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Broken Software Engineering Culture at Truist

Is it just me, or does Truist really struggle with software engineering quality? There doesn’t seem to be any real focus on learning from past mistakes or improving with each release. The same problems keep happening again and again — it’s draining and inefficient. At other companies I’ve worked for, engineers were quick to learn, adapt, and build better systems over time. It’s frustrating to see such a lack of progress here. Honestly, “you get what you pay for” couldn’t ring truer.


Covered by Chronicle Today

  • Tech layoffs in the Bay Area continue, with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi Vantara, and Cepheid announcing new job cuts.
  • HPE is cutting 52 positions in San Jose, mainly in cloud development, engineering, and product management, following a global plan to reduce 2,500 jobs.
  • Hitachi Vantara will permanently eliminate 128 jobs in Santa Clara starting December 31, affecting software engineering, marketing, and customer support.
  • Cepheid is reducing 34 positions in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties as COVID-19 test demand declines and operations move to Lodi.
  • These cuts add to a growing list of tech layoffs in 2025, joining recent reductions from Amazon, Meta, Applied Materials, and Google.

    https://www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article/layoffs-hpe-hitachi-vantara-21140900.php


Hubspot laid several off today

Mostly impacted middle management in marketing and engineering. However, some teams are entirely gone and being merged into different units. This has been going on in smaller batches throughout the year, but this is one of the first times leadership kind of addressed it. Coincided with Q3 earnings call, unsure whether c-suite discussed with investors.


Oracle's True Core is Infra and not Data - Think twice before you plan for long stay

Was chatting with some guys from another company, and this is the deal: Oracle is data-starved. It doesn't hoard any data. They're just a database/infra, not a data goldmine like Amazon, Meta, Google, Apple or LinkedIn.

Our engineering needs are simple: basic text analysis for infra. We aren't running anything complex. The algorithms are straightforward, and any future coding is so basic, it's easily handled by LLMs and junior employees.

You can get by with Oracle for now, but long-term? You've already lost the race.
Oracle doesn't need you anymore. And you shouldn't rely on Oracle anymore.


What is next

This is the easy cut, the next phase will be in tech. Target plans to outsource all of tech, engineering, and security, what does not get moved to India will be outsourced to a contract here in the US. So this is just the start, pretty much everyone in IT in MN will eventually loos their jobs.


Chevron’s ENGINE Expansion in India: Potential Tax and Cost Implications

I’m not sure why the original post on this topic was taken down, but I’ve updated the content to align with TheLayoff.com’s posting guidelines. The information below is fact-based and summarized from publicly available corporate and tax principles. Hopefully this version allows for a constructive discussion around Chevron’s ENGINE setup in India and its possible business implications.

Summary of the Situation

Chevron has invested approximately $1 billion in its Engineering and Innovation Excellence Center (ENGINE) located in Bengaluru, India. While this expansion is intended to improve efficiency and global project collaboration, there may be long-term tax and compliance costs associated with how the operation is structured under Indian law.

The following sections outline general, factual information based on standard international taxation frameworks such as Permanent Establishment (PE) and Transfer Pricing — not internal Chevron data.

  1. Permanent Establishment (PE) and Tax Liability
    • If a foreign company establishes a fixed place of business in India (for example, an engineering or project office), Indian authorities may classify it as a Permanent Establishment (PE).
    • This triggers tax obligations on profits attributed to work performed in India, even if the project serves clients elsewhere.

  1. Profit Attribution
    • Under Indian law, part of a company’s global income can be taxed locally if significant value creation or management occurs in India.
    • For instance, if Australian or U.S. projects are executed by teams in India, India can claim a portion of those profits for taxation.

  1. Taxation of Foreign Subsidiaries
    • Corporate Tax: Subsidiaries or branches in India are taxed on income earned locally, typically around 22% (plus surcharge and cess).
    • Transfer Pricing: Intercompany transactions (e.g., management fees, subcontracting, asset transfers) must follow India’s arm’s-length pricing rules.
    • Withholding Tax: Payments from India to foreign parent entities (royalties, fees, or dividends) may face withholding taxes depending on applicable treaties.

  1. Cross-Border and Expat Implications
    • Projects Managed from India: Even if work supports projects in Australia or the U.S., India can still tax the related income if the work is performed domestically.
    • Foreign Expats in India: Employees from other countries working in India may be taxed under Indian income tax laws based on their residency status.

