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Comment by swozey | Hacker News Reader

I can't fathom the morale at this place. I really hope things get better for these poor people caught in the middle of this shit show.

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I wish I had gotten that level of sympathy as a software engineer at an investment bank in 2008. In fact, rather than sympathy, more often I was told I was the problem.

Not that I would personally blame you, but the collapse of WeWork hasn't directly affected peoples' jobs, home values, or retirement savings. The implosion of the company has left the rest of the world pretty unscathed.

It has not imploded because it was privately bailed out.

If it did implode (Ch 11 or Ch 7 BK) - it will start to have major impacts on the NYC and other real estate markets. It’s the largest lease holder in many cities.

I still don't think that would have had the same downstream macroeconomic effects as, say, exploding mortgages for millions of working and middle class Americans. Nobody leasing their commercial properties to WeWork is one missed paycheck away from homelessness or health crisis.

I feel you as someone who was in the same boat at that time. The reality is, these people are being let go at a time of historically low unemployment, they will be just fine and likely be able to get higher salaries elsewhere. I know a guy whose last real job was in 2009. He was older, but not yet at retirement age. He has been a cautionary tale to me though- always stay technical and hands-on. He was like many of that era where he just "managed" and while he was very smart, did not write a line of code- which might have been forgivable if the entire eng team wasn't 6 people (including him and a systems/network guy). Those types did not fare well in the recession.

I can (can't?) say from some sources... it's a great day to work from home.

> I really hope things get better for these poor people caught in the middle of this shit show.

As in, you hope they find new employment at a legitimate company?

The worst part of this for people will be having WeWork on their resume.

I don't really agree with this. I despise Facebook and happily retweeted a post a few weeks ago specifically aimed at helping FB engineers find work elsewhere.

I'd prefer to help good people get out of bad places.

https://twitter.com/EricaJoy/status/1190701524210438144

Wow. You do realize most engineers have to work at far shittier companies and environments than FB? And for a lot less money.

Then they should research the companies in the post and if they're interested in a change apply as well. No listing in that post is catering to an ex-FB employee by any means.

It’s not about doing “research“. They would love to work at Facebook if they could. FB software engineer is a dream job for many outside of SV bubble, and even for many inside.

It certainly was, nowdays its a bit more niche.

There is a perception that they hired tech employees just to show "growth" and therefore people haven't really done much real work.

I don't think most reasonable employers hold it against prospective employees if they have "bad" former employers. Obviously the exception being if they were employed in executive (and perhaps in some cases, managerial) capacities. But certainly not line engineers.

Why would that matter? You can be doing great technical work even if the company overall is doing something that may not be working out well.

Imagine the employees with options worth millions a few months ago. Waiting for ipo and the wait period to cash out. Imagine the retirements, homes, vacations, goals, etc that people were dreaming of. Now all gone. It's must be like buying the winning lottery ticket only to lose it. Lots of hopes and dreams died for sure.

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