Visas like H-1B can be limiting career mobility until the employee gets a green card. Under H-1B quitting a job means committing to move back to your country in a month or so. It's traumatic.

This is a completely valid perplexion. It's so bewildering, right?

Something I've learned (and keep learning in other contexts) is that change can be overwhelming for some for many reasons, probably more than I'm aware of.

I've literally gone to a previous coworker and said, "there's a job with your name on it. Your pay will literally double. Your hours will halve. And you won't ever have to fear a C-level throwing a tantrum." They hummed and hawed and explained away why they didn't want to try.

I think some of it is:

- inertia

- anxiety of "what if?"

- known over unknown

- ???

According to the article, Musk started giving six-figure retention bonuses. That's a lot of motivation if you think things will calm down soon.

Because many engineers are being paid upwards of $200k to work at one of the largest social media companies. On top of that, the economy in general is uncertain right now, with many other similar tech companies not hiring as aggressively as before. Layoffs were heavy handed, but this was a company that has been historically not profitable. Those that remain are being asked to show up in person and provide proof that their work adds value to the company. I understand why some would leave, but I can’t fathom how you absolutely cannot understand the reasons many are choosing to stay.

I’m not the greatest fan of Musk but if I was at Twitter, I would have stayed just to see how Musk works up close, to see the changes, and maybe to feel like being part of something big.

Now, in retrospect, I would not have stayed but 9 months ago it was hard to know how chaotic Musk will be.

>I absolutely cannot understand why any engineer would chose to stay at Twitter with the way things are.

I get it. For the same reason that Geohot gets it.

There's a certain type of personality that doesn't care about life. They don't care about family. They don't care about wealth and material possessions. They don't care about "work life balance". They care about clout. They care about being "the best of the best". They want to be part of an elite team working on the hardest problems in the world, and nothing else matters. And Elon (through SpaceX, Tesla, and now Twitter) feeds that need greater than anything else available.

Collapsing companies can be an excellent way to jump several rungs on the career ladder at a time.

If you're an ambitious Level 2 Hierarch and you know your Level 3 and 4 Hierarchs along with many of your fellow Level 2s have just departed, you can roll the dice and maybe become a Level 4 Hierarch before you depart in 6 months time. Experience allowing you to become a Level 4 Hierarch at a company that isn't collapsing.

Of course, it isn't clear that Musk is looking to promote any Hierarchs, so this would be a gamble.

Visas, in the short term at least.

I don't think anyone is staying there by choice now. Most stayed because of visa issues. Some might have stayed because of Musk's wow factor.

Not everyone is born rich and/or can stay without visa.

It's hard to find other jobs right now with all the companies laying off people.

Likely a majority are on H1B visas -- they're trapped.

Because you get to work directly with one of the most productive and (technically) creative people in history? Alive right now, dining with you and reviewing your code? Plus you get to work on one of the most important platforms for world politics.

If I was in SF, I’d definitely apply.

Some of us like to work, eat, and make money. Before Musk, there is no way I would have offered any alternative view. Now, I can speak freely. Anyone complaining is more vested in politics than software.