The Brutal Truth Behind Tech Layoffs

Summary

In this video, Josh discusses the major layoffs in the tech industry and argues against the popular belief that AI is the primary cause. He suggests that the real issue lies in overhiring and hyper-specialization of roles, which has led to the creation of unnecessary jobs. Josh emphasizes the importance of being a generalist programmer and predicts a shift in hiring practices towards valuing generalists more. He also touches on the potential impact of Elon Musk's actions at Twitter on the industry's approach to layoffs.

Takeaways

• 🤖 AI is not the main cause of layoffs; it has been used in various industries for over 20 years and is more of a public novelty than a job replacement.
• 👨‍💻 The real issue is the over-specialization of roles in tech companies, leading to inflated workforces and unnecessary positions.
• 🏢 Tech companies have been over-hiring for the sake of appearances and stock valuations, which is unsustainable and leads to layoffs.
• 📉 Layoffs are not just due to preparation for a potential recession; they are a result of poor management and over-inflation of employee numbers.
• 🚀 Elon Musk's acquisition and restructuring of Twitter has shown that large tech companies can function with significantly fewer employees.
• 🛠️ Good programmers with a broad skill set and deep understanding of computer science are less likely to be laid off and remain valuable to companies.
• 💡 The shift in hiring practices may lead to a preference for generalists over hyper-specialized roles, improving the efficiency and productivity of tech teams.
• 📈 Tech interviews have become overly specialized and difficult, but this trend is expected to change as companies shift their focus to hiring more versatile candidates.
• 🌐 Major tech companies like Amazon, IBM, and Meta have announced significant layoffs, indicating a widespread issue in the industry beyond just economic downturn preparation.
• 🔄 The tech industry may see a resurgence in demand for generalist programmers, potentially leading to higher wages and a rebalancing of the job market.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of the video?

The primary focus of the video is to discuss the major layoffs happening in the tech industry and the presenter's perspective on the underlying causes, particularly addressing the role of AI in job displacement and the issue of hyper-specialization in tech roles.

What is the presenter's stance on AI replacing programming jobs?

The presenter believes that AI is not going to replace programmers anytime soon. While AI can be a helpful resource, it is not accurate enough and lacks the creativity to solve complex problems that programmers tackle.

How does the presenter describe the concept of 'employee farming' in tech companies?

The presenter describes 'employee farming' as a practice where companies artificially inflate their growth and stock values by hiring more employees than necessary, leading to the creation of hyper-specialized roles that may not be essential for the company's actual needs.

What is the impact of hyper-specialization on tech employees according to the video?

Hyper-specialization leads to the creation of unnecessary jobs, making employees feel like cogs in a machine and reducing their job stability and sense of purpose. It also results in layoffs when companies need to cut costs.

What does the presenter suggest as a solution for programmers to avoid being laid off?

The presenter suggests that programmers should aim to be generalists, knowledgeable in multiple frameworks and languages, and have a deep understanding of computer science and architecture. This makes them valuable and less likely to be let go during layoffs.

How does the presenter view the tech interviews in the current industry?

The presenter views the current tech interviews as overly specialized and painful, requiring unnecessary details that do not necessarily reflect a candidate's true abilities or potential value to the company.

What change in hiring practices does the presenter predict for the future?

The presenter predicts a shift in hiring practices towards valuing generalists who can wear multiple hats, leading to more useful interviews that focus on fundamental knowledge and skills rather than hyper-specialized details.

Which company's layoffs are considered a good example of eliminating unnecessary roles?

Twitter's layoffs under Elon Musk's ownership are considered a good example, as it reportedly prioritized getting rid of hyper-specialized roles and keeping essential programmers, resulting in a leaner and more efficient operation.

What was the presenter's opinion on Unity's business decision to charge for installs?

The presenter believes that Unity's decision to charge for installs was a very poor business move and predicts that it will ultimately lead to the downfall of the company.

Which companies have announced major layoffs in the past year according to the video?

