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☆ Amazon's pledge to become 'Earth's Best Employer' is failing.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

I get a lot of satisfaction out of what I do, but I'd love to work for the world's best employer. What would the best employer in the world look like? While we ponder these imponderables, I can tell you that it's probably not Amazon — despite its flashy 2021 pledge to become "Earth's Best Employer." Amazon is fumbling its "Earth's Best Employer" pledge. CEO Andy Jassy even once admitted that the definition of Earth's Best Employer is "subjective."

☆ Salesforce is applying pressure to workers to drive down headcount
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Before we drive off into the night, let's jump into today's tech. Salesforce performance pressure is on. Employees told Insider that the cloud company is about to drop new performance metrics for engineers. Plus, multiple investors are believed to be pressuring Salesforce to cut additional costs to become more profitable. Email dsiu@insider.com or tweet @diamondnagasiu) Edited by Dave Smith (tweet @redletterdave) in Toronto and Nathan Rennolds (tweet @ncrennolds) in London.

☆ Tech’s meltdown has also erased the dream job for Gen Z.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

While maybe I should dream bigger, keeping expectations low could also be a good thing — people shouldn't dream of labor. And that's a wake up call for many Gen Z workers who once aspired to work in Big Tech. Gen Z says goodbye to dream tech jobs. Several top-ranked engineering schools told my colleague Aki Ito that Big Tech companies have been noticeably absent at career fairs since September. Aki breaks down the crumbling Gen Z dream-job and what that means for the tech industry.

☆ These are the startups to bet your career on, based on 3 key factors
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and a little more than a year ago, I bet my career on Insider. A few key factors molded my decision: the editor (AKA my boss), my team, the ability to have journalistic impact, and our company's trajectory. Although I made the jump in very different economic circumstances, these are integral factors to consider for anyone's next career steps. They found the 43 startups to bet your career on this year, looking at a variety of factors, including the founding team, the market, and its stature among investors. From left to right: Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Nikhil Mathew, Jaleh Rezaei, and Anurupa Ganguly Promise; Mutiny; Prisms; Marianne Ayala/InsiderThese are the startups to bet your career on.

☆ Google is in a weird place right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google Bard VS OpenAI ChatGPT displayed on Mobile with Openai and Google logo on screen seen in this photo illustration. Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesGoogle is in a weird place right now. After Microsoft announced integration of ChatGPT with Bing, all eyes were on Google to do something. It's currently only open to "trusted testers," and my teammate writes that "trusted" is the key word, since Google doesn't trust you. Yet, in this crucial moment, Google seems to only be able to react with fear, Hasan writes.

☆ Google is facing its first real competition in search
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

This is the first time search engines are in legitimate competition — with all thanks to ChatGPT for the plot twist. Now, the chatbot is integrated in Bing and gives the search engine its first fighting chance against Google. Microsoft for now has a "first-mover" advantage, meaning its first-ever AI search engine can attract a large share of users. More on the first-ever search engine race here. Tech workers with skills in Web3, AI, and cybersecurity remain in high demand.

☆ Gen Z workers have fueled job title inflation. It was perfectly timed with the Great Resignation.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

I'm a Gen Z worker, and to some extent, I understand why millennial bosses find us daunting (here's Insider's guide to dealing with Gen Z workers, btw). That power fuels a lot of Gen Z stereotypes: doing things our own way, valuing work-life balance, and not having job loyalty. Burton/Getty images; Robyn Phelps/InsiderGen Z + Great Resignation = overinflated job titles. Here's what to know:My brilliant colleague Aki Ito breaks down how some job titles have become overinflated, like "senior executive vice president." Title inflation also appeases Gen Z.

☆ Tech CEOs screwed up, and it's time to hold them accountable
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I'm Matt Weinberger, deputy editor of Insider's tech analysis team, filling in for Diamond Naga Siu. Is it time for CEOs to start losing their jobs? Ed Zitron argues for Insider that the thousands of tech workers who lost their jobs in recent months are actually just taking the fall for the real problem in Silicon Valley — CEOs who aren't up to the task of leadership. He praised the CEOs of Apple and Intel for recently taking pay cuts as their companies hit tougher times. Late Friday afternoon, a federal jury officially ruled that the Tesla CEO's infamous "funding secured" tweet didn't harm shareholders, making him not liable for damages.

