They prob just intentionally overhired because they could afford to, to deprive competition of talent and to see who did well. That's what I'd do if I had cash to burn in a competitive industry
It looks like you have all the answers and "they" have no idea, but I don't see anything else than pure "us vs them" mentality and finger pointing on a company that you chose to join and accept money from.
Care to share what you would do if you were in charge ? At what level have you been able to implement some of the solution you have in mind ? What was the outcome ?
Edit: repeated myself
1. Either he has one (or more) good and constructive idea on how to fix the problems faced by his former employer. In which case, please share those ideas and justify them as this is way more interesting than an empty and pointless "lol they have no idea".
2. Or he has no idea how to fix it. Which is perfectly OK (I am in that situation !). But then making fun of the people in charge of trying to do what he can't - and won't - do is probably something he should refrain from doing altogether.
Leaving an employer because you don't see a future in a company is perfectly OK. Disagreeing with the vision / direction set by management is 100% normal as well. Publicly making fun of people who are in charge of steering a ship you have been a part of for only 6 month isn't. Especially when not associated with any actionable insight.
Where we were, it should have been ground-0 of some kind of engineer shortage right? We were a small startup and we had no trouble hiring, in fact I don't recall a single person we recruited going to Facebook instead, or even anyone mentioning it. Certainly they didn't hire anyone away from our company. I think you are grossly overestimating how much one company's hiring can effect the market. Since you were, I would guess, maybe 16 at the time you must have read this somewhere? I'm curious what your sources are.
I HATE companies that fire people on the first bad quarter. People are relying on this salary to live.
Literally have some basic fiscal responsibility and don't hire to the point where one bad quarter means you have to fire a tenth of your workforce. The fuck.
I feel much worse for the casual employees who can have their hours reduced to unlivable amounts silently with no press release.
Layoffs have an impact on far more than just the company. They have an impact on the state, they have an impact on the side service oriented businesses created because of that company, and they have a direct impact on the lives of the workers and their dependents.
It shouldn't be "free" for a company to have a ripple effect of this magnitude. Regulations like this would force companies to grow in a sustainable fashion, since having a "break" like this would be extremely expensive to the execs and major shareholders of the company.
FWIW I have barely thought this out and this might sound ridiculous.
Anyway it had way too many people and itwas grossly inefficient. It should probably cut staff 50% or more imo.