Some of the companies that have announced major layoffs in the past year include Amazon, IBM, Dell, Rivian, Microsoft (Alphabet), Salesforce, Meta (Facebook), Coinbase, Zoom, Spotify, Dropbox, Yahoo, Epic Games, Xerox, Twitch, Atlassian, AMD, Intel, Lyft, and Uber.

What is the presenter's view on the future value of programmers?

The presenter believes that as the industry moves away from hyper-specialization and towards valuing generalists, good programmers will become more in-demand and potentially earn higher wages, reflecting a shift back towards a time when programming was more highly valued compared to other jobs.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 AI's Role in Tech Layoffs

Josh begins the video discussing the widespread belief that AI will replace programming jobs, a topic he plans to cover in a separate video due to its complexity. He argues that AI is a minor reason for current layoffs, especially when considering its long history in industries like aviation. Josh emphasizes that AI's role in public domain is new, but its use in professional settings is not, and it's unlikely to replace programmers soon. He shares his personal experience with AI in game development, concluding that while AI can be a helpful resource, it's not ready to replace human programmers dramatically.

05:01

🚀 The Real Cause of Tech Layoffs

Josh shifts the focus to what he believes is the real cause of major layoffs in tech companies: over-hiring and specialization of roles. He argues that companies like Facebook and Snapchat have far more employees than necessary for their actual tech needs, leading to a form of 'employee farming' to prop up stock values. This has resulted in the creation of hyper-specialized, sometimes unnecessary roles. Josh suggests that the layoffs are an attempt to correct this over-inflation of staff and that good programmers with a broad skill set have little to fear.

10:02

💸 The Impact of Elon Musk's Twitter Acquisition

Josh discusses the impact of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter on the tech industry. He notes that Musk's decision to lay off a significant portion of Twitter's staff and eliminate hyper-specialized roles has led to a more efficient platform. This move has not gone unnoticed by other tech companies, who are now realizing the potential savings from reducing their own bloated workforces. Josh sees this as a positive shift towards valuing quality over quantity in employee roles.

15:02

🔄 The Cycle of Over-Hiring and Layoffs

Josh elaborates on the cycle of over-hiring and subsequent layoffs in the tech industry. He criticizes the practice of 'employee farming' and 'employee fraud,' where companies hire more people than needed to create a false impression of growth. This leads to instability for employees and can ultimately harm the company's stock value. Josh argues that good leaders should hire generalists who can fulfill multiple roles, rather than a large number of specialists.

20:03

🌐 Widespread Layoffs and the Future of Tech Jobs

Josh provides a list of major tech companies that have recently announced or carried out layoffs, suggesting that over-hiring was a common issue. He mentions companies like Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, Meta, and many others, highlighting that thousands of jobs have been cut. Josh believes that this trend will lead to a shift in hiring practices, with companies moving away from hyper-specialization and towards hiring more versatile, generalist programmers. He predicts that good programmers will become more in-demand and valuable in the industry.

Keywords

💡AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation. In the video, the speaker discusses the misconception that AI will replace programming jobs, arguing that AI is not new and has been used in various industries for decades, but it is only recently gaining public access. The speaker believes AI is a minor factor in the current layoffs in the tech industry.

💡layoffs

Layoffs refer to the act of terminating the employment of a group of employees, typically as a cost-saving measure by a company. In the video, the speaker addresses the major layoffs happening in the tech industry, suggesting that the cause is deeper than commonly discussed factors like AI. The speaker argues that over-hiring and the creation of hyper-specialized roles that are not necessary are the primary reasons behind these layoffs.

💡hyper-specialization

Hyper-specialization is the practice of creating and hiring for roles that are extremely specialized and narrow in focus. The speaker in the video argues that tech companies have been over-hiring for such specialized roles, which has led to inefficiencies and the creation of unnecessary jobs. This over-specialization is seen as a major factor contributing to the layoffs, as these roles are often the first to be cut when companies need to reduce costs.

