FAANG

Mass layoffs continue. Microsoft just announced that they're letting go thousands of people and Google followed suit. Tech layoffs were up 659% in 2022 compared to 2021. A lot of folks are out of jobs and that sucks.

Overall job markets remain fairly tight though. There's a lot of jobs, and it's not like it's crashing heavily. So, why are FAANG companies laying people off in huge numbers?

As far as I understand, main reason is they simply over-hired during the early days of the pandemic. And a lot of CEOs admit that they underestimated the market cool-down that inevitably happened after the initial pandemic spending spike. They hired more people in anticipation of the growth that did not materialize. So, they had to let some of those people go.

Another reason is that everybody expects some kind of a recession in the next year or two. Nobody actually knows when that'll come and what that would look like, but inflation is going high, people are spending less, and shareholders and executives are worried about their future profits. And they want to cut some costs.

Economic reasons aside, they way these layoffs are happening is kinda weird. It's reported that a lot of folks were veterans, with 10 to 20 years of their careers dedicated to those companies. And some of the folks got dismissed by an automated email. That's just a shitty move.

For a long time, a job at a FAANG company used to be an ideal career goal for any tech person. The interview process was tough, but they paid extremely well and you got to work with smart people. But even more than that, they used to be cool. They where different, and stood in stark opposition to the big corporations of the industrial era. Tech companies' culture stood for something. Google's "don't be evil" motto was there for a reason, at least in the early days.

However, now I think that a lot of tech folks will reevaluate their opinions. Personally, I already did. Why go work for a tech giant that doesn't value you as an employee? Why dedicate years of your life to a giant corporate machine that, like the classic evil corp of old, will ditch you when convenient?

No, thank you. I'd rather go to a place where I'll have a meaningful impact and where my time is valued. Where I could build something great that's not making this world a shittier place.

They can have their free lunches. I’m not interested anymore.

This post is part of the #100days project, where I try to write a post a day. Today is #day24