Pay Rise Playbook, Tech's Endless Cycle of Cuts

Hello, Futurizm fans! Thank you for clicking on this week’s edition of our newsletter, you won’t regret it.

COMING UP:

• The Podcast: The Pay Rise Playbook 
• Grady’s Gripe: Tech's Endless Cycle of Cuts: When Will it End?
• Tech News ICYMI
• Big Tech Dad Joke

THE PODCAST: THE PAY RISE PLAYBOOK

We know money can be a sensitive topic. Your boss probably knows this, and that only works in their favour.

So, we decided to break the taboo and go all out on the dos and don’ts of negotiating a pay rise. From keeping a record of your wins to negotiating non-monetary benefits, Ex-Big Tech recruiter Will shares his arsenal of advice, tips and tricks so that you can walk into that discussion well-armed and ultimately get the compensation you deserve.

This week, we actually did a podcast when we said we would, and you can already find it on all major providers right here.

If you’re not quite at the salary negotiation stage and looking to polish your resume, check out our Resume A to Z episode here.

GRADY’S GRIPE

Tech's Endless Cycle of Cuts: When Will it End?

FFS. Microsoft and Cisco are at it again. More cuts. Thousands of jobs are gone just like that. Every few months, we brace ourselves for another round of headlines about layoffs. 

I'll be honest—it's getting fucking tedious. 

It's making me question many things about the industry. This was supposed to be the industry of innovation and disruption, building the future. It feels as susceptible to the whims of the market as any other sector—maybe even more so.

You’ve arrived at the office after successfully navigating 25 interviews. You are the rock star, stock options in hand, company swag, and snacks in the break room. 

Then, your security pass doesn’t work; you're locked out of your laptop, and, oh…..wait... you’ve been terminated. It's brutal. And it's not just about the lost jobs—it's about the lost trust.

We all know the drill. Companies overhire when times are good, then panic and cut when things get shaky. It's like they've forgotten how to plan for the long term. As a recruiter, it drove me mad that after six months of canning a whole team, we’d be back on the market looking to re-hire the exact positions we cut. 

The employees are the ones who always pay the price.

I wish I had the answers. Like everyone else, I'm just a cog in the machine, but something has to change. 

We can't keep going like this, from boom to bust and treating people like disposable commodities. 

It may be time we started demanding more from our employers. More stability, more respect, more transparency. Companies need to be targeted and held accountable for employee satisfaction. Wouldn’t it be interesting if they had KPIs for their staff? What would happen then? Fuckers.

Always remember your worth, and don’t be defined by your job. When you are on your deathbed, you won’t give a shit about the code you wrote when at Meta. You’ll be on a first-class ticket to the pearly gates, thinking about your nearest and dearest. 

On that note, I’m off for a beer. Keep those lovely chins up. 

TECH NEWS SHOTS ICYMI

The first-ever private spacewalk was carried out last week, but here are some of the tech stories you might have missed:

FIRST OPENAI NEXT SSI

Open AI’s former Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever has raised over $1bn for his Safe SuperIntelligence startup.

OpenAI veteran Daniel Levy and former Apple AI Chief Daniel Gross are also participating in the venture. The company currently has 10 employees and plans to use the funds to hire more top talent and acquire computing power.

As the name would suggest, the goal is to develop an intelligence that far supersedes human capabilities while not causing harm. Reports suggest the company is already worth over $5bn. 

ALL ABOARD THE GIGA TRAIN!

Tesla’s all-electric “Giga Train” has taken to the tracks in Germany for the first time. 

It’s free for all passengers and runs between Erkner Station to Tesla Sud, just east of Berlin, where the company’s Giga factory is located.

It has 120 seats, a 500-person capacity, and space for bikes. Eventually, it will transport 4,500 Tesla employees daily.

EU TO END PAY SECRECY by 2026

EU Directive 2023/970, also known as the Salary Transparency Law, will require companies to publish all salary ranges by 2026.

The main aim of the law is to reduce salary inequality. It will also ban employers from asking candidates about salary ranges in their previous jobs. 

APPLE’S A BAD APPLE

According to an EU court ruling, Tech Giant Apple will have to pay $14 billion in back taxes. 

The court upheld an EU Commission stance that tax breaks offered to the company by Ireland were illegal.

The ruling covers two of the company's units in Dublin. Apple’s share price fell 1.2% on the news.

GMT, PST, EST OR MOON TIME?! IT’S ALL RELATIVE…

The White House has told NASA to create a time zone for the Moon by 2026.

Coordinated Lunar Time, or LTC (yes, that is the correct abbreviation), needs to be developed because the Moon moves faster relative to Earth. Putting a clock on the Moon would gain 56 microseconds daily, which could risk future missions. (Light can travel 168 football fields in that time.)

LTC will also be scaleable to other planets. Out of this world!

AMAZON TELLS STAFF, “GET BACK TO THE OFFICE”

Online retail giant, Amazon has ordered its staff to return to work five days a week starting in January. 

Chief Exec Andy Jassy said it would help employees be “better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected enough to each other".

Listen to “The Great Return To Work Debate” to hear our thoughts. 

Spoiler Alert: We think Amazon’s move is a load of draconian bollocks.

BIG TECH DAD JOKE

And now, for everyone’s favourite section of the newsletter, the big tech dad joke!

A truck carrying Microsoft software has just overturned on the main road….Well, that’s the Word on the street!

We hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter. We’ll see you in two weeks!

Will Grady (Futurizm Founder)

www.futurizm.io