💡employee farming

Employee farming is a term used in the video to describe the strategy of companies hiring more employees than they actually need to create the appearance of growth and to prop up stock values. The speaker argues that this practice is a form of invisible and legal fraud, as it misleads investors and the public into thinking that the company is growing and thriving when in reality, it is just inflating its workforce unnecessarily.

💡recession

A recession is a period of negative growth in the economy, typically characterized by a decline in economic activity, increased unemployment, and a drop in the stock market. In the context of the video, the speaker suggests that while the anticipation of a looming recession might be a factor in the tech industry layoffs, it is not the primary cause. Companies might prepare for a recession by doing minor layoffs, but the speaker believes that the major layoffs are due to other, deeper issues within the industry.

💡generalists

In the context of the tech industry, a generalist is a programmer or professional who has a broad range of skills and knowledge across multiple programming languages, frameworks, and aspects of computer science. The speaker in the video advocates for being a generalist, as they believe it makes one a more valuable and secure employee. Generalists are less likely to be targeted in layoffs because they can fulfill multiple roles and are not confined to a hyper-specialized, potentially expendable position.

💡Elon Musk

Elon Musk is an entrepreneur and CEO known for his work with companies like Tesla, SpaceX, and more recently, Twitter. In the video, the speaker discusses Musk's acquisition of Twitter and the subsequent layoffs as a significant industry event that has influenced other tech companies' approaches to staffing. Musk's strategy of reducing Twitter's workforce by a significant percentage is presented as an example of eliminating hyper-specialized roles and streamlining operations.

💡stock valuation

Stock valuation refers to the process of determining the value of a company's outstanding stock based on various financial metrics and market conditions. In the video, the speaker argues that tech companies engage in practices like hyper-specialization and employee farming to maintain positive growth appearances, which can artificially inflate stock valuations. However, major layoffs aimed at reducing costs can also negatively impact stock valuation if perceived as a sign of company shrinkage or poor performance.

💡tech interviews

Tech interviews are the evaluation processes used by technology companies to assess the skills and suitability of candidates for programming and other tech-related roles. The speaker criticizes modern tech interviews for being overly focused on hyper-specialized knowledge, which they believe is unnecessary and deters well-rounded candidates. They predict a shift towards more useful interviews that focus on basic knowledge and a candidate's ability to wear multiple hats.

💡cloudfare

Cloudflare is a web infrastructure and security company that provides content delivery network services, DDoS mitigation, and other web security solutions. In the video, the speaker mentions Cloudflare as an example of a company that is reportedly conducting layoffs, but not being transparent about the reasons, which they refer to as 'secret layoffs.' The speaker suggests that these layoffs are part of a broader industry trend of eliminating hyper-specialized roles that were never necessary in the first place.

💡Unity

Unity is a cross-platform game engine and development environment designed for creating interactive 3D, 2D, and virtual reality content. In the video, the speaker criticizes Unity for its management decisions, particularly the decision to charge for installs, which they believe will harm the company in the long term. The speaker uses Unity as an example of a company that has over-hired and is now laying off employees, but not necessarily their best programmers.

Highlights

AI is not the main cause of layoffs in the tech industry; it's been used for over 20 years and is not expected to replace programmers anytime soon.

The real issue behind layoffs is the over-specialization of roles in tech companies, leading to inflated staff numbers and inefficiencies.

Big tech companies like Facebook and Snapchat have grown artificially by hiring more people than they need, inflating their stock values.

The concept of 'employee farming' is criticized, where companies hire more employees to appear larger and more valuable to investors, even if it leads to unnecessary roles.

The layoffs are targeting hyperspecialized roles that were created under the premise of employee farming and are not essential to the company's functioning.

Good programmers with a broad understanding of computer science and multiple programming languages are less likely to be laid off and are always in demand.

The tech industry is experiencing a shift, with companies like Twitter under Elon Musk's leadership laying off large numbers and streamlining operations.

Cloudflare's recent layoffs are an example of the industry trend of cutting unnecessary staff to save costs and improve efficiency.

Unity's layoffs are partly due to poor management decisions, such as attempting to charge for installations, which could harm the company in the long run.

