Ahead of Google's annual I/O developer conference in May, Google has laid off employees from key teams including Flutter, Dart, and Python, according to reports from affected employees shared on social media. Google confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch, but did not confirm the specific teams, roles or number of people laid off.
“As we’ve said, we’re investing responsibly in the company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities that lie ahead,” said Google spokesperson Alex García-Kummert. “To best position ourselves for these opportunities in the second half of 2023 and into 2024, we have made changes across many of our teams to increase efficiency and work more effectively, eliminate layers, and align resources with our biggest product priorities. “By doing this, we are giving our employees more opportunities to work on the most innovative and important developments and the company’s biggest priorities, while simplifying our structure to reduce bureaucracy and hierarchy,” he added.
The company made it clear that these layoffs were not company-wide, but rather a reorganization that was part of the normal business process. Affected employees were told they would be able to apply for other open positions at Google.
in oneA PM at Flutter and Dart said the layoffs had affected “a lot of our team” and that “we've lost people from a lot of great projects.”
“It’s sad, but we’re still hard at work on I/O and beyond,” Google PM Kevin Moore told the Flutter development community on Reddit, adding that Flutter and Dart were no more or less affected than other teams. “We know you will be very interested in the project, the team, and the amazing ecosystem we have built together. You are nervous. All right. We get it. You are betting on Flutter and Dart. “It’s the same for me and it’s the same for Google,” he said.
Google also told TechCrunch that Flutter will have new updates to share at I/O this year.
In a separate post on Reddit, another commenter noted that the Python team affected by the layoffs was the one that managed the internal Python runtime and toolchain and worked with OSS Python. The group includes “several current and former key developers and steering committee members,” they said.
Meanwhile, others commented on Y Combinator's Hacker News, where members of the Python team detailed their specific duties in technical terms and noted that for many years, most of the work had been done with a workforce of fewer than 10 people. Another Hacker News commenter said that the Python team spent its early years paying off internal technical debt that had accumulated due to not having a strong Python strategy in place.
“[D]Despite being understaffed, we had managers who were very good at maintaining work-life balance and maintaining a ‘marathon, not sprint’ approach to work. “As I said in other comments, it’s the best job I’ve ever had, and I will miss it deeply,” he wrote.
“Python was one of the first languages to become widely used at Google. It was the last major backend language to have a language team,” user gpshead also said.
Some of Google's layoffs may have been confirmed in a WARN notice filed April 24, although Google did not detail the headcount. WARN, or the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, requires employers with more than 100 employees to provide 60-day notice prior to layoff. In the filing, Google said it was laying off a total of 50 employees across three locations in Sunnyvale.
CNBC reported that a total of 200 people were laid off from Google's “core” team, including people working in Python, app platforms, and other engineering roles. Citing internal documents, it said some jobs were being moved to India and Mexico.
Commenters on social media raised concerns about Python's dismissal, especially given the role Python tools play in AI. However, others have pointed out that Google has not eliminated the Python team. It replaced that team with another Munich-based group, at least according to Python steering committee member Thomas Wouters in a post on Mastodon last Thursday.
“It’s a difficult day for everyone who works directly with us, including our managers, to be laid off. sorry. 'Their role has been reduced.' They were then asked to bring in replacements, and people were soon told to take on those same roles. “Other countries are no longer happy about it,” he said.
Google said it would support all affected employees by giving them time to find a range of roles at Google or elsewhere based on local requirements and providing them with access to outplacement services and redundancy services.
Article originally published on April 29, 2024 at 11:32 AM PT. Updated with new information from CNBC as of May 1, 2024, 1:55 PM ET.