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Layoffs at Commodore
9 messages in this thread
well, i worked at a startup company a few years back (anyone heard of the
MicroOffice RoadRunner portable computer?) anyway, once the system became
reasonably solid (hardware done, some machines sold, just a few software bugs
left to fix) a lot of the initial "idea generator" types were laid off. they
hung on to me until the last minute cuz i was mr. operating system. seems to be
a reasonably common practice – after all, some people are great for getting
things going and designing stuff, but they draw relatively high salaries – they
can hire other people (or transfer workloads internally) to get the "grunt"
work done – debugging, new features, etc. once the meat of the machine is
working.
–Scotty
This management scenario is one of the things which leads to the common
Silicon Valley phenomenon of cashing in your chips when your product comes
out instead of sticking with the company. If CA is in fact cutting design
level engineering personnel, I would call it a very ominous sign. When you
stick it to the engineers once, word gets around and Commodore will have a
tough time recruiting top flight people for the next gig, if there is one.
yeah, i hadn't thought about that (the effect on willingness of future
employees to work there). apparently, they didn't either. but there's plenty
of people willing to work on something "neat," however briefly.
–Scotty
Working on something "neat" depends a lot on the attitude of the people you
work with. Parker Brothers was "neat" until the marketing clones took over,
then the engineering heavies took off.
exactly. i'd rather work for a few years on a very enthusiastic team than
work for a long time doing rote stuff. small companies developing new (truly
new – not rehashes of something already in existence) are the places i like
to work. so far i've had no problems finding those types of places around
here. (connecticut) –Scotty
exactly. i'd rather work for a few years on a very enthusiastic team than
work for a long time doing rote stuff. small companies developing new (truly
new – not rehashes of something already in existence) are the places i like
to work. so far i've had no problems finding those types of places around
here. (connecticut) –Scotty
Working on something "neat" depends a lot on the attitude of the people you
work with. Parker Brothers was "neat" until the marketing clones took over,
then the engineering heavies took off.
yeah, i hadn't thought about that (the effect on willingness of future
employees to work there). apparently, they didn't either. but there's plenty
of people willing to work on something "neat," however briefly.
–Scotty
This management scenario is one of the things which leads to the common
Silicon Valley phenomenon of cashing in your chips when your product comes
out instead of sticking with the company. If CA is in fact cutting design
level engineering personnel, I would call it a very ominous sign. When you
stick it to the engineers once, word gets around and Commodore will have a
tough time recruiting top flight people for the next gig, if there is one.