More Tech Layoffs, Twitter Got A Twin, And Elon Musk Isn't Happy About It. These And More Interesting Reads And Finds
Musk and Mark go to war, more tech layoffs, money advice and more.
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Now, over to the day's business.
Today I'll share some interesting findings I discovered during my studies and rummaging through the vast lands of the internet.
You know, the internet is changing every day. And it won't stop. It's going to keep getting—"Internetly" (there's no word like that in your dictionary, so don't bother checking).
More Tech Layoffs
While reading, I stumbled upon news about Microsoft conducting another round of massive layoffs!
If you recall, the year 2023 started with a layoff race, with Mark Zuckerberg leading the way with his Year of Efficiency philosophy (I just remembered I have an article about this topic lying somewhere in my drafts folder. I wonder If I will ever be able to complete it).
And others followed—Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and other smaller startups and firms.
I have held on dearly to the idea that the ongoing layoffs in the global tech ecosystem aren't only really due to reduced budgets and revenue issues but are tied to the discovery of AI.
It may not be solely the fault of AI, but AI plays a bigger role.
The roles most affected by these layoffs can be easily replaced by AI: recruiting, sales, marketing, and client-facing roles.
AI can easily do these jobs with adequate support and supervision from experts.
So, the big tech firms just saw an opportunity and quickly ran to seize it.
There have been widespread reports that large corporations, such as Google, have been excessively hiring skilled tech professionals to prevent their competitors from having access to them.
Well, I don't know how true this is (more on this later).
However, it makes some sense though. In the game of competition, all sorts of cards are played to ensure supremacy (Mafia moves).
In the world of tech, efficiency matters a lot, and companies are always looking for the right strategy and process to ensure their operations are managed efficiently.
According to recent data (from Layoffs.FYI), the spate of tech layoffs has drastically reduced since January.
From over 80,000 in January to around 40,000 in February, all the way down to almost 10,000 in June.
Is that a healthy trend, or should we expect something "unexpected?"
Well, it's good that tech companies have slowed down paring.
It means less financial stress for families.
However, data from the same source revealed something worth mentioning.
Though the number of workers leaving tech companies has significantly reduced, the number of companies participating in this shearing is gradually increasing.
Since January, we have had over 250 tech companies lay off their staff. In February, it reduced to somewhere below 200, it's a downward trend from there until April, when it begins to gradually rise again, and in June, we observe a little increase above 100.
Is it going to keep increasing? Well, we don't know for sure; let the data reveal.
So, we can conveniently deduce that though the layoffs have significantly decreased, they haven't entirely stopped yet.
There's still some degree of "silent layoffs" taking place compared to the Tsunami levels we experienced earlier in the year.
One still wonders what it will look like in the future. And with the rate at which AI is advancing, I am sure that more tech jobs will be snatched out of the hands of human beings.
Fault the big guys at these tech companies. They also have a big role to play. As I mentioned earlier, news was hitting the air about Google (and other tech giants) overhiring tech talent just to fill tables that never existed and to prevent their rivals from having access to top talent.
Jack Kelly's Forbes article (Venture Capitalist Says Google, Meta And Amazon Employees Are Doing 'Fake Work') paints a more vivid perspective.
"Tech giants hoard talent to keep key people from leaving for a competitor or building a startup to compete with the former company."
There has been a "fake work" culture at most of these big tech companies for some time now, which got exposed—thanks to the sudden awakening to efficiency and, I think, also the advent of AI.
Tech companies have been redeemed from their corporate blindness and are now doing the right things, unfortunately at the expense of most people losing their jobs.
What does the future of "tech layoffs" hold for the global tech ecosystem?
Even In Africa
Africa has also had its fair share of tech layoffs, with renowned tech establishments like 54gene, Quidax, Kuda, and Wave, amongst other tech companies, joining the staff pruning.
Though for relatively slightly different reasons as compared to their global counterparts, African tech companies face other challenges, from scandals, sour leadership, acquisition issues, inflation (which is literally eating many companies to an untimely death), foreign exchange volatility, Covid19 hiring spree, and the crypto industry troubles!
Most African tech companies aren't laying off staff because they think they have over-hired or because they discovered AI. Theirs is majorly due to reasons far above their control, except for the lousy leadership aspect and how some naughty founders handle and mismanage company funds.
Adjusting to a new reality, African tech companies must develop innovative ways to ensure efficiency in their operations.
Twitter Got A Twin, And Elon Musk Isn't Happy About It
Thread is the newest kid on the block.
In just a few days of launching, about 100 million people have joined the platform (almost half of Nigeria's population—that’s wild).
And the chief of TWITTER isn't happy about it.
Why?
He thinks Mark (Facebook) copied his app.
Shockingly, the Thread App looks exactly like Twitter, except it doesn't have Twitter's blueness, and the bird is missing—the same features, product feel, style, everything.
In a Tweet, Elon Musk Said:
"Competition is good, but cheating is not."
The Thread App looks like a mixture of Instagram & Twitter or Twitter for Instagram users.
So, Instagram users who don't like Twitter (for whatever reasons) have finally got what they want—their own Twitter.
The big question now remains why Meta took this bold, obvious step?
In art, we copy or steal ideas, concepts, or styles, but what makes it interesting is that we steal like artists.
We don't do it like the Mafia.
We don't make it look obvious.
It almost looks as if Meta didn't care about the consequences or what anyone would think about their moves.
They just went all out to create a perfect clone of Twitter.
"Thread went from zero to ten million users in seven hours!"
In the world of innovation, it's tough to come up with entirely new and fresh ideas.
All the designs and solutions you see around you today come from pre-existing designs, formulas, and methods.
You must be an absolute genius to entirely re-invent wheels! Besides, to even do that, you would have to create basic principles, which is humanly impossible.
The fight between Musk and Mark is getting more interesting (it's actually never going to be a cage fight—Mark would definitely send Musk to Mars with one jab).
It shows us another side of business, innovation, and entrepreneurship--it's a competition.
You must fight to stay alive.
If you joke with your position, you'd be surprised at how many people are ready to gladly take up your space.
Twitter is literally struggling right now, and if it's not careful enough, Meta could actually crush it.
Meta is Twitter's most formidable rival so far. It has the numbers, resources, and network to match Elon Musk.
I guess we are all grass under the feet of the Elephants.
Do you already have a Thread account? I don't have one yet, (planning to open one soon). We already have one at Carecode Digital Health Hub.
You can check us out there.
What I Found And What I Am Reading
Alexandr Wang is the world's youngest tech billionaire and has made his fortune supplying AI companies with "human labour."
As leading world governments start to look deeper at AI and its ability to disrupt whole industries, sometimes negatively—causing massive losses of jobs—there are more calls to regulate AI. And companies like Alexandr Wang's Remotask will definitely come under some scrutiny for their use of a lot of unregulated human labour.
Read more about this story: The Week .
Money Advice From Tim Denning.
Tim Denning here. He shares some very brilliant and rich financial advice for people who desperately want total control of their financial lives.
Genuine money advice is hard to come by, especially on the internet.
But when you see one, ensure you hold on tight to it and do what it says.
Read it here.
Writing Tips From Darioux Foroux
Writing is all about expressing your ideas. If you can effectively communicate your thoughts, you'll create strong relationships and establish rich networks, and opportunities will come knocking at your door.
Foroux shares tips that will improve your writing (if you use them).
And here are some I love so much:
Walk away if you're stuck
Use everyday words
Write short paragraphs
Journal everyday
Avoid immediately hitting "publish" or "send."
Read more here.
That's all for now (I still have a lot to share, but I am trying to keep it short--it's already more than a thousand words long).
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