the comparison wasn't a very good one though: firing your army could lead to soldiers defecting to a possible future enemy, who would then be stronger in an attack.

so what does oracle gain by firing a couple of excellent java devs?

+ no wages paid - they could defect to a rivaling database company: unlikely - bad press: oh well, that's just another drop in the bucket - they lose a couple of experienced engineers that could have excelled in other projects

Why lay off experienced developers instead of moving them to currently unfilled positions?

I don’t take much value or meaning from open vague postings at large companies.

Edit: Keep in mind that not everyone would get that offer, so a couple people not getting the offer doesn't mean that nobody got it.

I don't know that Oracle specifically works to transfer staff around (not been in a situation to know). The job boards _are_ open and available internally, and some of the OCI growth is happening via internal transfers. People from across the company are specifically reaching out to hiring managers.

The nonsensical requirements around green card filings force all these large companies to constantly have open job positions that will never be filled. It is mostly to satisfy USCIS than anyone else.

Hint: Check San Jose Mercury News for job ads. Never apply to those jobs. You wont get it.

Because, even though ordinary pays less than senior, most people prefer to be employed than unemployed.

$some_paycheck > $no_paycheck

By laying them off I think Oracle has made available a large pool of very good java experts for the rest of the companies out there and the best company will derive more mileage from them.

Of course this is assuming that this laying off is in accordance with their contract and Oracle has not put any unreasonable clause that prevents them from working for another company in similar position.

If any of those good people are facing financial hardship I am pretty sure they can ask for help and receive it from wider dev community.