Many large tech companies are overhiring, leading to a surplus of employees and a need for cost-saving layoffs.

The trend of over-specialization has made tech interviews overly complex and less effective, focusing on unnecessary details.

The industry may shift towards hiring generalists who can wear multiple hats, leading to more useful and practical tech interviews.

Good programmers may see increased demand and higher wages as the industry moves away from over-hiring and over-specialization.

The average programming wage has become more similar to blue-collar jobs due to industry saturation, but this may change as the focus shifts to quality over quantity.

The layoffs are not just in preparation for a recession but are a response to the realization that many tech companies are overstaffed and need to downsize.

The speaker predicts that the value of individual programmers will increase as companies recognize the importance of having versatile, knowledgeable staff.

The speaker plans to create more content on the topic of AI's impact on jobs and the changing landscape of tech interviews.

Transcripts

welcome to my channel my name is Josh

and today I'm going to be talking about

the major layoffs happening in Tech and

what I think is actually the cause

behind them let's get

started the first thing I want to talk

about is what's been kind of on

everybody's mind which is AI you always

constantly see articles and people

talking now everywhere around the

internet about how AI is going to

replace programming jobs now I'm

probably going to have to make a totally

separate video about this particular

topic because it's such a big topic um

but the truth is I think that is a

pretty minor reason why people are being

laid off right now when we look at the

big tech companies which I'm going to

get into in a minute um and why they're

doing these huge layoffs I think there's

something maybe much deeper that's

rotten at the core and I think probably

the most significant things are things

people aren't really talking about or

thinking about so I'm going to get into

that in a few minutes but I just want to

kind of get get the AI out of here for

the moment if you've ever used Google

bard or if you've ever used chat GPT to

actually program and make stuff you

would know that it's not going to

replace programmers anytime soon

actually AI isn't new we talk about it

like it's new because it's finally um

it's gaining Public Access right people

are finally able to use it to write

stories to plagiarize things whatever um

but when we really look at AI it's been

used for well over 20 years in Aviation

it's been used for uh routing pathing

all sorts of stuff it's just finally

people and the public have access so

they seem to think it's this new thing

well no it's been replacing jobs for

decades it's not really new and it's not

going to replace programmers anytime

soon not in entirely at least if you

work and you know let's say you are a

web developer that does HTML CSS and

that's it yeah there's a possibility

your job could be in danger maybe

eventually but uh certainly not anytime

soon and people that do hardcore logic

anything lowlevel anything crer

assemblers AI is just super inaccurate

plus the other thing too is the way AI

works is it just resources public

knowledge right AI doesn't really

creatively solve problems the way people

seem to think it does it tries to solve

problems Based on data sets that are

already developed which means it can

really only effectively solve problems

that have already been solved and the

whole point of hiring a programmer for

the most part um is that your company or

your needs are going to be specific to

that product now I make games that's my

job I've tried to use AI to help with my

game development especially like

hardcoree logic programming problems and

I've just found it's just not very good

sometimes it's helpful on some things

it's a good resource for a programmer to

have but it is not going to be replacing

programmers dramatically anytime soon it

is a small factor it is part of the

reason why some companies are looking to

the Future and saying we need to start

laying off unnecessary staff because in

the future and they're anticipating that

uh this may replace certain jobs but

again I think this is kind of a very

small part of the reason why some people

are being replaced so I just wanted to

kind of get that out of the way get your

concerns out of the way again I'll make

a whole video on this and why it's not

going to replace people not truly uh

later but you don't need to worry about

AI That's not the major factor here so

another thing that it could possibly be

is preparation for a looming

recession most people that work in

economics will tell you as we speak you

see it all over the news that a

recession is probably coming stock

values can only go up so high for so

long before something has to collapse

right it's just it's it's the rules of

entropy or gravity things can only get

better and go up and then eventually

they have to come down we look at

interest rates for example and that's a

good place to start your search if you

think there's an economic recession

coming soon professionals and people