☆ China's people shortage is a grim omen for the rest of the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Matt Turner | Dave Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

We're merging with our daily Insider Today newsletter, so we'll be known as the Insider Today: Sunday Edition moving forward. On the agenda today:Up first: It was a big week for tech earnings. Senior tech reporter Diamond Naga Siu, who writes our 10 Things in Tech newsletter, is here to break it all down. Apple meanwhile retained its crown as the only Big Tech giant that hasn't conducted mass layoffs within the past year. That means reining in costs, stripping back perks, and upending the office culture that's defined the world of Big Tech for so long.

☆ Leaked Amazon memo shows it only wants to hire students and new grads for entry-level software roles
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But middle managers could be the latest layoff target in tech, especially after Mark Zuckerberg's latest reported comments. Leaked Amazon memo reveals new hiring strategy. The e-commerce giant is only hiring students and new grads for entry-level software positions, per an internal note reviewed by Insider. More on Amazon's latest hiring strategy here. The latest people moves in tech:An Amazon Web Services exec who was accused of gender discrimination is leaving, according to leaked docs.

☆ TikTok's opposite approach to Instagram is winning the social media race.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

This is pretty bleak for tech workers who were living large this time last year. TikTok's algorithm takes an opposite approach with spontaneous discovery, keeping users engaged for longer — and less likely to check Instagram. This creates a Catch-22 for the company, Chris adds. Its original model successfully captured a loyal and engaged audience, but is now an outdated approach for a social media platform. The chicken spot's snaking drive-thru made it a hazard to pedestrians, so a local North Carolina city ordered its demolition.

☆ Microsoft is chill with employees using ChatGPT — just don’t share ‘sensitive data’ with it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft warned employees against sharing "sensitive data" with ChatGPT. Leaked internal communications revealed that Microsoft's CTO office told employees that using ChatGPT is fine. "Companies and employees are all scrambling to find out the exact rules around using ChatGPT for work." He added: "The interesting thing here is that Microsoft is a big partner and investor of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. In theory, Microsoft stands to gain when ChatGPT collects more data and improves its technology.

☆ The generative AI boom is bringing San Francisco’s tech scene roaring back to life
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Techies fled from San Francisco during the pandemic, and its resurgence stalled for a while. It's just south of Japantown, mere blocks from San Francisco City Hall, and north of the Mission District. Someone even said it would be "irresponsible" to not work on generative AI in San Francisco. There aren't any skeptics in the space yet, and the majority of generative AI investments land in the Bay Area. Email dsiu@insider.com or tweet @diamondnagasiu) Edited by Matt Weinberger (tweet @gamoid) in San Francisco and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.

☆ Pickleball is tech’s hottest new club. Here’s why it’s gaining popularity in Silicon Valley.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

I miss my South Brooklyn pickleball community, but hope to find a consistent place to play in San Diego. Maybe that officially makes me a woman in tech, because right now, it's the hottest club in the industry. I used to play tennis competitively, but I have so much more fun with pickleball. So if you work in tech, let's stop meeting over coffee and chat while dinking instead. These low barriers of entry, plus its social nature, make pickleball perfect for networking.

So I was super excited that my teammate Paayal Zaveri wrote about how this model could actually change soon. The market crash could finally break Big Tech's addiction to subscriptions. Paying for things with a subscription has become the norm, in our personal and work lives, Paayal Zaveri writes. That's why industry experts told me usage-based pricing, or paying for only what you use, has gained ground. Today's team: Diamond Naga Siu in San Diego, Paayal Zaveri in San Francisco, Lisa Ryan in New York, and Hallam Bullock in London.

☆ Trump's return to Instagram and Facebook could doom Truth Social
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Truth Social only just became available on Androids in October. Trump's return to social media spells doom for Truth Social. After the Capitol insurrection, former president Donald Trump was banned from a slew of social media platforms. Trump is contractually required to post on Truth Social before making the same post on another site for six hours. My colleague Beatrice Nolan breaks down the future of Truth Social and what it means for Trump's supporters.

