Business Big Tech Layoffs Megathread - Techbros... we got too cocky...

Since my previous thread kinda-sorta turned into a soft megathread, and the tech layoffs will continue until morale improves, I think it's better to group them all together.

For those who want a QRD:

Just this week we've had these going on:

https://www.theverge.com/24048636/ebay-layoffs-1000-employees-january-2024

https://arstechnica.com/google/2024/01/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-promises-another-year-of-google-layoffs/

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/24/tech/sap-restructuring-ai-jobs-intl-hnk/index.html

But it's not just Big Tech, the vidya industry is also cleaning house bigly:

https://www.brokentoys.org/ludum-mortuus-est/

All in all, rough seas ahead for the techbros.

 

[The Ugly One]

You should enjoy watching them suffer just because they're libs, and libs enjoy watching you suffer. Remember the lockdowns? They positively gloried in how miserable everyone was.

 

[Gar For Archer]

You should enjoy watching them suffer just because they're libs, and libs enjoy watching you suffer. Remember the lockdowns? They positively gloried in how miserable everyone was.

No need to preach to the choir, I’m doing that already

 

[Cybertonia]

Joke's on you, I am this fucking close to start wrenching on my own car and start a boutique garage.

Yeah this sounds like a good idea but actually isn't.

You won't wanna do it anymore after the first time some hoarder brings in their cockroach-infested car they drove over multiple curbs, demanding loudly that you fix it "under warranty" and also insisting you give them a rental so they can take their brother to the airport in another state, and if you don't they're gonna spend the weekend spamming you with 1 star google reviews from sockpuppet accounts.

 

[Seething Troon Collector]

So aside from wasting a week of my time, I now have to unlearn technical language and catch myself from using terms like "big endian," which has been a fucking technical term I have used regularly for decades, because some 23-year-old pinkhaired faggot said it offends niggers, and if I do slip up, I can get written up.

You must work for a shit company. I can just not bring myself to use the phrase allowlist/denylist..etc. Seriously, fuck it. If I get hauled in front of the HR goons then so be it. I'm lucky though, I don't work with a lot of 23 year-old pinkhaired faggots.

Also, when did "big endian" become a no-no evil colonizer term, did I miss a DIE memo about this? What's so fucking offensive about that????

 

[Whatevermancer]

They positively gloried in how miserable everyone was.

Actually, I don't remember that happening, I remember employees in service industry getting fired and normies bitching and moaning about how hard it is for them to stay at home for a week without seeing their friends or some shit.

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

There's some probably bullshit story about how brown bags were used as a test to keep niggers out, and how we couldn't have "brown bags" (nickname for lunchtime meetings) at work anymore.

 

[OrangeJuliusEvola]

Also, when did "big endian" become a no-no evil colonizer term, did I miss a DIE memo about this? What's so fucking offensive about that????

I agree, since when did niggers hate big-ends? Didn't Sir-Codezalot write an entire ode them springing their dongles and whatnot?

 

[Cuckoman]

"big endian,"

Why is this added to the woke forbidden-list? Body shaming?
What did they want you to replace it with?

Anyway, if there are still people in tech that have time to worry about and invent new entries for the woke forbidden-list then that means that the layoffs were nowhere deep enough.

 

[Sweeter and Savoury]

RIOT GAMES just announced that they're laying off 11% of their whole work force which is 540 people.

https://www.riotgames.com/en/news/2024-rioter-update

 

[Scale Smerch]

So who are tech companies primarily laying off? Technical people or just all of the dead weight they picked up while interest rates were low? I.E. DEI people and people to work on risky projects that'll probably go nowhere.

I can only speak for myself (Fintech industry) but it appears to be mostly massive purges of overseas (Poojeet) contractors and non technical roles, project managers, client relations ect.

Can also confirm this from what I've seen/overheard in a (minor power level) series B startup. Non-technical roles are the major hit, particularly recruiters and marketing positions. Dev layoffs anecdotally have only hit those under-performing; any cuts to technical teams come more from hiring freezes and/or replacing entry-level positions with uni/college interns. Mass dev layoffs seem to come more from products being abandoned which result in entire teams being let go.

 

[Get the rope Macaulay!]

Another big thing about letting go of all these employees (especially the bitches) is that you free up room to downsize your building size. This is what the companies were trying to prevent with those "no more WFH" initiatives. corporate buildings are going through their own crisis because so much of it is empty because companies dont need the office space (which then leads to resturants and parking garages and other locations also not being used enough to make rent) 1000 people gone, each with 10 square feet of space needed to support them, thats 10k square feet in an expensive part of the city you don't need. if you were paying even $45/sqft a month thats 5 million dollars back in your pocket, not counting salaries/benefits/equipment which is easily a quarter billion. Tech has a lot of fat it can take out before it really hurts them, and with how crazy the worlds gotten they probably wouldn't mind firing the more annoying people in the company.

