Thread regarding Alphabet Inc. (Google) layoffs

as of 2026 Q1/Q2 Google is not offering PIPs - folks are being walked out

lots of management layers in Cloud
In Cloud there are literally a ladder of VPs reporting to VPs, Directors reporting to Directors - utter nonsense :-)
On weekly basis googlegeist being asked how quickly are we making decisions - hahaha!

middle management is super weak
everybody's afraid to lose their job
there's no internal vision for what/how AI will transform
half-baked AI tools are being shoved down folks throats - whether it makes sense or not
managers praise token burners - there's internal dash that shows which models you're using, tools, how you're compare to your colleagues, team, PA

bottom line - Google culture was lost several years back
2023 layoffs did a major damage

Google is bleeding talent - folks are walking out - for every high-profile published exit there's 50 more
Googlers are affraid to take initiative, creative risks

It's a shell of a company. great benefits - yes
great for a fresher
suffocating for a senior leader

the writing is on the wall - google is hiring in Bangalore overwhelmingly,

Hope this helps

thanks for listening to my vent session ;-)
peace out

@cm at best, your comment in @ab is simply disingenuous. at worst, it is outright trolling.

previously google made a choice of keeping someone who had a bad year because they have good institutional knowledge or otherwise performed well before, and now google is making the choice of cutting headcount by any means necessary.

@cf What I need are some facts here, from those who recently went through this process: Is Google offering garden leave or severance now for those presented with a PIP who do not go through with it? As of 2024, the answer was "yes, Google offers garden leave and severance" but what about in 2026?

@ak
"But real talk: If you think strong software engineers never have a bad six months or a year, you are absurdly naive."

I don't know anything about software engineering, I'm just pointing out that it's fair for a company to expect employees to meet performance standards (even a despicable company like Google).

Google is catching with Meta in percentage of PIP and force employees to go without severance package.

"Google used to be more tolerant of employees who plausibly just had a poor performance review period. It is becoming more and more obvious that such tolerance is a thing of the past."

As it should be since it's a business, not a social service.

No one said it isn't.

But real talk: If you think strong software engineers never have a bad six months or a year, you are absurdly naive.

"Google used to be more tolerant of employees who plausibly just had a poor performance review period. It is becoming more and more obvious that such tolerance is a thing of the past."

As it should be since it's a business, not a social service.

And I say that with absolute disdain for this quasi government company.