Elon Musk has made a serious mistake

[iamwhatiseem]

I don't understand a lot of the technical stuff, but it's becoming clear that firing all these engineers was a monumental mistake, which may sink Twitter, Tesla, and his wealth.

Gergely Orosz​

4h • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Bookmark Save as PDF My Authors
What I'm hearing from inside Twitter:

Several people who were let go on Friday, then asked to come back were given less than an hour as a deadline.

Software engineers who got this call I know of all said "no" and the only ones who could eventually say "yes" are on visas.

Also:
Many people got a phone call with this "offer", and a short deadline. Lots of people stopped answering unknown numbers to avoid this.

Inside Twitter, managers I hear are getting desperate, trying to call back more people. People are saying "no" + more sr engineers are quitting.

None of this is surprising. As a rule of thumb, after you lay off X% of people, you get an additional half attrition. Lay off 10%: expect another 5% to quit. Lay off 50%... not unreasonable to expect another 25% to quit.

Calling back people you just fired rarely works.
Why it's a problem that senior people are quitting and people don't want to come back:

Twitter has a complex architecture *for a reason.* And it needs some level of institutional knowledge to maintain.

This institutional knowledge both got fired + is walking out the door.

In practical terms: software engineers who are with the company are now put on oncall rotations for systems they have no idea about. I mean, they can figure it out... easiest to talk with someone who knows these.

The problem is when there's no such person left.

Talking with engineers, some things people don't realize about Twitter:

- On prem data centers
- Lots of infra-level advanced stuff. Eg multi-level infra feature flags
- Advanced infra-level incremental rollouts to avoid outages that were caused by infra changes in the past
Unless the institutional knowledge is somehow retained, in days/weeks/months, we should, sadly, expect to see a lot more outages.

The straightforward option to reduce damage is:
1. Retain experienced folks, at least mid-term
2. Hire and onboard new people with these seniors

I know that on Twitter it's fashionable to mock how "slow" Twitter was to ship.

But the more I learn about the internal systems, and why it was built in a way, the more impressed I am. Eg Twitter onboarding to k8s was extremely challenging (+brilliant) thanks to legacy infra.

Twitter has no nuance to discuss Twitter tradeoffs. But as I understand, there were many: some workaround of legacy decisions, some deliberate.

This doesn't change that Twitter is a complex system, and it's complex for good reasons. I really hope enough people stay who know why.

Also, thank you to both people who built these systems Twitter runs on, and especially those staying and maintaining them.

Keeping Twitter running became far more challenging overnight for no fault of ppl doing all this difficult work.

Thanks for keeping the lights on and more!

One thing that continues to bug me:

Elon Musk is an experienced operator and no stranger to layoffs (and their impact). He has a team of advisors from the VC world.

Surely they expected all this to happen. So, why did they do it? Or is this the plan?

Unroll available on Thread Reader

A timely comic from a former Twitter software engineer - several people told me he was one of the most productive web engineers -, who was also Twitter's unofficial Chief Cartoonist.

So a bit more of an insider view:



Worth linking how the author of the above comic got fired at Twitter.

He was working on a high-priority project at 9pm on Tuesday (after Elon bought Twitter). Disconnected and fired mid-work-meeting. No justification as to why.

Now he's suing Twitter.

Yet another low information liberal.
Twitter was in bankruptcy state when Musk bought it.
They lost $1.2 billion. Lost. Gone.
There revenue was in a freefall, as was the user base.
BEFORE Musk stepped through the door.

 

[krichton]

Yet another low information liberal.
Twitter was in bankruptcy state when Musk bought it.
They lost $1.2 billion. Lost. Gone.
There revenue was in a freefall, as was the user base.
BEFORE Musk stepped through the door.

