First of all, I saw another article about more layoffs at Cisco and eventually found my way to this website.
Second, (after bumping into a former colleague at a grocery store in Sunnyvale), I also learned of an interesting scenario. And so, I will share it with all of you. And then I have a probability question for you.
Here is the scenario that my former college shared with me.
A friend of mine was discussing an issue with an Engineer. That Engineer happens to be an employee of a very large company (that starts with the letter "C" and ends with the letter "o" ( as in C***0 )).
During the call:
In the background, he overheard that Engineer's spouse working for a competitor (that starts with the letter "J" and ends with the letter "r" ( as in J*r). This Engineer's spouse was having a meeting on her phone with their company that starts with the letter "J" and ends with the letter "r".
I asked my colleague if this was common, he said, that in a company with around almost a hundred thousand employees there might be literally hundreds of examples of this. And there is probably literally nothing that Cisco can do about two Engineers both having a Web meeting in the same COVID safe WFH-room (while both working as competitors).
There are literally many competitors, so the possibilities get even better. Even if they are not strictly speaking competitors, this makes an interesting phenomenon, that can be exploited. If you are interested in competing against a company, and you call their spouse and get them on the phone for fifteen minutes offering them free services, etc, while recording the call (but not recommending this, just pointing out the vulnerability that should probably not exist (or should it?)). Please weigh in, in the comment section below. You decide.
Somewhere along the line something happened. Cisco did NOT used to be this way! This is why companies have so many bugs, and can be so vulnerable. I find this fascinating as a Silicon Valley Historian, of sorts.
Anyway, I promised a quiz. Here goes. What is the probability that those people (whose spouses are competing) will get laid off next week?
My former colleague and I say very close to NILL. Because Cisco is probably not even aware of this phenomena.
What say you? Let's hear your thoughts in the comment section below.