In case you haven't heard, Red Hat is laying off people today, and I'm one of them. My 'career' as a Hatter lasted just over 15 months, much less time than I had planned or expected.

Many of you know me well, and know that I have extensive background in open source software, project management, open source business, and lots of related activities. If you're aware of any opportunities which may be of interest, feel free to send them my way via any channel you like.

Boosts much appreciated, of course, and thanks in advance!

#FediHire

Also, in case anyone hasn't noticed, this is exactly on-point for what is happening all over the tech industry. Red Hat had a pretty good Q1, IBM had a decent Q1, IBM generated US$1.3B in *free cash flow* (discretionary cash after all operating and capital expenses), but the method they chose to realign their investments in products and technologies is by reducing the workforce (which was already barebones in many places).

In fact I'll take this a step further with some math:

Let's assume the published number of terminated employees is 800. Let's also assume that they get paid US$225,000 per year (very high average estimate), and that Red Hat's overhead per employee is 40%.

That's US$315,000 per year per person, times 800 people that's US$252M per year. IBM (of which RH is a significant chunk) produces that much free cash flow in *three weeks*.

There is no way that terminating all of these people is going to free up so much cash to invest in strategic projects that it can be worth the harm caused to 800 people and their families, and the knowledge loss in the organization, and the attrition that will follow as the remaining people get even more burned out.

@kevin I hope you'll find something new real soon! The best of luck!
Canonical

@kevin
Oh, full disclosure, I started work at Canonical 2022-02-28 and that link is a referral link.
@kevin This culture of pleasing shareholders at all costs is so toxic that it is absolutely undermining the quality of engineered products. These MBAs have no idea what they are doing, except when it comes to shareholders. Just look at Boeing. Once one of the most solid engineering companies in the world, Boeing is now a laughing stock with their 787 fiasco. But as long as the gravy keeps flowing, it's all OK. We seriously need to rethink to whom our economy should cater.

@lorentz @kevin

Republican tax policy produces distorted economic incentives.

Layoffs that boost stock prices.

Layoffs that create bonuses for senior management.

Layoffs used for stock buybacks.

Layoffs used for political gain.

Layoffs for social engineering and malign influence campaigns.

Layoffs to erode the brain drain from China & Russia using "Tech Innovation is Dying in America" disinformation narratives.

@lorentz @kevin

For a long time, tech workers were indifferent, to a certain degree, to the economic, social, and political changes underway.

The owners and funders of technology companies are turning on their employees just as other industries have. Steel. Manufacturing. Retail. Cars. Banking.

Automating. Dropping wages. Squeezing. Moving overseas.

@kevin

Tech workers are being laid off on the orders of private equity hedge funds like Chris Hohn.

Folks like Griffin, Schwab, Schwarzman, and Chris Hohn are following the directives of their billionaire investors.

Investors like the Saudi and UAE royals. Investors like #KochNetwork
Investors like Putin's oligarchs.

Why are these entities wanting to tank the engine of America's economy?

Why do they appear like they are orchestrating a recession?

@Npars01 @kevin Because workers are starting to organize and build power. The bosses are threatened and this is how they strike back.
@kevin cannibal capitalism requires ever-increasing profits. There is no profit incentive in aiding families

@kevin Short term shareholder value…

The more big layoffs I see, the more I hope a percentage starts up new, better, business to compete or innovate new things.

Also the poor people left behind will now end up working even harder (for zero personal gain) to make up for it. :(

@kevin

I believe it is a strategy to lower costs in that market. There is a very peculiar synchronization crossing several companies that are profitable. It does not make sense. It is intentional.

@kevin First, best of luck with your job search.

I just did a final project for the grad program I am in about layoffs. I concluded that there is no correlation between national layoffs and the S&P.

I also tried to detect any impact on a specific tech firm’s stock price up to three months after announcing mass layoffs. I concluded you can’t. It’s in the noise.

Large companies seem to use layoffs as a way to eliminate jobs instead of doing the hard work of performance managing their staff.