  1. Estimated Financial Impact (Industry Benchmarks)

Benchmarking studies (e.g., from KPMG and EY) indicate potential cost impacts in several areas:
• Transfer Pricing Adjustments: 5–15% increase in taxable income due to stricter cost scrutiny (e.g., management fees, FX losses, share-based pay).
• Profit Attribution: 15–25% of global project profits could be attributed to India for high-value engineering or design work.
• Compliance Costs: Ongoing regulatory, IT, and operational costs may total $2M–$5M annually depending on scale.

Five-Year Projection (2025–2030):
• Transfer Pricing Adjustments: estimated at $10 million to $20 million per year, totaling $50 million to $100 million over five years.
• Profit Attribution Tax Impact: estimated at $15 million to $30 million per year, totaling $75 million to $150 million over five years.
• Compliance and Administrative Costs: estimated at $2 million to $5 million per year, totaling $10 million to $25 million over five years.
• Total Global Business Unit Cost: approximately $27 million to $55 million per year, or $135 million to $275 million over a five-year period across all Chevron business units utilizing the Indian center.

  1. Strategic Considerations

While India offers substantial cost and talent advantages, aggressive profit attribution and tax compliance requirements could partially offset those savings. This highlights a broader issue many multinationals face when expanding shared services or engineering hubs abroad.

Sources:
• Indian Income Tax Act and Transfer Pricing Rules
• OECD Guidelines on Permanent Establishments
• Public benchmarking data from KPMG and EY

Would be interested to hear others’ perspectives on how these kinds of global engineering consolidations impact overall efficiency and cost management across Chevron’s business units.


More layoffs at Unity

Many will recall the shocking dismissal of Unity's entire Behavior team, and now, in yet another round, it has come to light that Ben Cloward, a respected and well-known figure in the community, is among those affected.

https://80.lv/articles/veteran-developer-ben-cloward-impacted-by-unity-layoffs


Clueless People Leaders

Are there any technical people leaders anymore? Seems like they are focused on bringing in leaders that have no skill, but claim to be great coaches. We are in a death spiral and need technical leaders who can help solution, not leaders who want to focus on asking if you are done yet. And the new PLs who want to help you with career coaching? GTFO. I don't need career advice from someone who has just arrived on the scene when I've been here for years. I need a leader that can remove roadblocks. We are so lost.


AI thoughts…

Placing engineers—especially those expected to think deeply, design complex systems, and solve nuanced problems—in a call center-style environment is typically a recipe for reduced productivity, poor morale, and suboptimal work quality. Here's a breakdown of what you might expect:
🔇 1. Disruption of Deep Work
Engineering requires focus. Complex problem-solving, debugging, architecture decisions, and coding often need extended periods of uninterrupted concentration (aka “deep work”).
In a call center-like environment—loud, crowded, constant interruptions—engineers will struggle to reach that mental state.
Expect more errors, slower progress, and lower code quality.
😤 2. Morale and Retention Issues
Engineers typically value autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
A call center setup implies surveillance, noise, lack of control over the environment, and potentially even micromanagement.
Result? Burnout, disengagement, and eventually attrition. You may lose your best talent first.
🧠 3. Shallow Thinking Becomes the Norm
When you're in a reactive environment—like one focused on pings and constant chatter—people naturally start thinking short-term.
Instead of proactive design and long-term systems thinking, engineers will fall into reactive, band-aid solutions.
📉 4. Decline in Innovation
Innovation thrives in environments where people have space to experiment, reflect, and collaborate thoughtfully.
The call center model is built for throughput, not thoughtfulness.
Expect fewer new ideas, missed architectural risks, and weaker long-term planning.
🤝 5. Poor Collaboration
Ironically, while open or call center-style setups are often justified as “promoting collaboration,” in reality:
They often increase distractions rather than useful conversations.
Real collaboration requires intentional, focused communication, not random drive-by chats or overheard meetings.

🛠️ Putting engineers in a call center environment is like asking a concert pianist to practice in a food court. Sure, they might play something—but it won’t be their best work, and they probably won’t stick around.


M5

"When compared to Intel-based systems, it delivers up to 86x faster AI performance"…

I'm imagining the engineers responsible for running the tests finely tuning the test suite for days and days so they could get that number into the press release, lol. There's no way that's a coincidence and someone definitely advocated for that line being the way it is.


History Repeats

This is from 2007-2008 period when Calgary’s job market was hot. Lots of young engineers were quitting Imperial Oil. Imperial was desperate to retain its people. Salary bumps across the board were in double digits (and not the lower double digits).