☆ CEO Satya Nadella prepares Microsoft for an epic bounce-back
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Jumpman, jumpman, jumpman, Nadella's up to something (cloud). Microsoft reported earnings on Tuesday, and its cloud growth is slowing down. But CEO Satya Nadella shared his plan for how Microsoft can rebound with the economy. But Microsoft sees this as an opportunity to assist customers with stretching their IT dollars. Email dsiu@insider.com or tweet @diamondnagasiu) Edited by Matt Weinberger (tweet @gamoid) in San Francisco and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.

☆ Salesforce employees demand answers from execs about layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Salesforce employees demand answers. More than 500 employees wrote a letter to execs, demanding answers about the layoffs. Amazon employees told not to share confidential info with ChatGPT. Current and former employees told Insider that the social media company is shedding employees. This is what employees told us.

☆ Welcome to post-layoff Google — starting with a tense, all-hands meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But still, I would say that I work to live instead of living to work. A tense meeting at post-layoff Google. Google hosted an internal all-hands meeting on Monday — the first day back to work after cutting 12,000 people. This career coach helped Amazon and Google employees through layoffs. More than half of Alisa Cohen's clients work at Big Tech companies — some of them were laid off recently.

☆ An Apple a day could keep the layoffs away
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For many tech workers, however, this Lunar New Year was tainted with layoff anxiety. Apple is the only Big Tech company that hasn't conducted sweeping layoffs recently. Apple has long been a lone wolf among its Big Tech peers. The chart above shows how more tech workers were laid off in January 2023 than during the first half of 2022 combined. Read four of the memos in full here, from Google Chrome, Google Cloud, Google UK, and its Europe, the Middle East, and Africa offices.

☆ Google isn't just afraid of competition from ChatGPT — the giant is scared ChatGPT will kill AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A perfect example of this is the viral technology ChatGPT. ChatGPT makes a lot of people nervous (here's everything you need to know about it, BTW). Or maybe one day ChatGPT will just teach the class — that's probably part of Google's AI nightmare. If ChatGPT runs rampant, the search giant fears it could ruin AI adoption for everyone. My colleague Hasan Chowdhury breaks down how so-called generative AI — not just ChatGPT — could derail an entire sector of emerging technology.

☆ Microsoft layoffs show that no tech company is safe to work at right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

On Wednesday, Amazon started its largest round of layoffs in company history after giving employees the heads up that they were coming two weeks earlier. I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and today, we dive into why all Big Tech employees are at risk of losing their jobs. Microsoft's layoffs proves that there is no such thing as a safe tech company to work at right now. The list of tech layoffs is long: Facebook, Amazon, Meta, Twitter, Salesforce, Microsoft, and more. The SVP of People Experience and Technology sent two missives on the first official days of Amazon layoffs.

☆ This is what I want to buy from Twitter's HQ auction
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Twitter headquarters is seen in San Francisco, California, United States on October 28, 2022 Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency1. $44 billion for Twitter — going once, going twice, sold. But a 6-ft. @ symbol, office chairs, a pizza oven, and more remain on sale from the Twitter San Francisco headquarters. Corvette, Corvette, hop in an electric jet by jet. Email dsiu@insider.com or tweet @diamondnagasiu) Edited by Matt Weinberger (tweet @gamoid) in San Francisco and Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.

☆ A leaked Google memo compared it to slime mold
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Jake Swearingen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's like the start of a joke: What do Google and slime mold have in common? A lot, says a memo from an ex-Googler comparing the org to a "slime mold." (A key difference: Stanford grads aren't desperate to intern at a slime mold.) But with ChatGPT setting off alarm bells inside and outside the org, Google should probably move faster and with more intention than slime mold. The most memorable part of the memo compares Google's bottom-up organizational structure to a "slime mold," highlighting how both Google and a slime mold can work independently but still come together to solve complex problems.

☆ The contender for tech's next big boom or bubble is here
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Jake Swearingen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's the hunt for big paydays that keeps VC markets a little frothy when new tech like generative AI hits the scene. And a bubble is only a bubble in the rear-view — in the moment, it's just making sure you don't miss out on the future. Generative AI tools can be used to create a variety of texts and images like this one, which was produced by OpenAI's DALL-E 2. But could generative AI be the next bubble in tech? Click here to read whether the next tech bubble is already here.

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