I'd take strong opinions for/or against with a grain of salt. It's likely you're suffering a bit from baader meinhof. I could certainly see a possible reductio

I'd take strong opinions for/or against with a grain of salt. It's likely you're suffering a bit from baader meinhof. I could certainly see a possible reduction in engineering team size, but going from 9 to 2 makes me question how much of that reduction was a result of over-hiring in the first place.