The Impact of The Markets on Your Job

So Alex, have you heard of the FTX news recently? Yes, they got acquired, or they got bankrupt, or they acquired someone? What was the detail? They hopefully get acquired in order to not get bankrupt, but I thought it's maybe a good starting point for today because millions of people lost their money. I mean, you know, I'm not a crypto master, so tell me more. Well, I mean, yeah, so I mean, it's not about crypto mastership. I have to say the only thing I've seen, shout out to TLDR, the newsletter, the only thing that I've seen was the offer, or what they would propose for the acquisition, which was something like 30 billion. Yeah, I mean, so what was happening, I mean, it's not only to them, but many crypto currencies, etc. are, marketplaces are struggling right now with liquidity issues. And especially right now after the FTX issue, because people want to save their money, right? So what they're doing is that they're selling their coins, or not only the coins, but also taking the cash back from the exchanges, and that causes a lot of stress. But I was just thinking, I mean, I'm just wondering, how can that happen? And also from a user perspective, I mean, you're trusting a product, right, to host your money and to make sure it's safe. But then on the other hand, later on, you realize, oh, wow, this company is registered on the Bahamas. Wow, what a coincidence. And now money gets lost. But I mean, isn't that the problem that currently a lot of the tech problems have, right? Because I think most business models are built on a functioning economy, no crisises, no inflations, no market downturns, and so on, right? The second these things happen, right, like no exchange is prepared for a mass sell. They grew over time, the growth was, I mean, there was more people actually getting into crypto than getting out or wanting actual fiat currencies. And I think that's pretty much what is currently like fucking up a lot of the companies. If people want out at the same time, that's an issue, right? And I think that's just like none of those companies probably started with the idea that they need to be prepared for such a case. And it would like without wanting to go that far, but it's really just like my personal assumption. I also don't think they ever like really cared, or it's also not that they care beyond the fact that they obviously would go bankrupt. The fact that they don't have the cash and that users, I mean, at the end, it's the user who loses the most, right? Also, if they go bankrupt, like I'm not sure like what they would ever get out of a final bankruptcy case. I mean, generally speaking, the money should be safe, right? So they should be prepared when people are taking back their money, because they're not supposed to do anything with it. But one problem we have, I'm not sure if we talked about it, but in one of our first episodes, if you remember with Liam, we talked about crypto and all that kind of stuff. One point that was always on top of the crypto head thingy is no regulations, right? So one big problem that we see right now is that regulations are missing, especially on the crypto space. And especially on those companies that are registered on little islands with, I don't know, very weird business models and stuff like that. So yeah, that's an issue. It's not like a bank, right, where they have like a general insurance on like those 100K. If they have more than that, you're still fucked. But at least those 100K are safe for everyone. That's because of public regulation. But you also mentioned that the tech space is generally under heavy stress right now. And yeah, unfortunately it becomes, I mean, every week there are new news on big companies who are doing massive layoffs. And we've talked about it as well, but I still think, I mean, this topic is out there, right? I mean, this is not like something that is not happening. It is real and it's happening. And I think it's on one hand, it's needed. But on the other hand, I'm also getting concerned, you know, because so many people, yeah, start losing their jobs at the moment. Yeah. And I mean, I think it's by now outdated, right? But I mean, you have Apple who's not hiring anymore until September next year. I mean, Twitter, okay, Elon Musk. It's just Elon Musk. The T in Twitter stands for trolling. But you have like half the company gone. You have Facebook who cut, what was it, 11,000 people already a couple of weeks ago. I mean, I'm not sure if we talked about this in the podcast or privately over beers, but definitely like there was a bubble or there is a bubble around the tech space. Everyone was recruiting endlessly. It was all about growth. A lot of company went like mess into hiring people. And suddenly people are being let go, right? So a lot of these people will get back to the market. I think competition will be higher. It will also have an impact on a lot of the problems that we talked about in previous episodes of people asking crazy amounts of crazy salaries for junior roles without even having experience or coming from a bootcamp, right? I think like now that we have, it almost sounds bad, but now that we have like a healthier competition again in the market, I think that also that will balance some of these issues that we've seen a little bit more, right? Because I mean, it was just crazy how every company had like hundreds of thousands of roles depending on the size open and they kept trying to pull people in from all over the world. I mean, that's the downside of cheap money, right? I mean, if money is cheap, investors are throwing it out for everyone and everything with the results that, yeah, something like that happens. And I'm not only meaning that every startup is just funded by cheap money and is maybe not a good company, but you know, if you have too much money, you tend to solve problems with man and woman power, but not with really thinking about it. So I was just thinking right now, I believe that it's, and I'm not the biggest fan of the word personal development anymore, but I think especially if you are right now looking out for a job, it's more important than ever to work on your personal skill set. But yeah, and I was about to say, right, I think probably a lot of people are wondering what to do next or what now, right, especially, I mean, let's say you're one of those juniors with little to no experience and suddenly you have a lot of like competition from people coming from the big tech companies, like, how do you approach it now? And I think bootcamp, right? Yeah. I mean, honestly, probably some companies will jump on cheaper workforces. That's something that definitely will change the overall expectation around salaries. Because again, you have more expensive people coming to the market, you have less experienced people, less experienced people start asking less money because they're kind of forced to and that automatically inflates the salaries again. Or I think