[musingsole]

Layoffs and paycuts don't bode well for any interesting work or keeping people in a mood where they are likeable.

The handwringing and psuedo-calculus of cuts does further damage to any interesting work.

Can't do interesting work when instead you have to fill in for a job previously covered by a junior engineer.

It'd take a hell of a company culture to fight these trends.

[wpietri]

Layoffs definitely hamper morale and disrupt operations. I'm not so sure about paycuts as long as they're done in a spirit of solidarity. I'd be fine with it as long as a) it was temporary, b) execs took the largest cuts, and c) I thought they had a real plan for getting us through the tough times.

And obviously, not laying off people has a much smaller impact on staffing and the work one is doing, so I'd like that part better as well.

[hinkley]

I do a lot of DevEx and performance and reliability work. It’s not as sexy as a mid-boom greenfield Shiny Shiny project, but most of us are reinventing software IBM wrote in 1988 anyway, so the shiny is mostly an illusion.

You need the sort of work I do when you’re trying to get more done with less. Do I prefer using these skills to prevent over hiring in the first place? Of course I do. I’ll even take it for winding down a cash cow so we can start new product lines.

The “goodness” of most people who conflate new with better is a matter of prospects. This kid is going to be amazing someday. In a downturn you need amazing now, not some day.