Ask HN: Do top programmers look forward to staff cuts?

1 point·amichail··4 comments

Don't these staff cuts improve the average ability of the programmers left at the company thus making the work more rewarding for top programmers?

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Staff cuts mean there are fewer people left to do the same amount of work. Nobody likes that.

Staff cuts can target high earners (so better programmers) as easily as they can target worse programmers.

I've heard that rumors of impending staff cuts often get the better programmers to leave preemptively because they know they can get jobs elsewhere.

Also you can't really sort on quality, if you try to do so in most organizations, the self-promoters float to the top. Narcissists benefit the most from stack ranking, modest people are hurt the worst.

No.

Staff cuts mean:

- a lot of chaos and extra administrative work for everyone

- fewer people to do the same amount of work (even if some of the layoffs were people who only worked 10 hours a week, that's still 10 hours that needs to be done)

- less generous total compensation as the company tries to save more money on the remaining staff

While it's definitely no fun for those who are laid off, it's also psychologically distressing for the people left behind. Those developers can be grateful for still having their jobs, but their friends/professional colleges are gone. You don't get the collaboration that you once had and a whole lot more work to do. The only benefit is if the office jerk gets laid off, but it generally is not a good situation for anyone.

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