Another low information conservative. Twitter lost 1.14 billion in 2020 and then "only" lost 224 million in 2021, but in 2018 and 2019 they had 1.2 and nearly 1.5 billion in net gains. Bankruptcy state? Hardly. Twitter right now is in a freefall. That much is absolutely certain.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Another low information conservative. Twitter lost 1.14 billion in 2020 and then "only" lost 224 million in 2021, but in 2018 and 2019 they had 1.2 and nearly 1.5 billion in net gains. Bankruptcy state? Hardly. Twitter right now is in a freefall. That much is absolutely certain.

Haha yeah....

TWTR NET-INCOME - Search

Trading Economics provides its users with accurate information more than 20 million economic indicators. Searching: twtr net-income.

tradingeconomics.com

 

[ClaireH]

So you go to Twitter for your "facts?" Figures. If it's not Twitter, it's facebook, or whatever random overnight blogs you find on the dark web, maybe you're on some sort of mailing list as well. This is why you don't know anything, only your right wing babble. You all read off the same script. Look at your latest response for example. I ask you over and over again to provide an explanation of how journalists are able to give out pinpoint coordinates to Elon's exact location at all times simply from reporting on the elonjet story, and you just read off the same maga script of simply repeating whatever Elon told you. Like literally not an ounce of independent thought is going on here. I'll ask the question again just for funsies, "how would a journalist be able to give real time locations of Elon's movements simply by tweeting or writing a story about elonjet? You'll never be able to answer this question because you can't. Even the people here who were backing this story have left this conversation after being pressed on it. This is what happens when you trust the words of a liar, and never think for yourselves.

The subject is Twitter, so yes, logical people go to the source of the discussion when they can. Talking about puffer fish would lead me to looking for primary sources for info, like finding Stann’s picture superimposed on one or yours.

My mailing lists cover science and health, NSF, Science Daily, Nature, etc.

You don’t want facts and that’s obvious from your posts, so move along troll. I keep 4 trolls in the cellar, I’m trading one out now. Life is too short for your word salad games- sign of a true leftist.

 

[krichton]

The subject is Twitter, so yes, logical people go to the source of the discussion when they can. Talking about puffer fish would lead me to looking for primary sources for info, like finding Stann’s picture superimposed on one or yours.

My mailing lists cover science and health, NSF, Science Daily, Nature, etc.

You don’t want facts and that’s obvious from your posts, so move along troll. I keep 4 trolls in the cellar, I’m trading one out now. Life is too short for your word salad games- sign of a true leftist.

And.....you continue to ignore the question I've asked over and over. Why? Is it because you started off with a bullshit narrative to begin with? That's what you get when you rely on random twitter posts for your info. It doesn't matter if it's from Elon or someone else.

 

[themirrorthief]

And.....you continue to ignore the question I've asked over and over. Why? Is it because you started off with a bullshit narrative to begin with? That's what you get when you rely on random twitter posts for your info. It doesn't matter if it's from Elon or someone else.

elon is a real hero.....he showed communists what a capitalist can do to their rotten propaganda outlets

 

[Synthaholic]

 

[krichton]

We need a tesla stock watch

 

[Synthaholic]

 

[Synthaholic]

 

[Synthaholic]

If it gets much lower I have to think about buying some.

But Elmo would have to step down.

 

[Synthaholic]

 

[Synthaholic]

 

[Synthaholic]

 

[krichton]

I seriously wonder if Tesla will fall under $100 a share.

 

[beautress]

I don't understand a lot of the technical stuff, but it's becoming clear that firing all these engineers was a monumental mistake, which may sink Twitter, Tesla, and his wealth.

Gergely Orosz​

4h • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Bookmark Save as PDF My Authors
What I'm hearing from inside Twitter:

Several people who were let go on Friday, then asked to come back were given less than an hour as a deadline.

Software engineers who got this call I know of all said "no" and the only ones who could eventually say "yes" are on visas.

Also:
Many people got a phone call with this "offer", and a short deadline. Lots of people stopped answering unknown numbers to avoid this.

