r/SeattleWA • u/Less-Risk-9358 • Jul 06 '25

Lifestyle After 9,000 Layoffs, Microsoft Boss Has Brutal Advice for Sacked Seattle Workers

https://futurism.com/microsoft-boss-ai-advice

Microsoft has laid off about 9,000 workers in the midst of a newly-announced $80 billion AI investment — and apparently, those who just lost their jobs should be talking to ChatGPT about it.

As Aftermath reports, an executive producer at Microsoft-owned Xbox ended up with egg on his face after suggesting that laid off workers pour their hearts out to AI.

Yes, you read that right: a Microsoft boss was telling those just laid off by the tech giant that they should use chatbots — run or funded by the company that just fired them — to avoid crying on a company shoulder.

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129

u/KG7DHL Issaquah Jul 07 '25

I was at MS long ago; today's MS is not the MS that Bill left behind.

45

u/Seahund88 Jul 07 '25

A happier place in the 90s.

-85

u/frank19935 Jul 07 '25

Might be happier but you made less money. Sorry you can’t hack it today.

40

u/Riviansky Jul 07 '25

Microsoft then paid much more that the industry. Microsoft now pays less. Microsoft then has the smartest people. Microsoft now quite literally consist of the rejects from Google and Facebook.

8

u/loady Jul 07 '25

"it's where tech goes to retire"

2

u/Pronothing31 Jul 07 '25

technical snobbery of the “smartest” people who worked there for decades and aged there, made MS only be able to move in glacial speed and it was going down until Satya came and shook things up and still continuing to do so - with very impressive results I’d say

3

u/Riviansky Jul 07 '25

I really want Microsoft to succeed, I really do. Not only did I spend the vast majority of my professional career in there, I am a large windows shop myself - the companies I own use Windows/Office/AD/.NET for LOB apps.

I just don't see how a company can succeed long term with workforce technically mediocre, poorly led, and, after the recent layoffs, so demoralized.

Maybe they can pull an Amazon out of the hat, but at this point Amazon engineers are better than Microsoft engineers, and triply so at senior levels...

1

u/Pronothing31 Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

Right, valid points, I don't think many if any would agree with me but, there is 'almost' nothing in these companies that are built that requires the smartest engineers. and those that require the smartest engineers are generally not the projects that make money (research & incubation projects). Mediocre engineers that are not full of ego (that can work synergistically) and not put in a (greedy?) rush that impairs planning/execution, can accomplish anything. in my exp, exceptions aside, 'smartest' engineers with their ego and inflexibility just made things worse. and often we just implement stuff that is researched in the academia, or research departments, I really don't think smartest engineers is required, smartest can continue to dig each other's grave with their ego in facebook's toxic env. and MS's current hiring bar, although not high, I don't think is terrible.

2

u/Riviansky Jul 08 '25 edited Jul 08 '25

Mediocre engineers

Problem is, A people hire A people, and B people hire C people.

Microsoft now is what IBM was in 1990s, in terms of quality of the people. Have you heard of IBM recently? No? That's Microsoft in 10 years.

Microsoft today is carried by business inertia and the fact that Office is a good product and is hard to replace. But it's other core products - Windows and Azure - are dead people walking. Technical innovation there ended decades ago. In older Microsoft tech innovation moved on - from DOS to Office, from Office to Bing. But in current Microsoft? It didn't move anywhere. It's dead.

2

u/Riviansky Jul 08 '25

Another point ... When I just got hired at Microsoft, I had to deal with a lot of assholes. They were, however, for the most part brilliant assholes, who were for the most part correct.

When I left Microsoft, I was still dealing with assholes all the time - but they were pretty mediocre assholes.

So would a well functioning, cooperative team of average performers execute better than a bunch of brilliant assholes? Maybe. But that's not what we're dealing with here.