I see a lot of folks making the argument that yeah, a lot of layoffs are happening, but it's due to irresponsible hiring. And yeah, it's true that you shouldn't hire a bunch of engineers that aren't doing anything; which usually isn't the case.
I think people don't understand just how unbelievably BAD the tech grift is right now for people in leadership positions. It's not just that they hired a lot of people, it's that they also tasked them with working on the wrong things.
There are so many bright and shinies for those folks to chase. And they're even further detached from building healthy engineering teams. So many of those hires could be put to use. But people don't want to maintain. They want to chase new features. Constantly.
See also why it generally feels like a lot of "big tech" products suck a LOT right now? Nobody is maintaining. They're all chasing. And they're all trying to do it with less people. I feel like this is true everywhere in tech right now: from big tech backed products even to gaming. Leadership at these places don't want to shore up their teams or existing work.
@hbuchel The most insanity-inducing part of this is that there is probably a ton more money to be had making core experiences better (or even just usable) instead of throwing out half-baked new features. Everything feels like some pet project for someone way up the org chart trying to gain clout.
The Capitalistic Drive for ever-increasing profit does not leave time for maintenance or introspection. It is the root of enshitification and it ruins everything.
Here is a middling-long toot-chain about Veblen's theory of how business and industry are distinct forces in capitalism. It kinda blew my mind, and I think it applies here.
capitalists aren't entrepreneurs. the most fundamental example of an entrepreneur is what now Wall Street has the audacity to call “life-style bussinesses” : mechanics, plumbers, doctors, lawyers, bakers, tailors with their own practices/store fronts and no investment from Wall Streeters.
entrepreneurship existed before investors and capitalists and will exist after we kill capitalism.
btw: capitalists and investors aren't the same thing either.
My dad retired last year at the age of 68. He was self-employed, ran his own dry cleaners for 40 years. He woke up at 3:30 AM Monday - Saturday to get started and only took Sundays off (but he would still go in to work after church sometimes). He thought he'd have to work until the day he died because, believe it or not, there isn't a lot of money in dry cleaning. And that was even with him being a stingy asshole who paid his employees the legal minimum.
He worked his ass off every day. I know because I worked there for a summer when I was 15. I can't imagine doing that work into my 40s and 50s, let alone pushing 70.
He's been trying to sell the cleaners for the last 10 or 15 years and it was only by serendipity that he found a buyer recently right after another one had backed out.
The COVID stimulus money helped keep him afloat long enough to find a buyer.
That's how the United States treats entrepreneurs, like it's embarrassed by them for not already being millionaires when they get started.
@bigheadtales@blogdiva@hbuchel I was having a conversation with someone about this earlier today, and their take is that this is a reaction to tech salaries, and mass layoffs are a way to force tech salaries to lower levels.
@ramsey@blogdiva@hbuchel
That very much might be the case. In the case of my friends getting laid off is that it is far more often that older workers are being laid off and jobs opening up for a level below what they had.
It's a way to lower salaries and get rid of older workers at the same time.
@hbuchel@foxxtrot funny how this counts as more experience, more likely to get hired. The idea that tech is a meritocracy, as if any of the recruiters knew anything about a candidate's skills. Might as well use the LLM on your resume and get yourself a c-level job.
@hbuchel I work for a mid-sized IT company with is family-owned, and I am happy to say that they see their employees as long-term investments which they are loath to let go - each employee has year and sometimes decades of accumulated knowledge, and losing them hits hard.
Sure, some other companies might pay more, but the peace of mind is worth it.
Anyone who saya these layoffs are due to irresponsible hiring should see their doctor for lead poisoning due to lead paint chip consumption or Oil of Vitriol (yes really called that) toxicity from licking the black off Capitalist boots
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