Its crazy how often i'm seeing kindergarden levels of HR crap in supposed workplaces.

My sincere hope is these are the kind of useless positions kept afloat by the largesse of venture capital and easy loans that are drying up.

from what i'm hearing they are. Musk also can be blamed for them cutting the "DEI" jobs first, people forget Musk was able to cut 75% of the workforce without any real issues.

It is so fucking bad that people that had borderline TDS spontaneously tell me they will vote for Trump. No question, no hesitation, they will 100% vote for trump.
That is how bad it is. People that were reeeeing about lgbt deathcamps and not my president are now openly saying they will vote for him.

outside of the economy how does that correlate?

 

[Second Sun]

It does show how much bullshit there is regarding 'AI'. If all these companies really were implementing it, there'd be an uptick in hiring due to all the consulting involved in process changes and testing.

In reality, the free money has ended and everyone expects a recession soon, so cutting headcount is the only way to maintain profits.

 

[The Ugly One]

Also, when did "big endian" become a no-no evil colonizer term, did I miss a DIE memo about this? What's so fucking offensive about that????

Nobody I know can figure out. Reigning theory is that "Endian" sounds kind of like "Indian," so the pinkhaired faggot who thinks a "compiler" is some kind of code summarizer decided that "Big Endian" and "Little Endian" are somehow racist dogwhistles.

 

[sadrefrigerator]

entry-level positions with uni/college interns

That's a new one I never heard of. I can't imagine that being economical. Entry level dev can already be hired for cheap. Internships are just a very expensive recruitment tool. Most internships are 3 months or part time, so you don't have to time to do real onboarding or get a return on your investment. Its a waste of money to have a student do some one off unicorn project in hopes that they will join you after they graduate.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Let's see how long before Google became the new Yahoo. Anyone who remember when Yahoo was big besides Pepperidge Farm?

 

[Ahriman]

https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5ynvw/google-cuts-search-results-algorithm-quality-rater-jobs-appen-contract

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/25/24049050/microsoft-activision-blizzard-layoffs

Also, this should be useful.

https://www.trueup.io/layoffs

 

[TowinKarz]

Actually, I don't remember that happening, I remember employees in service industry getting fired and normies bitching and moaning about how hard it is for them to stay at home for a week without seeing their friends or some shit.

I remember the Governor of Michigan telling people afraid they might run out of food that they couldn't go out and buy seeds to plant in the garden , that wasn't "Essential" , and equating going without food as the same as going without a haircut.......

 

[Scale Smerch]

That's a new one I never heard of. I can't imagine that being economical. Entry level dev can already be hired for cheap. Internships are just a very expensive recruitment tool. Most internships are 3 months or part time, so you don't have to time to do real onboarding or get a return on your investment. Its a waste of money to have a student do some one off unicorn project in hopes that they will join you after they graduate.

It depends on the type of intern. The ones in my case are for 12-16 month internships which can be more economical since they both legally require few (if any) salaried benefits and last on average as long as many juniors. Argument I've gotten from offhand chats too is that my company doesn't know if we want to permanently expand yet so such interns provide an easy source of new juniors (and lack of new hiring cycle) should the decision come that we want to expand teams and build out new products.

Given how many software engineering and comp sci students there are seeking internships in this market it's not that illogical a decision. For Canada especially the entry level market is an utter shitshow right now.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

I should also point out that these tech layoffs are also happening on the same week that recently DEI efforts have also started to affect airplane and airport carriers who have to now update their workplace with more minorities and people with physical and mental disabilities.

So, before anyone tries to feel pity for people losing their jobs in the IT tech sectors, just know that this will not change anything. They’re going to continue to vote and support the same kinds of things that led to these massive firings and layoffs, which will make the tech sector more unpleasant, while Silicon Valley billionaires will not be affected by these happenings since they have the money and power to hire foreigners outside of America to do the work that most Americans won’t do.

To put it short, “learn to code” is a two way street, but it will be a big slap to the face when reality sets in.

 

[cybertoaster]

Most of these jobs are actually going overseas, again...

Its not just interest rates, the GOP, always the backstabbers of the American worker, passed a law that closed a tax benefit tech companies got for R&D wages. Now they have to pay 50% taxes so they are simply firing those American employees and hiring foreigners in other countries instead for whom they don't have to pay those taxes since they are outside IRS jurisdiction.

So yeah, thanks for nothing republicans...