I remember attending Engineering VP Eddy Lui’s town hall meeting for the engineers and geoscientists. Eddy was explaining how Imperial Oil had a d-mbbell shaped demography curve - lots of people in their very early careers, lots of people at the end of there career, and almost no-one in the mid-career in the company. The reason for this demography was Imperial’s decision to lay off and not hire anyone in the early and mid 90s. Eddy said, “Never again Imperial will make such a mistake!”. In his words, Imperial will hire engineers at a steady pace irrespective of the company’s situation. Eddy and upper management were worried about the future of the company. When the seniors retire, they would leave a vacuum in the company.

Let’s come to the present now. Some of the folks who attended that session are at the top of the company now. I am telling you, you folks will have to repeat Eddy’s comment when no one will come to Imperial Oil when the market recovers. You will be saying, “Never again Imperial will make such a mistake!”.


History Repeats

This is from 2007-2008 period when Calgary’s job market was hot. Lots of young engineers were quitting Imperial Oil. Imperial was desperate to retain its people. Salary bumps across the board were in double digits (and not the lower double digits).

I remember attending Engineering VP Eddy Lui’s town hall meeting for the engineers and geoscientists. Eddy was explaining how Imperial Oil had a d-mbbell shaped demography curve - lots of people in their very early careers, lots of people at the end of there career, and almost no-one in the mid-career in the company. The reason for this demography was Imperial’s decision to lay off and not hire anyone in the early and mid 90s. Eddy said, “Never again Imperial will make such a mistake!”. In his words, Imperial will hire engineers at a steady pace irrespective of the company’s situation. Eddy and upper management were worried about the future of the company. When the seniors retire, they would leave a vacuum in the company.

Let’s come to the present now. Some of the folks who attended that session are at the top of the company now. I am telling you, you folks will have to repeat Eddy’s comment when no one will come to Imperial Oil when the market recovers. You will be saying, “Never again Imperial will make such a mistake!”.


Schmooze or Lose, Code Be Damned

The tech team’s culture is a masterclass in exploiting the need for networking in the field while treating actual engineering like a thankless chore. Most “management” here are too busy kissing up to non-engineers and flaunting their “connections” like they’re auditioning for a C-suite reality show or getting a millionaire customer on the books. The company leans hard into the field’s obsession with who-knows-who, we-ponizing it to reward political players at HO over producers. Meanwhile, engineers who grind out solid code and keep the systems humming? We’re just background noise, expected to bow to the schmooze gods. Skip a “networking” DEI event to debug a critical issue? You’re “not strategic.” It’s a ridiculous game where pleasing non-techies and chasing clout trumps building anything real. Time to value the code that drives the business, not the connections! 😅


Everyone on my team is running the business as usual; no one is talking about layoffs, weird...

Currently, I'm a tech support engineer for a Fusion team that supports an Oracle product for our customers. I don't want to go into too much detail, but no one seems to be worried, why??????? Are they stupid or is it just me that is realizing its time to look for something else.....
We have already lost a few members of our team, and while we have a lot of work and its draining, I feel that since they implemented their new AI support tool, our days here may be numbered.

I have a backup plan, but is it safe to assume that the layoffs are over in the US? Should I focus on upskilling and looking for something else? My gut tells me it might be time to leave Oracle.


It has begun, my team being transitioned to India

Just got the email that the responsibilities of my team are being transitioned to NB and we are expected to facilitate that transition. When discussed with our manager, the focus of the conversion was only on how we can help the NB team come up to speed. When questioned about the future of our team, we were met with a vague response that can be summarized as "just wait and see". Not looking good...

I work in ontap engineering.


Highly skilled domestic technical talent would expose inefficiencies among mgmt

The organization has seen an influx of legacy middle management talent and former strategy consultants whose backgrounds are primarily in general management rather than technical disciplines. In a technology-driven environment, this skills gap has led to a reliance on offshoring key engineering functions. These managers effectively position themselves as coordinators of offshore delivery rather than direct technical contributors.

However, this structure has created a structural disincentive to hire highly skilled domestic technical talent, as doing so would expose inefficiencies in the current management layer. The result is a dependency loop that prioritizes headcount optics and managerial control over genuine technical capability.
OP: @qv+1k6x0r9wm

Putting this up for visibility. It’s definitely a reason for offshoring that comes right after the usual cost-cutting measures.