On a good note, my wife and I are heading to a beach for 3 days of R&R on Wednesday; had this trip planned a couple of months ago, and the timing couldn't be better. Sure, 3 'working days' of my final 10 will be PTO, and that's just fine with me.
@kevin fuck, dude. Now I'm sorry I lured you here
@funnelfiasco I appreciate that, but it's not your fault. Some People made Some Decisions that seem to have been based on Some Information.
@kevin Next job, insist on a 2 year commitment. I know. If only...

@kevin Kevin, I'm so sorry. My own employer announced a round of layoffs on Thursday and people I was close with were negatively affected (I still have a job, but it wouldn't be accurate to say I do not feel the impact of this "business decision"). These things are never easy.

I hope you'll land on your feet, and quickly.

@dbsalk Yeah, our management used 'impacted' too. Ick.
@kevin - so sorry to hear that, Kevin. Wherever you land, they'll be lucky to have you 😃 .
@kevin Doh! If I come across anything that might be relevant, I will certainly keep you in mind…
@kevin Want to work on a platform for running 5G cellular networks on commodity hardware? Well too bad, there is a hiring freeze at Microsoft. 🙃
@kevin Aw man, that sucks to hear. I've seen a number of fantastic engineers and employees from redhat get laid off this week
@kevin Let me know if I can be of any support Kevin!! Sorry to hear that you're one of the 4%!
@kevin If HPC or related fields are in your interests and toolkit, check out the list of opportunities at https://hpc.social/jobs to see if any are a fit. Good luck and keep your chin up!
hpc.social - Jobs

Community jobs feed

hpc.social - Jobs
@kevin Really sorry to hear that. Hope your next journey happens as soon as you would like.

@kevin I just read the news and was heading over to social media, hoping nobody I know is affected. I am so sorry.

I still remember you from PyCon US 21.

I just want to let you know that Canonical is still hiring, several director and even one c level position. We are certainly not as big as Red Hat, but it is an awesome place to work, especially in these times.

Ping me any time.

https://grnh.se/5d948ffe1us

Canonical

@kevin Sorry to hear that. 🙁
@kevin the best of luck 🥺. Gave you a boost

@kevin good luck.

BitWarden has a bunch of open positions listed on their site. It's a remote first company.

This is a remote Technical Portfolio Manager position at Okta. https://www.okta.com/company/careers/engineering/manager-technical-portfolio-management-customer-identity-4975376/

