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> Cisco spokesperson Robyn Blum said in an email to SFGATE that the layoff is meant to allow the company to invest in “key growth opportunities and drive more e

> Cisco spokesperson Robyn Blum said in an email to SFGATE that the layoff is meant to allow the company to invest in “key growth opportunities and drive more efficiency in our business.” Cutting costs through layoffs and then plowing cash into expensive technologies like artificial intelligence is a trend that’s emerged at some tech companies over the past two years. So they want to put their money into hardware and compute, not talent? Their layoffs in the last year will be nearly 10% of total headcount. AI doesn't have enough runway at this point to have a lot of seasoned people available in the marketplace. Re-training tech workers has to be a cost effective alternative to lay-offs and severance packages, etc. Can anyone besides Wall Street generate a narrative that incurs a "try harder" penalty against companies who go this route? I'm interviewing right now with FAANG level companies. The process is so slow (5-8 interviews over 3-4 months) and burdensome (even on the company side of things), at some point retaining people who made it through this process would seem to be a reasonable T&E objective. Companies are also generally terrible at on-boarding and training -- tenure is usually a good value to have in an employee (they know the company, products, culture, teams, processes, etc). (Yes, I know.. they may want to lay-off those they deem poor performers..)

spacemadness 2y ago
I think you’ll be sorely disappointed in looking for reason, if reason means long-term strategically sound decisions, from any of these publicly traded companies. The incentives are almost always short-term. Executives are normally completely disconnected with how the company really functions. The power structures separate the decision makers from reality since most are too afraid for their own careers to question the leadership. Slash and burn tactics win over internal training. Almost all managers I’ve seen in these companies bend over backwards to implement whatever is being decided without questioning anything, even if they have better data on hand to prove the decisions are poorly thought out. That also goes for directors. If you understand this going in you won’t necessarily have an existential crisis, but if you don’t you’re in for a bad time. One of the ex-CEOs of Medtronic use to sit with the engineers during lunch to understand what was really going on in the company as he found his underlings continually hid problems from him. I wish more CEOs understood the wisdom of that but they’re too busy playing as feudal lords.
- browningstreet 2y ago
  > If you understand this going in you won’t necessarily have an existential crisis, but if you don’t you’re in for a bad time. > ..but they’re too busy playing as feudal lords. Yeah, and agreed. Very familiar with that experience and losing out by trying to do (or even _say_) better things.
- nine_zeros 2y ago
  > One of the ex-CEOs of Medtronic use to sit with the engineers during lunch to understand what was really going on in the company as he found his underlings continually hid problems from him. I wish more CEOs understood the wisdom of that but they’re too busy playing as feudal lords. The vast majority of C-Suite and upper management DOES NOT CARE about employees, customers, engineering, impact of cruel org policies or long term issues from short term decisions. They are there to exploit the lives of people working under them in the org chart forced upon people. This is why I always tell engineers to not give two fucks beyond 9-5 or fixing structural issues. The C-Suite getting paid millions doesn't care. Why should you?
  - wheatzies 2y ago
    > This is why I always tell engineers to not give two fucks beyond 9-5 or fixing structural issues. Addressing structural issues in my organization directly affects how much my job does or doesn’t suck. If I turn a blind eye to every gripe I have in a job, I feel like I can’t complain about how much of a drag it is to work there, because _I haven’t even tried to fix it_. Furthermore, it feels like a disservice to others if I don’t speak up — if I don’t say something because I think my manager/director/CTO is apathetic, I’m indirectly making my coworkers’ experiences worse as well.
    - nine_zeros 2y ago
      > Addressing structural issues in my organization directly affects how much my job does or doesn’t suck. If I turn a blind eye to every gripe I have in a job, I feel like I can’t complain about how much of a drag it is to work there, because _I haven’t even tried to fix it_. You don't turn a blind eye to it. You report the structural issue to management and let them do their actual job of fixing it. They won't be able to fix it unless they know about it. They also won't appreciate your effort unless they internalize how painful said issue is.
dogsledsleddog 2y ago
Call me a cynic, but maintaining the same volume of hiring related work when no one should bother applying is (somewhat selectively) demoralizing which probably drives attrition without severance.

spacemadness 2y ago

I think you’ll be sorely disappointed in looking for reason, if reason means long-term strategically sound decisions, from any of these publicly traded companies. The incentives are almost always short-term. Executives are normally completely disconnected with how the company really functions. The power structures separate the decision makers from reality since most are too afraid for their own careers to question the leadership. Slash and burn tactics win over internal training. Almost all managers I’ve seen in these companies bend over backwards to implement whatever is being decided without questioning anything, even if they have better data on hand to prove the decisions are poorly thought out. That also goes for directors. If you understand this going in you won’t necessarily have an existential crisis, but if you don’t you’re in for a bad time. One of the ex-CEOs of Medtronic use to sit with the engineers during lunch to understand what was really going on in the company as he found his underlings continually hid problems from him. I wish more CEOs understood the wisdom of that but they’re too busy playing as feudal lords.

browningstreet 2y ago
> If you understand this going in you won’t necessarily have an existential crisis, but if you don’t you’re in for a bad time. > ..but they’re too busy playing as feudal lords. Yeah, and agreed. Very familiar with that experience and losing out by trying to do (or even _say_) better things.
nine_zeros 2y ago
> One of the ex-CEOs of Medtronic use to sit with the engineers during lunch to understand what was really going on in the company as he found his underlings continually hid problems from him. I wish more CEOs understood the wisdom of that but they’re too busy playing as feudal lords. The vast majority of C-Suite and upper management DOES NOT CARE about employees, customers, engineering, impact of cruel org policies or long term issues from short term decisions. They are there to exploit the lives of people working under them in the org chart forced upon people. This is why I always tell engineers to not give two fucks beyond 9-5 or fixing structural issues. The C-Suite getting paid millions doesn't care. Why should you?
- wheatzies 2y ago
  > This is why I always tell engineers to not give two fucks beyond 9-5 or fixing structural issues. Addressing structural issues in my organization directly affects how much my job does or doesn’t suck. If I turn a blind eye to every gripe I have in a job, I feel like I can’t complain about how much of a drag it is to work there, because _I haven’t even tried to fix it_. Furthermore, it feels like a disservice to others if I don’t speak up — if I don’t say something because I think my manager/director/CTO is apathetic, I’m indirectly making my coworkers’ experiences worse as well.
  - nine_zeros 2y ago
    > Addressing structural issues in my organization directly affects how much my job does or doesn’t suck. If I turn a blind eye to every gripe I have in a job, I feel like I can’t complain about how much of a drag it is to work there, because _I haven’t even tried to fix it_. You don't turn a blind eye to it. You report the structural issue to management and let them do their actual job of fixing it. They won't be able to fix it unless they know about it. They also won't appreciate your effort unless they internalize how painful said issue is.

dogsledsleddog 2y ago

Call me a cynic, but maintaining the same volume of hiring related work when no one should bother applying is (somewhat selectively) demoralizing which probably drives attrition without severance.