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.

 

[quaawaa]

The ones that are opting remote have probably "no work" jobs and are essentially semi retired to be honest.

In a lot of companies, there’s a fairly low ceiling unless you want to be a manager, which a lot of people don’t want to do because managing other people in a big company is a horrible job filled with politics. If you’re not planning on being promoted, the threat is powerless.

 

[74164978231]

In a lot of companies, there’s a fairly low ceiling unless you want to be a manager, which a lot of people don’t want to do because managing other people in a big company is a horrible job filled with politics. If you’re not planning on being promoted, the threat is powerless.

Yup. I know in the IT world the only real advancement to be had is when you jump from company to company unless you specifically work for a company that is pure IT services/development.

 

[The Hardest R]

If you’re a white guy, with few exceptions, you’re going to be moved to the back of the queue for promotions anyway. No sense working your ass off as a “team player” in the office when they’re going to give promotions to someone else based entirely on meeting DEI and ESG criteria. You might as well just focus on maximizing your accommodations that improve your quality of life until you find something that pays better and/or better accommodations.

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

The ones that are opting remote have probably "no work" jobs and are essentially semi retired to be honest.

Or have moved to some area they don't want to leave/ digital nomad sex touristing around the world.

Promotions are barely what they're chalked up for in IT anyway. The salary increases are mediocre at best, and unless its just a title change from intermediate to senior, the responsibilities of the role are either completely outside of what you've actually developed skills for, or are just the same, but with a little more say in internal office politics.

I don't think taking the average developer and telling them "If you come into the office to develop code, you can maybe have a chance at giving up the work your comfortable with to do something you have no experience with and may hate for a marginal salary increase, and if its miserable you can't go back to your old job." is going to create the kind of outcomes that leadership is hoping for. You're just going to end up with the reputation whores chasing down stuff they can't actually manage while your competent people disappear into their well developed niches and let the retards thunderdome it out - And if the retards become too good at fucking shit up, they'll just fire your competent people and now you've really fucked the org up.

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

Promotions are barely what they're chalked up for in IT anyway. The salary increases are mediocre at best, and unless its just a title change from intermediate to senior, the responsibilities of the role are either completely outside of what you've actually developed skills for, or are just the same, but with a little more say in internal office politics.

I don't think taking the average developer and telling them "If you come into the office to develop code, you can maybe have a chance at giving up the work your comfortable with to do something you have no experience with and may hate for a marginal salary increase, and if its miserable you can't go back to your old job." is going to create the kind of outcomes that leadership is hoping for. You're just going to end up with the reputation whores chasing down stuff they can't actually manage while your competent people disappear into their well developed niches and let the retards thunderdome it out - And if the retards become too good at fucking shit up, they'll just fire your competent people and now you've really fucked the org up.

Maybe but I've seen 100% remote work jobs get more and more rare. Most companies are now hiring for hybrid roles only unless it's a key skill or it's a relatively low skill / low impact position.

100% remote will be more common pre 2019 but a good deal less common post 2022.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

The bottom line is that upper management is pissed at WFH because it means they can't micromanage their underlings, which is what inflates their egos in the first place. It's also why people don't want to stop doing WFH because who the hell wants to go into a stuffy office and deal with dickheads all day? Even non-management people can be fucking annoying at times.

This also affects IT as well, because even though they're SUPPOSED to have their little corner away from everyone else, there are still office jobs that will stick them in the same space as everyone else (but HR will ALWAYS have their own space no matter what because reasons), so you wind up overhearing what karen is yapping about with her cubicle buddy and half the time you're thiniking "god, doesn't this bitch ever shut the fuck up?".

That doesn't stop companies from trying to spy on people in their homes anyway by forcing their cameras on and installing spywayre on their work/home computers to make sure every mouseclick and keystroke is legit. It's fucking mental abuse at this point.

 

[⋖ cørdion ⋗]

Read of a couple; one IT dude and a HR lady. He was happy working from home, never having to talk to anyone, and she was furious, trying to manage people who are "totally on call and available- except when you call cause uhhh i dont wanna call! why not text? i'm so anxious! oh nvm I'm out walking the dog, but I'll work later! No I won't be available during that extended workday either. But!!"

Thank fuck tech bros finally get reality smacked into them. Every single job related discussion is immediately derailed by some entitled autist who got headhunted halfway through university, never wrote an application in his life, yet know the secrets to a career in uhh... dentistry. Cause he's rich! What does he code? uh, certainly not casino apps meant to drain grandma dry.. You're just jealous cause he's wealthy!

