TJ
Dave JStolen to add #AltText. https://mastodon.social/@vicfroh/116400343952503512
DB@davej Saving this because once the same thing happens across the industry the need for people to fix the fucked up AI software is going to spike and the fixing will cost multiples of what the bean counters think they saved by shit canning people.
@lawyersgunsnmoney I do wonder how many otherwise profitable businesses—and careers—this stupid LLM mania will destroy.
But a lot of consultants could make themselves very rich out of patching up poor management decisions, too. We’re already starting to see some of them struggle with the surge in workload.
Omnivore
QuasitA year or two after I started work at my employer (a large not-for-profit company), we were haunted by an influx of consultants wearing three-piece suits. They interviewed everyone "to get an idea of what kind of work you do".
Not long afterwards the layoffs started. We'd been a happy department of creative types; the only annoying thing about it was that they were all fervent Mac users.
The phones started ringing, one at a time. The first few answered their phones, seemed startled, then got up and left the floor. It soon got out that they were being called for another interview; we weren't sure if it was with the consultants, or management.
But it didn't take long for the word to get out that these were EXIT interviews. The head of the department had been the first to be axed. So as phones rang, people cried and hugged each other goodbye. They weren't being allowed back to their desks to get their stuff.
About half the department was laid off.
It turned out that the consultants hadn't done a very good job, though. Several of the people that they got rid of turned out to be vital to the functioning of the company. So management had to try to get them to come back.
Some refused. One of them, a tall woman, accepted on the condition of a BIG raise (word was her salary doubled), and a life-sized photographic cardboard cutout of herself with a base so it stood up.
It depicted her standing, head a little tilted with a telling smile and one finger pointed at a word balloon above her head. In large letters it said "I TOLD YOU SO!".
I've always admired her.
Bruce Simpson, Ph.D.