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Comment by WheelsAtLarge | Hacker News Reader

Let's face facts most of the FAANG were/are overstaffed. If Twitter can reduce its staff by nearly 50% and still function then the other tech companies can reduce their staff too. They are just resizing. This is a good time, while there's a threat of a recession, to reduce the number while not scaring the stockholders too much. It's not a burst similar to 2000. It's a correction. Tech is too vital for the economy for it to just fall apart. I expect tech stocks to be booming within the next 2 years. But yes, it's sucking right now.

Also, don't expect working from home to be your choice anymore. Now companies will gain the upper hand on the working from home debate since there's going to be many people looking to fill the same position. It was nice while it lasted.

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>If Twitter can reduce its staff by nearly 50% and still function then the other tech companies can reduce their staff too.

I'm not sure why this is such a common take. Many functions in a typical business, overstaffed or lean, could be greatly pared back without an immediate impact. UX, UR, product, legal, HR, design, recruiting, infosec, analytics, marketing, sales, facilities, etc. The question is will it have a negative impact 6 or 12 or 24 months down the road.

I have no personal knowledge on whether Twitter was overstaffed but the "we got rid of X, Y, Z and the business hasn't collapsed yet so must not be needed!" is a bad take.

The thing is that if the position is vital then they rehire. But at least you know that that person is needed. One thing I've learned, for the most part, is that no one person is vital to a company's success or failure. I worked for a project manager that thought everything he did was very important. So he had files and files to document what was happening. He got fired and the "important documentation" ended up in the trash. A department in the same company was confident they were as lean as possible. They worked long hours and output as much work they thought was needed. The company decided to close the department and every one got fired. 2 years later the company was fine and they were not missed. Turns out they were doing work no one really needed.

People quit all the time and they get replaced. It's the same thing with layoffs. Another thing is that a lot of positions are filled by people that are over educated or experience for the job they hold. They do it simply because that person wants to work for a FAANG and are open to getting any position they can. My suspicion is that a lot of people are going to move jobs as jobs become available and some positions will be merged from say 2 to 1. I'm sure it's crazy now but they will be fine.

This maybe only my personal experience but for me Twitter on Andorid works much worse than before Twitter mass stuff reductions.

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