The Verge reported that CEO Sundar Pichai defended the layoffs and claimed that workers sometimes reach out to express gratitude for the cuts. “And I just want to clarify that, through these changes, people feel it on the ground and sometimes people write back and say, ‘Thank you for simplifying.’ Sometimes we have a complicated, duplicative structure,” he said, per the Verge.
Chalmers: People send thank you’s for laying them off?
Pichai: Yes.
Chalmers: May I see one?
Pichai: No.
datendefekt@lemmy.ml 10 months ago
Who could’ve imagined that Google is becoming just as mediocre and boring as any other large corporation. What a surprise!
Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
It’s happening at my company right now. We just merged. I got a taste of power, performed well, then got written up for spending too much time on my power project. Now they have neutered any power I had, and I’m now a glorified babysitter and messenger. The hunt now begins in earnest.
UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Damn that sucks. I’ve been laid off before, and I was lucky enough to have a bunch of references and ins at other jobs right away.
Just keep making friends and building marketable skills on the company dime, is what I am doing anyway
Crackhappy@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Good luck.
SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 10 months ago
A few years ago the MBA suits took over from the nerds and it became inevitable.
UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
I’m not sure the nerds ever really had the best intentions, so were probably really easy to buy off
Aceticon@lemmy.world 10 months ago
They’ve long been quite mediocre judging by the incredible long hours of those working there and shit quality of basically any technical framework they put out.
They have shoved tons of resources into some things (such as Android) and thus succeeded, but in terms of quality from a technical point of view (i.e. software design, technical architecture) their stuff looks like it was hammered together by a bunch of junior devs.
Lucky timing followed by some smart strategical decisions (and, seemingly, a throw everything at the wall and see what sticks management strategy) are what made Google, not excellence.
psivchaz@reddthat.com 10 months ago
It’s unfair to discount Google’s early days. They DID have technical excellence. Search was leagues better than the competition. Gmail was an amazing leap from other providers. Android started as trash but improved rapidly. The Nexus line of phones was amazing. Google Maps was a huge improvement over what else existed. They did a lot right.
I can’t pinpoint exactly when the fall started. Was it when Pichai became CEO? When they removed “don’t be evil?” I remember a speech Pichai gave where he talked about “more wood behind fewer arrows” as why they were getting rid of employee child projects, so maybe it was that.
stoly@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Notable: Google Home can no longer set timers and does not understand what “stop playing” means. It’s basically only usable for asking for music to be played since it has declined so heavily.
Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
What’s a technical architecture? Serious question.
Psyduck_world@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I am old enough to remember that Apple was the pirate of Silicon Valley, and then it became the most “cooperation” company in the industry. Then it’s Google then there will be a next one. It’s probably inevitable for any company to go this route.
TheBat@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It’s cute that you think any new corporation of that calibre will be born in near future. It will get bought out before that happens
ShepherdPie@midwest.social 10 months ago
It’s a well travelled path for any company in the tech sphere. Start out as a disruptor and breath of fresh air in a stagnant industry and then slowly crank the dial toward enshittification over time hoping that the reputation you previously built will keep your customer base from jumping ship too quickly.
prole@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Unregulated capitalism ruins everything if given enough time.
stoly@lemmy.world 10 months ago
It became this in approximately 2009 - 2010, around when the founders left and the business bros took over. We’ve been seeing the slow decline since then, though it may be accelerating now.
Chocrates@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I loved Google for so long, but they have really lost it. I switched back to Firefox last year as a meek sign of protest. My work still uses Gmail and my personal email is still Gmail, it’s gonna be rough to extricate myself. My fucking phone number is Google voice
ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 10 months ago
When times are tough
Work environment gets rough
I guess.
Deceptichum@kbin.social 10 months ago
Tough times create rough workplaces, rough workplaces create strong employees, strong employees create unions, unions create better workplaces.
TheBat@lemmy.world 10 months ago
When times are tough Work environment gets rough Delete stuff from prod To keep things interesting enough
not_again@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Burma Shave
BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 10 months ago
“Becoming”?
“Don’t be evil”. Not-evil people don’t need to say such things.
Also, any large organization is a shit show, regardless of what it’s organized for. It’s the nature of humanity.
A (former) boss used to say “if you have 3 employees you have nine problems”.
xantoxis@lemmy.world 10 months ago
They famously threw out “Don’t be evil” when they formed Alphabet, a move that was, I have to admit, surprisingly honest of them.
merc@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
That was a reference to Microsoft. They were on trial / convicted for abusing their monopoly in awful ways to screw over any potential competitors, and making the experience terrible for Microsoft users. As bad as Google might be today, they’re nowhere near as bad as Microsoft was. And, in the early years, they were definitely the anti-Microsoft in the tech world.