Tech Layoffs Coming Tidal Wave - The Tracker

[WoodsCraft]

We are looking at the collapse of the tech hubs. My old house in Seattle is down about $50,000 since I sold it. It is the same old story of implementing socialist policies, you wind up with Detroit.

No one wants to live next to this:View attachment 340053

Having worked in the PNW that scene is the norm even in smaller cities . I know factually Oregon tosses billions at the "homeless problem" and even operates homeless hotels and villages to try and keep them off the street . It doesn't help one bit and when some of the communities try to curb or regulate the where homeless can camp or loiter non profits like UGM or Arches steps in with lawyers to advoacte on behalf of the homeless cause "being human isn't a crime" . A further aside is most of those non profits get that sweet government grant money to help.


Downtown Salem and Portland are almost ghost towns as the retail business has relocated due to the homeless on the sidewalks . I do not miss traveling for work at all thanks to scenes like the above .

 

[SlugSlinger]

Gotta love automation ...

Yep, that’s the role I moved into about mid way through 2022. I have automated multiple accounting and finance processes with more than 120 hours per month of time savings. I love my job!

 

[SlugSlinger]

Took this pic the other day. 6th and Peoria in Tulsa. Its been a slummy area for years.

 

[OKRuss]

The answer is larger organizations have been dropping leases now for quite a while and those who own buildings are leasing their surplus office space . Does that mean everyone is ? obviously no but those smaller companies such as the one you're referring to aren't operating at the same level as a company which has 5000 employees or more either.

Correct! I work for a large shipping company and confirm what WoodsCraft stated. We've sold properties that we owned and not renewing leases on others. Consolidating office space for those that want to return but it's likely never going to be 100% capacity again. It can be a good cost savings.

 

[El Pablo]

I have worked in the IT business for a long time now and I am going to be very blunt about this, the work isn't like other jobs at all . Even when I was in an office setting its not like most folks were working themselves to death in a conventional sense. Out of a typical 9 to 10 hour work day I probably work 4 hours of that day, my work load has not changed at all since starting to work from home compared to when I was in the office , the big difference is I am more efficient because people no longer can pop in my door wasting my time hence I meet deadlines faster . I do have more meetings now than I did working on prem full time , Many of those meetings I mentioned are meetings where my attendance is required because I am stake holder in a given project but those meetings are informational for me and there are no action items which need to be taken care of on my end .You can only do the work in my business you have to do .


There are lots of projects I am involved with on a given day but many of the action items and deliverables which are my responsibility can only be completed when someone else has done their work . This isn't some kind of manual labor or line work in a kitchen where if you have time to be leanin , you have time to be cleanin. , which in my mind is where many come to the idea people are slacking working from home , in most cases some efficiencies have been gained by working from home .

Hmm, in IT for 24 years, my experience as a developer is nothing like this. I have always had 2x the work I could possibly get done in a normal day. I’d love to only have a 9-10 hour day and only work 4…

 

[WoodsCraft]

Hmm, in IT for 24 years, my experience as a developer is nothing like this. I have always had 2x the work I could possibly get done in a normal day. I’d love to only have a 9-10 hour day and only work 4…

I didn't say I was a developer and your experience is not atypical of coders we've hired on a contract basis but most of our staff developers are working 40-50 hour weeks. I work in program management and keep pretty normal hours. Years ago when I worked as an SA and as a DBA things were different but even those folks keep a regular schedule with an on call rotation. The years of grunt work are far behind me at this point and there is enough automation most IT staff aren't working 14 hour days anymore. It is just not necessary in this day and age.

 

[WoodsCraft]

Took this pic the other day. 6th and Peoria in Tulsa. Its been a slummy area for years.

View attachment 340059

If only streets in the Bay Area, Portland or Seattle looked that good.

 

[HillsideDesolate]

If only streets in the Bay Area, Portland or Seattle looked that good.

A single tent is almost cute.

 

[WoodsCraft]

A single tent is almost cute.

My last SANS training was in Seattle in 2018 at the Renaissance Hotel not far from the King Street Station . I spent 12 to 14 hour days in SANS training so aside from the final day where I managed to get out and go to Pikes Place Market for dinner . Around the corner and down the hill was an Amazon Go where I was buying my meals to save Per Diem. There was not a single night I didn't have to wade through a large number of homeless around that very expensive hotel in downtown Seattle. I won't even go into the piles of hypodermic needles that were scattered everywhere which I am sure they all get for free because Methadone clinics are a thing in that part of the United States .

 

[OKRuss]

I didn't say I was a developer and your experience is not atypical of coders we've hired on a contract basis but most of our staff developers are working 40-50 hour weeks. I work in program management and keep pretty normal hours. Years ago when I worked as an SA and as a DBA things were different but even those folks keep a regular schedule with an on call rotation. The years of grunt work are far behind me at this point and there is enough automation most IT staff aren't working 14 hour days anymore. It is just not necessary in this day and age.

I've been on both sides in my illustrious IT career. When I was a DB2/IMS developer in the early 90s, we did work some long hours but most development work now is done offshore. We have architects and SMEs that answer questions and assess code so it goes back and forth a couple of times.

Was a manager then stepped down to be a Project Manager. I don't have those long days anymore either. I have to occasionally work a weekend when we have a software load but that's not very often. They are trying to start getting more out of us by combining roles/responsibilities. Hopefully 3 1/2 years until retirement and won't care what they do!