that are analysts see interest rates and

they see that as a concern companies of

course hire their own economists and the

economists are going to be going to the

CEOs and going to the CTO and people

that handle handle hiring hiring

managers hiring departments hiring

companies whoever they Outsource that to

and they're going to say look a

recession is coming we need to start

doing minor layoffs slowly and we have

seen some of those but again of these

big major layoffs that we're seeing

right now I don't think that this is the

biggest factor I do think it's a factor

just like AI is a factor but it's not

the big one so that's the thing I want

to get into now as I start to talk about

this and as I start to go deeper into

the problem it's going to become more

clear the more you start to look at

people's critical roles in their company

the real and major factor that's causing

a lot of these layoffs I really do seem

to think is being overlooked because

people are so used to the way the tech

industry works now that nobody seems to

question it anymore what's been

happening in Tech about the last 20

years is what I like to call a hyp

specialization for roles right 20 or 30

years ago if you were a programmer and

you knew a couple programming languages

or maybe even one maybe you were a

generalist you could get basically any

programming job companies were hiring

based on the fact that you knew how to

program and that you understood logic

and you understood generally speaking

how computer science works and how to

make products that are useful for that

company that's not how it works anymore

because somewhere along the way big

companies like Facebook um I think

Snapchat is a particular offender I'll

talk about that that in a minute um they

started to realize that they could grow

their companies artificially if they

started hiring more people than they

really need most tech companies most

social networks could be managed by

shockingly small teams of programmers

now I'm not talking about legal I'm not

talking about HR resources other things

that are considerations as well but just

the actual Tech that goes into an app

for iOS let me give you an example say

Instagram or SnapChat I think it would

surprise most people how few programmers

it actually takes a lot of these social

networks were developed originally by

one person but now for some reason you

look at a company like Snapchat who even

uses Snapchat anymore they still have

something like 6,000 employees why do

you need 6,000 employees I could

understand having a few dozen

programmers but they have hundreds and

hundreds and hundreds of programmers not

to mention all they legal and everything

else so what we're seeing is a hyp

specialization of roles and companies

are doing this to prop up stock values

the core here is it's a type of

invisible and legal fraud if you keep

growing your company by just hiring more

people and then investors and people

that frankly don't know a lot about tech

think that's necessary they see that as

positive indicators so your goal if

you're Mark Zuckerberg is to make your

company as valuable as as possible to

stock investors not to the public

Facebook doesn't even need to make very

much money at all the the key to

Facebook being valuable and more

specifically Mark Zuckerberg being

valuable is doing what investors want

and what lenders want and they want to

see Positive Growth constantly in the

industry we call this employee farming

so the idea behind employee farming is

as long as you keep growing your worker

base it looks like your company's

growing it looks like you need to hire

those people and therefore again bigger

company means bigger stock valuations it

means lenders and um investors see you

as this better growing big future

company even if it's not and this is

ultimately what's leading to this hypers

specialization because they have to keep

creating new roles and when you look at

these videos and I'm sure you've all

seen them by now people mocking them

constantly on the internet but you look

at these videos of these girls and guys

who work in this hyp specialized role uh

posting videos on Tik Tok talk and they

post videos on Twitter of like my my day

at Twitter or uh my a day in the life of

a Twitter HR engineer or something like

that and it's basically the girl or guy

just drinking coffee hanging

around chilling out they they show

themselves sleeping in these pods that

they have now they're really not doing

much and again this is the result of hyp

specialization they were basically just

creating BS jobs and now you have a

bunch of people sitting around who don't

work like once you have a hundred

programmers you're done you're not doing

anything more useful beyond that maybe

you could have people in specialized

roles outside of the tech again people

like legal and HR but we are seeing jobs

for button Engineers like literally they

want you to specialize not just in

programming but specialize in making a

button do you know how many people work

at Snapchat for example Snapchat has

like I said early about 6,000 employees

but they have over 400 employees that

just work on UI that's it they do

nothing but UI the entire UI of Snapchat