Inside Twitter, managers I hear are getting desperate, trying to call back more people. People are saying "no" + more sr engineers are quitting.

None of this is surprising. As a rule of thumb, after you lay off X% of people, you get an additional half attrition. Lay off 10%: expect another 5% to quit. Lay off 50%... not unreasonable to expect another 25% to quit.

Calling back people you just fired rarely works.
Why it's a problem that senior people are quitting and people don't want to come back:

Twitter has a complex architecture *for a reason.* And it needs some level of institutional knowledge to maintain.

This institutional knowledge both got fired + is walking out the door.

In practical terms: software engineers who are with the company are now put on oncall rotations for systems they have no idea about. I mean, they can figure it out... easiest to talk with someone who knows these.

The problem is when there's no such person left.

Talking with engineers, some things people don't realize about Twitter:

- On prem data centers
- Lots of infra-level advanced stuff. Eg multi-level infra feature flags
- Advanced infra-level incremental rollouts to avoid outages that were caused by infra changes in the past
Unless the institutional knowledge is somehow retained, in days/weeks/months, we should, sadly, expect to see a lot more outages.

The straightforward option to reduce damage is:
1. Retain experienced folks, at least mid-term
2. Hire and onboard new people with these seniors

I know that on Twitter it's fashionable to mock how "slow" Twitter was to ship.

But the more I learn about the internal systems, and why it was built in a way, the more impressed I am. Eg Twitter onboarding to k8s was extremely challenging (+brilliant) thanks to legacy infra.

Twitter has no nuance to discuss Twitter tradeoffs. But as I understand, there were many: some workaround of legacy decisions, some deliberate.

This doesn't change that Twitter is a complex system, and it's complex for good reasons. I really hope enough people stay who know why.

Also, thank you to both people who built these systems Twitter runs on, and especially those staying and maintaining them.

Keeping Twitter running became far more challenging overnight for no fault of ppl doing all this difficult work.

Thanks for keeping the lights on and more!

One thing that continues to bug me:

Elon Musk is an experienced operator and no stranger to layoffs (and their impact). He has a team of advisors from the VC world.

Surely they expected all this to happen. So, why did they do it? Or is this the plan?

Unroll available on Thread Reader

A timely comic from a former Twitter software engineer - several people told me he was one of the most productive web engineers -, who was also Twitter's unofficial Chief Cartoonist.

So a bit more of an insider view:



Worth linking how the author of the above comic got fired at Twitter.

He was working on a high-priority project at 9pm on Tuesday (after Elon bought Twitter). Disconnected and fired mid-work-meeting. No justification as to why.

Now he's suing Twitter.

"I don't understand a lot of the technical stuff, but it's becoming clear that firing all these engineers was a monumental mistake, which may sink Twitter, Tesla, and his wealth."
Don't hold your breath, Mr. Synthaholic. Love, beautress

 

[beautress]

Elon Musk, if anything is Asimov to the hundredth power. Mr. Asimov was also a genius, but his field was biochemistry. Mr. Musk is a modern-day Renaissance Man. I heard he was looking into Christianity. If he finds Christ, he could be a prophet who routes the human race to the teachings of the Lord that would bring world peace. That would take a barrel and a heap of humility, and at least as much as Moses is said to have had. Only good wishes, Mr. Synthaholic. Love, beautress.

 

[Synthaholic]

 

[Synthaholic]

Elon Musk, if anything is Asimov to the hundredth power. Mr. Asimov was also a genius, but his field was biochemistry. Mr. Musk is a modern-day Renaissance Man. I heard he was looking into Christianity. If he finds Christ, he could be a prophet who routes the human race to the teachings of the Lord that would bring world peace. That would take a barrel and a heap of humility, and at least as much as Moses is said to have had. Only good wishes, Mr. Synthaholic. Love, beautress.

Where do you get the idea that Elon Musk is a genius? What are his genius accomplishments?

 

[Synthaholic]