[zooq_ai]

What people / HN don't understand is does the work they do really a 10 person $5Million per year value to Google or can it be done by Two really smart Python Experts.

The problem with Tech layoffs is not that they weren't doing important work, it is that there were large teams to do what essentially can be done by two-person teams.

[fragmede]

That really doesn't jive with this description of how much they were doing. Let me guess, this mythical two person team could also build Twitter and Uber over a weekend?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40176338

[madaxe_again]

Your point notwithstanding, Twitter was originally built by a two person team over couple of weeks.

[throwaway5959]

They built a prototype (probably in Rails, lol). Thousands of people built Twitter, including many who have never written a line of code in their lives.

[madaxe_again]

Really, no shit, I thought it was one guy and his cat who did all the coding for everything

[fragmede]

That's interesting, but two people over a couple of weeks isn't the same as one person claiming they could build it over one weekend.

[raydev]

> it is that there were large teams to do what essentially can be done by two-person teams.

You're mistaking their intent, they are actually okay with less work being done. It's a desire to simply hit the reset button and see how much money they can save, and how much they need to build up the team again. They know it harms productivity but maybe something cheaper will come out of it. They are gambling.