could easily be done by a handful of

professionals if not less if not one

person probably if you've ever actually

used Snapchat you know it's awful

anyways the whole UI is just a complete

disaster there is no reason to have 400

people working on the UI they don't even

have 400 buttons there's something like

30 or 40 buttons on the whole app that's

more than 10 people for each button that

the app has and each function but they

do it because the company is forced into

this cycle of infinite growth and then

other companies are doing it so they

have to compete or else they look like

they're small and shrinking and they

lose value in investors as people Port

elsewhere but we're just seeing massive

hyp specialization for roles that

probably shouldn't even exist to begin

with and when we start to look at that

problem we start to see why tech

companies are doing massive layoffs of a

very big reason for this is the Catalyst

event which was of course Elon buying

Twitter I'm going to get into that in

just a minute too so now as we start to

see negative indicators in stock value

AI future growth things like that suppe

really you know look at meta they tried

to do this whole metaverse thing that

failed lost billions of dollars now they

know okay we need to recoup some of that

money and the best way to do it is to

start firing these people or doing

layoffs of them that we never really

needed to begin with so a lot of people

have this sort of idea that oh

programmers are all just getting fired

now no they're not good programmers are

not getting fired not predominantly at

least except maybe at Unity but that's a

different topic but the idea here is

that if you're a good programmer you're

going to have a stable job you're needed

there's tons of companies that are still

growing that are still bringing in new

programmers you don't need to worry you

only need to worry if you're one of the

people that's getting hired in something

super hypers specialized and that's why

I still recommend to people to be

generalists be a good programmer who

knows lots of Frameworks who knows lots

of languages who understands computer

science intimately because that makes

you a valuable resource they're not just

going to fire you or get rid of you you

have an intrinsic value when you bring

something to the table Beyond just being

able to make one tiny button on the

interface when you really fundamentally

understand how apps work and are

designed when you understand core

architecture you are never ever going to

be out of work and if you do get fired

because a company goes under or

something you're going to find work

really fast as well so you shouldn't wor

about that I I see too many people

panicking in the industry right now the

people getting fired are in almost every

case I've seen the jobs that never

should have existed to begin with and I

don't mean to insult those people many

of those people are generalists that

ended up being forced into a

specialization just to get a job because

these companies don't want to hire

generalists right these companies want

to hire people in specific subsets

because then they don't complain they

don't whine about wanting to do better

bigger things they get comfortable in

the rule they get comfortable in the

fact that they don't have to do very

much and I think that that's just

convenient for the industry it's

convenient for this type of mass hiring

fraud which is what I considered it I

know they they just call it employee

farming but I call it employee fraud

because ultimately this is bad for the

companies because they do do major

layoffs and then they lose stock value

because people think the company's

shrinking so it's bad for them and it's

bad for employees because you never feel

like you're stable you feel like you

work on things that don't matter so

you're just a cog in the well oiled

machine if you want to even call it that

more like a brick in the wall you're a

brick in the wall of this machine like

at meta or Facebook and you just feel

like you don't matter you feel like your

job is what I think Joe Rogan had a

podcast on this actually called BS jobs

um but that's that's ultimately What's

led to this is is way way over hiring

and super specified jobs that they don't

need when you hire a generalist they can

replace 50 or 60 of those minor jobs

that you just you don't need if you were

a good leader you wouldn't do that I

think another thing to talk about too

that people are ignoring is even beyond

the intentional fraud that's happening a

lot of CEOs just aren't good they're

just not good at their job they're kind

of hands off they just push everything

on other people and I've seen this

personally too my wife worked for a

small company that had maybe 10 or 12

employees at one point and they were

growing a little bit but the CEO just

wanted to constantly hire more people

for everything like they are 12 person

small Nimble light company and she

wanted to hire an entire social media

development company to post posts on

LinkedIn for them they're 12 people the

CEO should just make a LinkedIn and

start posting posts they were hiring a

Social Development firm for these tiny

what I would consider to be kind of

