably see the result in the next 5-7 years as these are lagging indicators.
HumblyTossed 2y ago
> And you would be wrong. Any half decent mech/electrical/aero engineer begs to get a role at SpaceX / Tesla. Oh come on. Anyone talented doesn't have to beg for anything, and certainly not a role at a falling company.
- tekla 2y ago
  Ah yes, the HN bubble. The role at these companies are hell to get into, its not a 3 month bootcamp role. Web Dev being hilariously easy to get into was a function of free money.
  - HumblyTossed 2y ago
    Woooooooooosh. I wasn't saying a web dev could. Context is key.
    - tekla 2y ago
      "Woooooooooosh" Still not responding to the argument.
      - HumblyTossed 2y ago
        Oh, I did. "Context is key".

CoastalCoder 2y ago

I'm pretty averse to working in any of Musk's companies, not just Tesla. It's not his (pseudo?) conservative views, I'm actually somewhat politically conservative. I just have a ton of antipathy toward him as a person. I'm not proud of this, but he's a person I actively want to fail. I'm curious how common my viewpoint is.

bckr 2y ago
Pseudo conservative… I like that phrase. Of course it’s also worth saying that the guy hangs out with neo-reactionaries (people who literally want to install a monarch). Even if he didn’t espouse whatever the hell he’s espousing publicly, his companies are known as incredibly toxic work environments—one friend of a friend talks about hiding whenever Elon visits their building so they don’t get randomly fired for no reason. Not to mention safety hazards, stupidly long work hours for no real reason (if they’re not succeeding, why are they working so hard?)
- adastra22 2y ago
  He’s gotten himself surrounded by some real nutjobs, then reveals some beliefs that he believes are left-of-center. But that’s true only if you measure based on what he exposes himself to.
- tivert 2y ago
  > Pseudo conservative… I like that phrase. Of course it’s also worth saying that the guy hangs out with neo-reactionaries (people who literally want to install a monarch). Honestly, I wouldn't call him a conservative in any real sense. He pisses off liberals, but that doesn't make him a conservative. He just has a few shared points of opposition. And I'm with the GP, he's someone who I think should fail, but I'm also torn: I also don't like a lot of the people who dislike him, and I wouldn't like the schadenfreude they'd feel if he fails.
workingdog 2y ago
I share his views on many things, but I won't work for him as I need time to be with my family. Eighty weeks aren't for me. I don't want him to fail, however. I'm happy we live in a world where some people work hard to advance our technology.

toolz 2y ago

Where would they go instead? Massive layoffs seem to be happening widely enough across the board that any real alternatives probably aren't hiring that aggressively.

alephnerd 2y ago
On the supercharger side, there is a lot of battery tech work and providers now in the US, because Sequoia went gung-ho on GreenTech funding and most automotive companies are now working on charging tech too in order to avail IRA subsidies, so there is a growing Battery Tech and charging tech scene in the US.

tivert 2y ago

> At this point I have to believe that any significant tech talent is looking at Tesla as a poison workplace. Wasn't that already clear, like, five+ years ago? When they were trying to get the Model 3 in production, I remember stories of Musk visiting the site, getting into people's business, and firing them impulsively if he didn't like something. Stuff like that and the repeated lies about FSD led me to write them off years ago.