Sam (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
l33tminion) wrote2024-05-18 08:51 pm
l33tminion) wrote2024-05-18 08:51 pm
Entry tags:
Docs and Talks
I'm sure I was going to write about a lot of things. Maybe I'll get to some of them some day. It's been a busy time: Being between jobs only makes entrepreneurs busier so I'm doing a lot of fort-holding-down.
But not this weekend: This weekend I'm at PyCon in Pittsburgh! That was going to be the site for '20-'21 until that got canceled by circumstances, at which point SLC was already lined up for '22-'23. But I guess the local organizers weren't totally scared off because they're back for this year and next.
PyCon is always a lot of fun. I was sad to miss it last year (for the first time in ages), but there wasn't conference budget and it's a bit of a haul. This year, well, there still isn't budget. (I at least did get a conference sponsor pass and a dinner with colleagues, but that was all the Google contribution to the T&E.) But it was close and I didn't want to miss it again.
This PyCon is coming just in the shadow of Google laying off almost the entire Python Team (the team still exists, but this was basically a geo-reorg-by-layoff). That was one of the most demoralizing things Google management has done from my perspective since the maximum-chaos-layoffs of 2023. Maybe it hit me even harder. I'd worked pretty closely with that team if only as a 20%er, they were really top-notch. I would've considered joining them in 2022 if there'd been an opening. It's a really bad way to treat any of the groups involved (the "great work, you're out of a job" old team, the one conveniently-located satellite member now tasked with picking up the pieces, and the new team with some big shoes to fill in an area they're less expert in than the people who just got canned).
So even though Google wasn't recruiting at PyCon in 2022 and wasn't sending employees to conferences in 2023, this is the first year where I've felt I was on the other side of the table. I've gone from feeling job security at Google was very solid, a "probably still be doing the same in another five years", to feeling I could get cut at any time for no discernible reason and my odds of dodging things for another five aren't that good. Really makes me think I should keep my ear to the ground. At least.
This didn't stop me from getting a lot of work done during the conference anyways. Certainly puts me in a productive mood.
It was great talking to people at the conference, and attending talks and open sessions. I mean, you can always catch the talks in recording after, but it's inspiring to be there. There's a lot to celebrate.
But not this weekend: This weekend I'm at PyCon in Pittsburgh! That was going to be the site for '20-'21 until that got canceled by circumstances, at which point SLC was already lined up for '22-'23. But I guess the local organizers weren't totally scared off because they're back for this year and next.
PyCon is always a lot of fun. I was sad to miss it last year (for the first time in ages), but there wasn't conference budget and it's a bit of a haul. This year, well, there still isn't budget. (I at least did get a conference sponsor pass and a dinner with colleagues, but that was all the Google contribution to the T&E.) But it was close and I didn't want to miss it again.
This PyCon is coming just in the shadow of Google laying off almost the entire Python Team (the team still exists, but this was basically a geo-reorg-by-layoff). That was one of the most demoralizing things Google management has done from my perspective since the maximum-chaos-layoffs of 2023. Maybe it hit me even harder. I'd worked pretty closely with that team if only as a 20%er, they were really top-notch. I would've considered joining them in 2022 if there'd been an opening. It's a really bad way to treat any of the groups involved (the "great work, you're out of a job" old team, the one conveniently-located satellite member now tasked with picking up the pieces, and the new team with some big shoes to fill in an area they're less expert in than the people who just got canned).
So even though Google wasn't recruiting at PyCon in 2022 and wasn't sending employees to conferences in 2023, this is the first year where I've felt I was on the other side of the table. I've gone from feeling job security at Google was very solid, a "probably still be doing the same in another five years", to feeling I could get cut at any time for no discernible reason and my odds of dodging things for another five aren't that good. Really makes me think I should keep my ear to the ground. At least.
This didn't stop me from getting a lot of work done during the conference anyways. Certainly puts me in a productive mood.
It was great talking to people at the conference, and attending talks and open sessions. I mean, you can always catch the talks in recording after, but it's inspiring to be there. There's a lot to celebrate.