worthless posts basically something you

could have just gone on AI and had chat

GPT right for you um so I think a lot of

CEOs are just bad with money I think

their hands off they don't want to wear

many hats they just want to rely on

other people too much and people that

aren't sort of micromanagers tend to be

like that and you know micromanaging is

its own problem of course trying to do

everything yourself is its own issue

that's kind of a separate topic but good

lean startups understand where to spend

money and where not to waste money and I

find there's just way too much

especially with these big companies of

hands-off approach let's hire somebody

for literally everything we need to have

more people in the industry who know how

to wear mini hats so don't be afraid to

be a programmer that has maybe 10

Frameworks under their tool belt right

you know how to use a lot of Frameworks

you know how to use um a lot of

languages and you understand

architecture so that should be your

focus if you want to become a programmer

and you're concerned about these Tech

layoffs one of the biggest catalysts

we've seen in this industry was Elon

buying Twitter now say what you will

about him positively or negatively

affecting the platform but I will tell

you this I do use Twitter I am on X uh X

now as it's called sorry um and it seems

to me as though when he first bought it

and fired 70% of the staff things were

shaky at first um but I think he tried

to prioritize getting rid of the jobs

all these hyp specializations that don't

matter and keeping the good programmers

that actually matter and actually

fundamentally understand the

architecture of how Twitter's actually

built and now what we're seeing is

Twitter's faster than ever before when I

use Twitter now it's way less bloated

it's lighter than it's ever been there's

some things I don't like about it I

think Bots are maybe worse than ever

like that's been a big prioritization is

uh make people pay and then that'll

eliminate Bots that that has not worked

um so not everything Elon has done has

worked but he managed to fire

71% that's what we know of it might

actually be a bigger number than that

but at least 71% of the employees there

was something like 8,000 and it's around

2,000 now and it's still operating fine

yeah there were some Growing Pains at

first or shrinking pains at first but

it's working other tech companies looked

at this they saw how many literally

millions of dollars a month in operating

cost it's saving them getting rid of all

these employees now other companies are

going like well you know stock

evaluation does matter um but making

Money Matters too and that also affects

stock evaluation so I think other people

especially CEOs now are starting to see

how bloated their corporations are and

they're starting to kind of go the Elon

route which is just the idea of well do

we really need 6,000 people at Facebook

working on the UI no I don't think that

they do I don't think they do at all I

don't think they need more than a couple

dozen at most and that might even be

over hiring that might even be bloated I

think just a few guys can usually build

great UI in ux experiments that's my

opinion you know I've run lean startups

so I kind of have at least a inkling of

an idea what to do um but I can't speak

for Facebook I don't know how many

people they need I know it's not 6,000

though so I think a big part of the

layoffs are are just they over hired to

begin with if we look at Cloud fair

right now this has been making big news

just the last few days cloudfare is

doing basically secret layoffs now no

one has the full information on how many

people they're letting go or anything

but it appears as as though they're

firing people at cause but there is no

cause and they're not listing causes

which is really it's just layoffs in

Disguise because layoffs sound bad so

they don't want their stock value to go

down but they want to have their cake

and eat it too they want to get rid of

people to save money and I have seen

from the videos I've watched of people

talking about this and from the Articles

I've read of people who are getting laid

off it seems to me that they're getting

rid of those hyp specialized jobs that

they probably didn't need to begin with

so I I think cloud fair is already you

know kind of following in the footsteps

of Elon and they're doing the same thing

that everybody else is doing right now

and I think it's sad and I think it's

sad that they're disingenuous about it

and not telling people the truth that's

bad for employees and that's bad for the

company ultimately because it really

doesn't Inspire trust in the company

employees don't want to go work for

cloud fair if they know that they're

kind of secretly behind the scenes

firing people that they never should

have hired to begin with that's just

called bad management Unity said that

they're firing something around 2,000

people maybe it was 1,800 or something

around that it was about 25% of their

Workforce now it's not doing it all in

one day they're going to kind of spread

it out over the next few months I think

this is a really good example of a

company that's having to lay people off

for both reasons they have terrible

