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Ask HN: How Many Left working/employed at Twitter?

20 points by tiernano ↗ HN
After all the firings, people leaving due to Musk, etc, how many of the 7500 people are actually left working for Twitter? With all the stuff around going "hardcore" or going home, forcing people back to the office, etc, how many of the people who were not fired (let's assume 3750, given that's half the 7.5k) have left since? Ideas? Estimates?

24 comments

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jstx1
The "hardcore" ultimatum is until the end of tomorrow so we can't know yet.
tiernano
if I got that email this morning from my boss, I would know if I wanted to stay or not...
ender341341
I imagine there will be a decent chunk that click the link saying they're "hardcore" while they shore up getting another job.
dakiol
Only if they think it will take them 3 or more months to find a job. Otherwise taking the severance package seems to be the most profitable option.
bobthrowaway
Excuse the stupid? question, but what does going "hardcore" entail?

Can anyone elaborate?

frou_dh
It sounds like an entrance requirement for joining a kids gang of BMXers and skateboarders.
tiernano
working extra hours for no extra pay... well, that's ol' Musky's idea of going Hardcore...
dakiol
Working more than 40h/week. So, if you have family and/or kids, you’ll see then less than you see your colleagues at the office. Simple back of the envelope calculation:

- 10h/day at the office - 25 min commute each way - 8h/day of sleep - 1h/day for chore (shower, dinner, breakfast)

That leaves you 4h/day to spend with your loved ones, plus weekends (unless “hardcore” also means working a little bit on Saturdays). And those 4h won’t be your best 4h. So anyone staying at Twitter will commit a suicide in terms of family and friends life.

gwnywg
What can I say... all my employers to date were expecting more than what you describe here, and that was always making me feel guilty of not having energy when family time was coming...
4dregress
I don't understand why you would put up with that! Find a new job!
gwnywg
I was finding new job, and in each job first few months are always 'proove yourself' time, then there are a few months of low stress time followed by ups and downs (periods of time where more is required and periods of low stress). I thought everywhere is like this?
aynyc
I don't really understand Elon's point of "hardcore" here. I get that for a startup like spacex, you really do need to be all-in. What's hardcore about Twitter at this point?
jp42
few things I can see from where this is coming from. 1. He wants people out if they don't want to work long hours. from experience I can tell, one negative person can slow team down 2. With so many layoffs, he is not worried about incoming talent 3. he always worked like that so he doesn't care what other people think & how other companies are ran. I don't like, he wont stop anyone.
Vervious
And honestly, with how successful 9-9-6 culture has been in other parts of the world, maybe he's right and you can actually run a successful software enterprise without a corresponding bump in compensation. It makes a lot of sense if he can pay engineers less and still maintain the product.
nso95
SpaceX a startup? 12,000 employees and 20 years old
aynyc
Out of all the "tech" companies, SpaceX actually has a goal of getting people to Mars. In my view, it's not about age or headcount, it's about the stated goal of the company. Most companies don't really have a grand goal anymore. SpaceX is still far far away from that goal, so in a way, they are still in the startup stage.
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dakiol
Why for SpaceX? It’s just a company, if you have kids and family that means you cannot/should not work for SpaceX? Crazy.
aynyc
Every company has its culture. It's up to you to decide if that's what you want to join. If working "hardcore" is something you and your family is willing to accept, by all means, go for it.
tiernano
I had a theory... could it be that if he forces enough people out, the company goes under and any debts the company holds are specific to Twitter... he is off the hook and could only lose a couple of billion, but not be on the hook for the full 44. I heard there were links between the debt and Tesla stock, but if the company goes under for a reason of "all employees left", could that be "not his fault"?

Another option is that the previous stuff he worked on (Tesla, SpaceX, Paypal?) were game changers and had people wanting to work for them, and he thinks that Twitter is the same... But, my guess is it is not... people worked for twitter cause it was a good gig and paid well, but was not a game changer. If the culture changes overnight and now you have to work 20-50% more time with the same or less money and now less resources in house, screw that...

ManlyBread
I think he overvalues the sentiment the current employees have for twitter. He thinks that going "hardcore" will weed out the unproductive and leave only the most motivated employees, but what it will most likely do is the complete opposite. The most talented employees are not going to put up with 12h work days because they have better career options that doesn't involve doing free overtime for one of the richest people on the planet.
rdtwo
A paycut by another name
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tomcam
26 full-timers, a custodian (contractor), and a comfort dog that most people think belonged to Travis in Marketing, but we’re not totally sure. Travis went to a no-talk, no-cell phone detox in Sedona and may not even be aware of current events.