Syn-ACK :facepalm: on Nostr: So I've finally started reading Chokepoint Capitalism (by npub1ftvez…8f8yx and ...
So I've finally started reading Chokepoint Capitalism (by npub1ftvezy9sv24sgr9dc9v3p540kyyq4eg379wn9quj05ppflkjd2jqe8f8yx (npub1ftv…f8yx) and npub1hykucplphuhelaxutcw4jw3vuu7gcg42czhqmk7jhchs8vdga4fsj73p33 (npub1hyk…3p33)) and I only wish I had started reading it sooner. I'm only 1 chapter in, so I don't know if they talk about this in later chapters, but while the focus is the impact of these chokepoints on creatives, it also sheds light on what is really going on with these tech layoffs.
Essentially, Big Tech - which has created these chokepoints - is now cannibalizing their own workforce to squeeze more margin out of their flywheel. While the pandemic lockdowns seemed to be a boon for remote workers, it also showed upper management where to put the squeeze on.
Tech workers know their jobs are never secure (or they should by now), but Big Tech is using the same terms as during the dotcom burst to cover themselves as they do these layoffs. The problem is that these same conditions don't apply now - it's not that the company can't pay its workers, it's that it doesn't want to. But it worked before, so let's see if we can get away with that same reasoning again, shall we?
The fix/squeeze is in. Tech is no longer a "special" industry. Software is creative work, and corpos are now ensuring that it is being treated just like all the other creative work these days: just another margin to be twiddled for their benefit.
Cannibals, all of 'em.
Essentially, Big Tech - which has created these chokepoints - is now cannibalizing their own workforce to squeeze more margin out of their flywheel. While the pandemic lockdowns seemed to be a boon for remote workers, it also showed upper management where to put the squeeze on.
Tech workers know their jobs are never secure (or they should by now), but Big Tech is using the same terms as during the dotcom burst to cover themselves as they do these layoffs. The problem is that these same conditions don't apply now - it's not that the company can't pay its workers, it's that it doesn't want to. But it worked before, so let's see if we can get away with that same reasoning again, shall we?
The fix/squeeze is in. Tech is no longer a "special" industry. Software is creative work, and corpos are now ensuring that it is being treated just like all the other creative work these days: just another margin to be twiddled for their benefit.
Cannibals, all of 'em.