 

[Snekposter]

The bottom line is that upper management is pissed at WFH because it means they can't micromanage their underlings, which is what inflates their egos in the first place. It's also why people don't want to stop doing WFH because who the hell wants to go into a stuffy office and deal with dickheads all day? Even non-management people can be fucking annoying at times.

This also affects IT as well, because even though they're SUPPOSED to have their little corner away from everyone else, there are still office jobs that will stick them in the same space as everyone else (but HR will ALWAYS have their own space no matter what because reasons), so you wind up overhearing what karen is yapping about with her cubicle buddy and half the time you're thiniking "god, doesn't this bitch ever shut the fuck up?".

That doesn't stop companies from trying to spy on people in their homes anyway by forcing their cameras on and installing spywayre on their work/home computers to make sure every mouseclick and keystroke is legit. It's fucking mental abuse at this point.

If you want proof that Kiwi Farms is open to everyone, no matter what scum they are, we had a middle manager pop up in one of those WFH threads boasting he was absolutely vital and that the plebs should be thankful he was keeping them in line.

 

[TJT]

If you want proof that Kiwi Farms is open to everyone, no matter what scum they are, we had a middle manager pop up in one of those WFH threads boasting he was absolutely vital and that the plebs should be thankful he was keeping them in line.

Oh I would like to read that.

 

[Snekposter]

Oh I would like to read that.

I don't think this post is the one I was thinking of, but its close. Imagine having someone on KF admitting to being a middle manager for a living...

 

[74164978231]

The bottom line is that upper management is pissed at WFH because it means they can't micromanage their underlings, which is what inflates their egos in the first place. It's also why people don't want to stop doing WFH because who the hell wants to go into a stuffy office and deal with dickheads all day? Even non-management people can be fucking annoying at times.

Yup. When my company got a new CEO late last year the first thing he did was get rid of the 3-4 people still wfh.

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

Google is abandoning one of their flagship office spaces in San Francisco:

One Market Plaza used to be nice.

 

[Ahriman]

https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/less-than-a-month-after-joining-work-on-the-sands-of-time-remake-ubisoft-toronto-lays-off-33-employees-to-ensure-it-can-deliver-on-its-ambitious-roadmap/

 

[Ghostse]

Maybe but I've seen 100% remote work jobs get more and more rare. Most companies are now hiring for hybrid roles only unless it's a key skill or it's a relatively low skill / low impact position.

100% remote will be more common pre 2019 but a good deal less common post 2022.

They are rare now because of over saturation of desperate H1Bs. They always want to see you in person so they could make sure you weren't looking up shit online, and now they can demand it. Sort of the same reason College Degree is back on the HR filter, as it filters out most foreigners.

A company I worked at had a pajeet show up having aced the interview, but in the office seemed lacking; the local pajeet squad (who were pretty based and bullied any newly hired pajeets who used "do the needful" in an email) informed his management that the dude had basically been coached on the remote interview by his cousin. Guy was informed they were initiating a background check on his employers and same-day quit.

There were also issues over COVID of people fucking off to other states and countries and not updating their location. I worked for a nationwide company and there was some angst from multiple state tax agencies about payroll taxes for people who changed official addresses but not HR addresses. They were able to get the problem to go away, but HR policies were a lot firmer about "we don't fucking care if you move but motherfucker you HAVE to tell us"

The bottom line is that upper management is pissed at WFH because it means they can't micromanage their underlings, which is what inflates their egos in the first place. It's also why people don't want to stop doing WFH because who the hell wants to go into a stuffy office and deal with dickheads all day? Even non-management people can be fucking annoying at times.

If I'm not having a maximum focus project,I like going into the office to actually talk to people. You pick up things in conversations near by. I get it. I just hate three things about having to go into the office.

Getting to the office
Getting back home from the office
Being stuck there until exactly 5pm

The first two make sense, but my fucking god having to sit around until 5 rolls around is the fucking worse. I'm not starting anything after 4pm. If I have nothing going on just let me leave.

 

[FedPostalService]

Trying not to power level. We’re having massive issues getting people back to the office. We don’t have hybrid contracts but people are crying that they had to cor in three days a week. I’m letting them hand themselves but if the annoy senior management enough they’ll be told to come in the five days.

