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Comment by fzeroracer | Hacker News Reader

'The research is wrong because I said so' isn't exactly a compelling argument, and certainly not a strong enough one when you've been in the modern workforce long enough to recognize how badly layoffs are conducted at just about every company. I've seen enough 10x engineers get laid off to know that the idea that companies have any idea as to who is actually productive or not is just false.

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1) But I included an actual argument and, furthermore, it assumed that the research is correct.

> I've seen enough 10x engineers get laid off...

2) That is sensible for the company. They have no idea how to use a 10x engineer, as can be detected by the fact that they're having layoffs. They don't know how to create value in the market and they're being forced into a position where they have to squeeze what they can out of what assets they have.

It isn't economically rational for them to employ 10x engineers in that sort of environment. The global and local optimum is to let those engineers go so they can do something valuable somewhere and keep some more 1x style engineers on the cheap.

If a company is having layoffs, that is the invisible hand of the market writing on the wall "THIS MANAGEMENT TEAM DOESN"T KNOW HOW TO MAKE MONEY AT THE MOMENT, STOP GIVING THEM IMPORTANT RESOURCES". That includes 10x engineers.

Unfortunately as I've seen countless times, it's also writing on the wall to the management team "TIME TO MOVE ON CAUSE DAMAGE TO ANOTHER COMPANY", I don't know why we don't expect management's head on the chopping block. If a captain orders a course into an iceberg, idk why we can't just hang the captain and course correct.

Because nobody orders hanging themselves.

That's how I feel about it too, the times I've been around layoffs management and the executives all talk about a difficult economic environment and making the organization leaner by firing a bunch of IC's. Never once have I seen a C level say hey we steered the company in the wrong direction its time for new management or hey our CFO failed to communicate the economic environment and caused us to overspend so we're going to look for a new one.

I know it's ridiculous to expect them to blame themselves but the fact that we just accept this lack of accountability from executives/management in the corporate world is insane to me.

Execs go on to "pursue new interests" or "spend more time with family" all the time. They may get pretty good packages to do so but it absolutely happens.

Because the captain owns the ship. Or is the best buddy of the person that owns the ship, and can blame subordinates in closed-door conversations.

> 2) That is sensible for the company. They have no idea how to use a 10x engineer, as can be detected by the fact that they're having layoffs. They don't know how to create value in the market and they're being forced into a position where they have to squeeze what they can out of what assets they have.

Okay, now explain why every company is encountering these issues where they're frequently laying off people and are unable to create value. The frequency of layoffs is diametrically opposed to your thesis because otherwise companies would behave in a way to reduce layoffs. Such as hiring fewer employees and encouraging longer term retention.

> If a company is having layoffs, that is the invisible hand of the market writing on the wall "THIS MANAGEMENT TEAM DOESN"T KNOW HOW TO MAKE MONEY AT THE MOMENT, STOP GIVING THEM IMPORTANT RESOURCES". That includes 10x engineers.

This is basically the Just World fallacy but applied to the free market. If something occurs then it's justified as a perfectly rational action of the invisible free hand of the market. In reality layoffs are rarely conducted by the people most equipped to do them, but via a mandate from heaven that you must cut your team for the sake of Number even if you're one of the most efficient teams in the company.

> now explain why every company is encountering these issues where they're frequently laying off people and are unable to create value.

Creating value is hard.

Seemingly executives being held accountable is even harder, as it rarely happens

Edit: Please reply with concrete evidence of widespread accountability of executives

The trick, of course, is in distinguishing

> THIS MANAGEMENT TEAM DOESN"T KNOW HOW TO MAKE MONEY AT THE MOMENT

from

> THIS WHOLE INDUSTRY IS FAKE

or, worse,

> YOUR SOCIETY HAS REACHED THE INFLECTION POINT OF A YEARS-, DECADES-, OR PERHAPS CENTURIES-LONG PONZI SCHEME. SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH

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