management there's no debating that they

tried to screw over every game developer

everybody that used Unity everybody that

worked with unity including myself I'm

literally in the process of building a

game in unity and then I go to my news

app one day and find out Unity is going

to charge for installs which is just

outright blatantly the stupidest

business move I've ever seen in any

industry I think that ultimately that

will kill Unity as a company so yeah I

think with unity it goes Way Beyond um

just they over hired but if you look at

who they're firing they're not getting

rid of their best programmers so yeah

we're seeing of course companies are

targeting the employees that don't

matter so my advice guess to you if you

are a programmer and you're watching

this now and you're looking to get a job

try to avoid getting a hypers

specialized job to begin with make it so

that you're somebody that can't be

easily fired make it so that you're in a

role that is at least some sort of

General role that's not too hypers

specialized so that you're valuable to

the company and when push comes to shove

and they have to get rid of people

they're going to get rid of you last so

here I have a list of companies that are

doing layoffs as we speak and or going

to do layoffs have announced they're

going to do some and in the past year

doing major layoffs and this is just a

few of them this isn't all of them this

is just the big ones we've got Amazon

they've fired thousands of people

already and they're planning thousands

more same thing with IBM thousands of

people have been fired and let go Dell

rivan Microsoft Google is or alphabet is

firing 30,000 people we've got

Salesforce that uh fired 8,000 I think

if I recall correctly meta Facebook

10,000 they're doing a bunch more too

coinbase fired th like

1500 I think I could be wrong on that

one um you've got Zoom fired tons of

people Spotify Dropbox Yahoo epic games

just fired 800 people again I looked at

the charts of who they were firing I

looked at uh personal opinions I looked

at Twitter and it seemed to me like epic

was firing almost entirely people they

should have never hired to begin with uh

Xerox twitch atlassian AMD Intel lift

and Uber are firing thousands Highland

software no Kia noia is firing 14,000

people in its Tech uh sector you've got

LinkedIn firing thousands Qualcomm

Oracle Shopify Groupon and there's like

three or four dozen more big companies

that I didn't even

list almost all of them across the board

were vastly over hiring and I mean

vastly just thousands and thousands of

more people than they needed they were

employee farming that's all it is so so

easy to look at this and think oh these

companies are are firing people in

anticipation for of just recession yeah

that's probably a factor but yeah I

think it goes way beyond that one other

thing I want to talk about too is how

awful Tech interviews have become now I

want to make a totally separate video

about this later um but because of this

hyp specialization Tech interviews are

just they're garbage now they're the

most painful process to go through and

they

require so much unnecessary hyp

specialized details when you're in

interviewing I just hate it um so if

you're out there and you're interviewing

this is actually good news for you

because we're going to start to see

hiring practices massively shift instead

of doing these hypers specialized rules

all these companies are going to realize

that it might actually be more

profitable not to just follow the crowd

of what people have done for the last 5

years 10 years but they're going to

start hiring more generalists and people

who wear more hats and have more value

to the company so we're going to see a

lot more useful Tech interviews you're

going to go into a tech interview

they're going to test you on the basics

of the knowledge we're going to start

seeing fizzbuzz probably make a comeback

which will be really funny um and and

we're just going to see more useful

interviewing done probably by more

useful people who are less hypers

specialized themselves um so I think

that's one good thing that will come out

of this if you're a good programmer I

think you will actually become more in

demand and you will probably make more

money too because as they weed out all

the people that are too Specialized or

maybe aren't General enough don't

understand architecture well enough

we're going to see the value proportion

increase of individual programmers and

we saw this happen in the reverse

Direction the last kind of 20 30 years

where programmers used to have super

high wages proportionately to everything

else and now today programmers make kind

of much more similar money to a lot of

bluecollar jobs I mean the average

programming wage in America is between

like 80 and

$120,000 that's also what the average

Journeyman Electrician makes now I mean

things have really shifted to blueco

color jobs being almost as valuable and

that's probably just due to

oversaturation in the industry so it'll

be a good thing to see that kind of

change and shift back to what it really

should be thank you so much for watching

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