Covid seems to have made people forget what professionalism is. One guy is asking if he can bring his dog to work. It’s fucking crazy.

The inevitable redundancies can’t come soon enough.

 

[Ahriman]

One guy is asking if he can bring his dog to work. It’s fucking crazy.

Bhahah yea, fuck that guy.

Tell him he absolutely can't do that, you never know if there's someone allergic to dog hair, or at the very least, just annoyed by having a misbehaved dog roaming around the office.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

One guy is asking if he can bring his dog to work. It’s fucking crazy.

True Story

I once worked for an I.M.E. company where the guy running the place was this young white dude who decided to start dating one of the better looking spanish chicks who was head of one of the departments in the office. Eventually it got to the point where she was wearing casual cloths (like spats so tight you could see her camel toe) and at one point she even brought over a dog (small one, not sure if it was hers or his). She was picking him up for lunch or some shit on her off day and decided to take it with her. Eventually they got married and she started doing the Paris Hilton thing where she kept the dog in her big-ass hand-bag.

I was with the company for 4 years and from when I started to the time i left, i pretty much sawe their relationship unfold. Fucking weird.

 

[FedPostalService]

True Story

I once worked for an I.M.E. company where the guy running the place was this young white dude who decided to start dating one of the better looking spanish chicks who was head of one of the departments in the office. Eventually it got to the point where she was wearing casual cloths (like spats so tight you could see her camel toe) and at one point she even brought over a dog (small one, not sure if it was hers or his). She was picking him up for lunch or some shit on her off day and decided to take it with her. Eventually they got married and she started doing the Paris Hilton thing where she kept the dog in her big-ass hand-bag.

I was with the company for 4 years and from when I started to the time i left, i pretty much sawe their relationship unfold. Fucking weird.

I think this is the last straw for me. I’m sick of having to work with silly middle class lefty spastics. I can move sideways into a bigger team that seems more adult.

It’s something I’ve spoke about before, but the team I’m in was one of the most fantastic I’ve ever worked with, then we had a union agitator join and try all signed up and bought his bullshit.

Leftists, not even once.

Sorry for treating this thread like a therapy session.

 

[Ahriman]

I think this is the last straw for me. I’m sick of having to work with silly middle class lefty spastics. I can move sideways into a bigger team that seems more adult.

It’s something I’ve spoke about before, but the team I’m in was one of the most fantastic I’ve ever worked with, then we had a union agitator join and try all signed up and bought his bullshit.

Leftists, not even once.

Sorry for treating this thread like a therapy session.

It's all good, fren. We can all commiserate about the really shitty parts of this industry.

Thread music:

 

[Falcos_Commisar]

There were also issues over COVID of people fucking off to other states and countries and not updating their location. I worked for a nationwide company and there was some angst from multiple state tax agencies about payroll taxes for people who changed official addresses but not HR addresses. They were able to get the problem to go away, but HR policies were a lot firmer about "we don't fucking care if you move but motherfucker you HAVE to tell us"

Yep moving from say NYC to the Fucking Philippines or Thailand or even Hawaii is kind of big deal.... People did that and basically couldn't function at "on call hours" due to the time difference and bitched about return to office mandates that had 6-12 MONTHS of forewarning.

Also, the tax thing is a big deal if you moved from say Florida to Colorado and now your employer has to figure out your new tax burden.... And you didn't mention it for YEARS.

Trying not to power level. We’re having massive issues getting people back to the office. We don’t have hybrid contracts but people are crying that they had to cor in three days a week. I’m letting them hand themselves but if the annoy senior management enough they’ll be told to come in the five days.

Covid seems to have made people forget what professionalism is. One guy is asking if he can bring his dog to work. It’s fucking crazy.

The inevitable redundancies can’t come soon enough.

Yep. Young people treating a job like a daycare is nauseating and a reason I LOVE seeing the big tech layoffs.

I'm 2-3 days a week on office and it is NOT A FUCKING big deal Jesus Christ.

I knew a guy who commuted 80 miles each way at a time because he wanted to live in the country and liked working at the job he was at. In office 2 days a week.

Not for me but you make shit work or you find a new job.

Hell a co worker might be moving to Europe from Texas in less than a year and it is understood that as long as he can make the time difference work then it's fine. The boss knows this because he sees him regularly and knows he's not a malingering dickhead in person or on remote.