Manager, Technical Portfolio Management (Customer Identity) | Okta

Get to know Okta Okta is The World’s Identity Company. We free everyone to safely use any technology—anywhere, on any device or app. Our Workforce and Customer Identity Clouds enable secure yet flexible access, authentication, and automation that transforms how people move through the digital world, putting Identity at the heart of business security and growth. At Okta, we celebrate a variety of perspectives and experiences. We are not looking for someone who checks every single box, we’re looking for lifelong learners and people who can make us better with their unique experiences. Join our team! We’re building a world where Identity belongs to you. Okta’s Customer Identity Cloud (CIC), powered by Auth0 technology, is an easy to implement authentication and authorization platform designed by developers for developers.  We make access to applications safe, secure, and seamless for the more than 100 million daily logins around the world. Our modern approach to identity enables this Tier 0 global service to deliver convenience, privacy, and security so customers can focus on innovation. Our commitment to identity inspires and sustains our Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging strategy as we aim to celebrate and protect the identities of everyone in our network. Click here to learn more about our commitment to building balanced teams. We’re growing fast here at Okta and are seeking an experienced Manager of Technical Portfolio Management to work across our Product Delivery organization to drive cross-functional planning and delivery of our portfolio of work. In this role, you will partner with senior product and engineering leaders in Product Delivery to build and execute strategic roadmaps to successfully deliver against business objectives while also developing and applying strong Portfolio Management practices across a team of program and project managers. You are a leader with a growth mindset who has grown teams using Agile and Lean models. What will you be doing? Lead, mentor, and strengthen a team of project and program managers Partner closely with Product and Engineering leaders to ensure delivery against our portfolio goals  Establish and continuously optimize practices and processes to improve the way we execute on our roadmap and maintain system health Build trusted partnerships to effectively communicate and influence all levels in the organization Collaborate with peers to drive consistency of practice, provide insight & measure portfolio execution health Act as a champion for Agile and Lean principles across the organization Engage key technical and functional stakeholders by establishing strong relationships, setting expectations, and aligning delivery to these expectations. Might be a good fit if you: 8+ years of technical program/project management experience in a software, SaaS, or systems development environment 2+ years of management experience  Proven success managing a team of people with clear metrics and accountability Experience managing complex programs that span large, cross-functional teams Strong analytical, problem-solving, negotiation and organizational skills Outstanding written and verbal communication skills that drive executional impact at scale Are a skilled collaborator, comfortable leading with influence, not authority  Bonus points for: Working at a high paced, fast growing tech startup. Technical degree and/or background in software development.   Okta’s Top 5 Core Leadership Competencies are part of the deeply ingrained principles that guide all of our company’s actions. They also align strongly to our cultural cornerstones, our Okta values: love our customers, empower our people, never stop innovating, act with integrity, and maintain transparency. It’s our expectation that our managers and leaders embody these core competencies: Builds Effective Teams: Building strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.           Demonstrates Self-Awareness (EQ): Using a combination of feedback and reflection to gain productive insight into personal strengths and weaknesses. Develops Talent: Developing people to meet both their career goals and the organization’s goals. Drives Results: Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances. Strategic Mindset: Seeing ahead to future possibilities and translating them into breakthrough strategies. #LI-Remote #LI-DH2 Below is the annual base salary range for candidates located in California, Colorado, New York and Washington. Your actual base salary will depend on factors such as your skills, qualifications, experience, and work location. In addition, Okta offers equity (where applicable), bonus, and benefits, including health, dental and vision insurance, 401(k), flexible spending account, and paid leave (including PTO and parental leave) in accordance with our applicable plans and policies. To learn more about our Total Rewards program please visit: https://rewards.okta.com/us.   The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in California (excluding San Francisco Bay Area), Colorado, New York, and Washington is between:$140,000—$189,000 USD The annual base salary range for this position for candidates located in the San Francisco Bay area is between: $156,000—$211,000 USDWhat you can look forward to as an Okta employee! Amazing Benefits Making Social Impact Fostering Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at Okta  Okta cultivates a dynamic work environment, providing the best tools, technology and benefits to empower our employees to work productively in a setting that best and uniquely suits their needs. Each organization is unique in the degree of flexibility and mobility in which they work so that all employees are enabled to be their most creative and successful versions of themselves, regardless of where they live. Find your place at Okta today! https://www.okta.com/company/careers/. Okta is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, or status as a protected veteran. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and convictions records, consistent with applicable laws. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please use this Form to request an accommodation. Okta is committed to complying with applicable data privacy and security laws and regulations. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy at https://www.okta.com/privacy-policy/. 

@kevin I am sorry, that sucks so hard. I'm still waiting to hear if I'm part of the 20% (!) my employer is laying off.
Mass layoffs are the most harmful meme in business culture right now.
@kevin so sorry to hear this. I wish you well in finding something new.
@kevin I'm so sorry to hear that. Boosted!
Product Manager PowerDNS (m/f/d)

Product Manager PowerDNS (m/f/d)

@kevin

I wish I were running (or even just working for) a company to recruit you for. I'm not sure if @Blender or @godotengine could use you on paid staff, but those are the first two #opensource software projects that come to mind.

Best of luck in your hunt for a new job! Nobody (possible exception of Tucker Carlson) deserves to be stuck job-hunting right now.

To be clear, the above was boosting for the amazing https://mastodon.km6g.us/@kevin (whom you should totally hire!)

(I've never myself never worked for RedHat.)

Kevin P. Fleming (@[email protected])

4.11K Posts, 351 Following, 641 Followers · Multi-decade open source project contributor, manager, and leader. Manager of Developer Relations Engineers at Fastly. Previously Principal Program Manager at Red Hat helping to deliver RHEL. Previously Head of Open Source Programs at Bloomberg I write code, and publish code, and break code, and spend far too much time with Ansible and highly-overengineered home networking, and DNS, and GPS, and... it never ends. Co-human to three cats along with my significant other.

KM6G Mastodon
@kevin I'm still stunned. I have to say I was very impressed by how you were handling stuff, z-stream in particular, so it was when I saw that they were letting people of your caliber go, then it must be totally at random 😞