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A comment on Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft. Parent comment

Re:Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft by crag on Thursday July 17, 2014 @01:20AM (#8046164)
Exactly. And it's not just tech. Most large companies have mid-level workers whose sole job is to not to get laid off (fired). I pity anyone under them cause they are usually the hardest working and first to go. Companies should be looking top-down instead of the usual bottom-up.

And man, it gets cut-throat. You know, when I traded, I used to think that was the most cut-throat work environment. Then the firm I was trading for got acquired by a bigger (much bigger) "traditional" bank. I quickly realized the trading floor was a picnic compared to mid-level management (at a bank they are called VP's) politics. At least a trader, you know the score. Make a profit you win. Don't you leave. Working at this bank; I had to learn to watch my back.

It was at that point I decided to leave banking, and NYC.

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Re:Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft by Create on Thursday July 17, 2014 @05:34AM (#8046624)
CERN 2
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Re:Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft by wavegeek on Thursday July 17, 2014 @02:50AM (#8046352)
> And it's not just tech.

It also applies to countries. Look at the increasing resources that go to people who produce little or nothing of value to others eg lawyers, lobbyists, politicians, financial engineers, LBO operators etc. Not to mention many of the people on welfare.

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Re:Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft by yardie on Thursday July 17, 2014 @07:40AM (#8046936)
> Not to mention many of the people on welfare.

Spoken like someone that has never used welfare, doesn't know anyone on welfare, and gets all their ideas from talk radio and Fox News.

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Re:Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft by basyt on Thursday July 17, 2014 @06:41AM (#8046786)
> Not to mention many of the people on welfare.

Woah, slow down tiger :)

More seriously, please elaborate. Or maybe I am just a bleeding heart.

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Re:Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft by samirmenon on Thursday July 17, 2014 @08:25AM (#8047067)
You're saying that lawyers and politicians provide little or no value to others? Don't democracy and a fair legal system require good lawyers and politicians?
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Re:Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft by sp332 on Thursday July 17, 2014 @01:09PM (#8048778)
Sure, and companies might need some middle mangers. That doesn't mean none of the middle managers, lawyers, and politicians are dead weight. This latest session of Congress has been historically unproductive, passing fewer than half as many bills as the previous record set in 2013.
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Re:Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft by sokoloff on Thursday July 17, 2014 @01:20PM (#8048859)
With apologies (and a tip of the hat) to Mr Gates, I posit that measuring the progress of Congress by the quantities of bills they pass is roughly analogous to measuring the progress of airplane design by its weight.
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Re:Large Round of Layoffs Expected at Microsoft by thescrewdriver on Thursday July 17, 2014 @09:10AM (#8047279)
> You're saying that lawyers and politicians provide little or no value to others?

Looking at the state of many governments around the world he's probably being kind in his characterization.

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