I used inflation in the wrong. Yeah, but we know what you mean. I mean, yes, salary, the salary numbers will decrease. I mean, let's hope not our salaries. Well, I'm self-employed, but I have other challenges right now. So again, I think right now, I mean, you just said, I mean, if you are a junior person and the market gets flooded with other competitors, but I mean, even if you're a senior, right, I mean, there is still the same challenge, right? I mean, if you used to work for a small company in Berlin or somewhere else and you have now all this high-skilled Meta, Microsoft, Apple people you need to compete against, I mean, I believe it doesn't matter where you have worked. It's more about what you're capable of and what your intrinsic motivation is and what you want to bring to the job and bring to the company. But yeah, I mean, still there are also companies who are looking just for titles and names. But if you find a company like that, you don't want to work for them. So move on and let it go. Maybe this is also a good point in time to have a very honest conversation of, at least, I mean, I can share my perception, but of what I think happened also a bit in the last couple of years, right, which was something that to some extent was affecting or bothering me in a way. We're still both lucky to be quite young, but still, I think we've seen work environments for quite some time and, I mean, even different kinds of work environments, right? For me, it was like from working in a small studio to agencies to startups and bigger tech companies. For you, it was starting in a bakery, like actual craftsmanship, right? I mean, I think over the years, work changed. Then COVID came. It also changed how people worked. People started working from home. Everything has become way more hybrid. And I've also seen a lot of priorities shift for people, right? There was easy money for the companies, cheap money. They could hire a lot, grow a lot. You had a ton of people in the companies, sometimes not even a lot of control of what people would be doing. I think overall, I would say that efficiency also dropped, right? People got very comfortable in their places. It was extremely easy to jump from one job to the other, to find a job or to keep a job. It was extremely easy to ask for a lot of things. We touched on salaries, but it's not only salaries. It's also about the time and so on. In my team, in our company, we started asking people to get back to the office. Not full, like still a hybrid model, but to get more face time with people to foster collaboration. And we talked about that. But the reactions showed me that people are extremely comfortable. Suddenly people start asking you, okay, what about the time that I spent on the train? I want to have that back. What about the money I spent for a train ticket? Things that were extremely normal for me when I started my career, right? I commuted an hour to work when I lived in Munich. Work was kind of a priority. And I feel like also within the teams that I worked, people were also really more willing to push more and to go the extra mile, which automatically also helped the company more and overall gave me more satisfaction because I knew we were changing things. With more comfortable people and dropping efficiency and so on, this was also a negative effect, right? And while I think it's good for people to shift their priorities and reprioritize and so on, I'm still someone who A, enjoys working and for whom work plays a really big role. And sometimes I saw a bit of a conflict there. And I always like to think of the triangle or the pyramid of needs, Mosloff, if I'm not mistaken. And I think it's like, yeah, I mean, if your basic needs like food and water are covered, your needs start to change, right? And I feel like now we're probably going to shift a little bit more back up because people need to fight more for the jobs. They need to do more for the jobs and in order to pay the rent. And I think overall, it could also lead to people generally being again, more motivated at their jobs, which could also help us again, focus a little bit more on productivity and get more out of the companies with a smaller workforce. I already see a lot of people killing me for the things that I'm saying here. Well, I mean, I see where you're coming from. And I see also where you want to be. But one thing that I have just noticed recently is, I mean, recently, especially within the last two years, is that ethics have changed a lot, right? I mean, the values for people and how they approach work-life balance and jobs in general has changed a lot. I mean, let's, I mean, if we want to take one very extreme, we can look at Gen Z, right? Who is willing to save the world, who is very on the train of sustainability and asks the question, why are we doing this? And it's looking for purpose. And I see this more and more rising up on all levels, not only on the younger people. But I mean, you see like this whole discussions around gender equality is, I mean, it was always there, but it's stronger than ever. And I think it's needed. So there's a lot of change happening right now. And I'm not sure if you will go back to the old state, but I think that's rather something new developing right now with more consciousness, more sustainability, but also, how can I say it? I mean, it's important that people, I believe, I mean, at least that's the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing. People want to have purpose in life. And I think it's more and more important to connect that with your day-to-day business slash your job in order to be fulfilled. And in order to be able to find that, you need to look out, test more, and yeah, also challenge more the other side to make sure that you find the right thing. Yeah. But that's a trend that I believe is right now emerging. Let me be extremely controversial. Go for it. I think it's great to have more purpose. And I think everything that I was talking about in terms of pushing more is not conflicting with that, right? Because you can push for your principles. You can work harder to make a change. I honestly feel like with the comfort and especially, I mean, you mentioned Gen Z, but there is also new generations that haven't been used to what was there before. They kind of started working in a time of like COVID, where everything was easier, where you've been working from home and so on and so forth. I think that often this whole discussion of purpose and so on might have been used as an excuse for laziness to some extent, because like, okay, push for the change, work on it, have an impact. And I think to have an impact, you need to work harder and you need to go that extra mile, right? Like, just by saying no, I'm upset, because that won't bring you further. It's important to realize that you are the change and I'm 100% with you. I mean, we need to understand, or I would like to just point it out again, I mean, work is not a pony farm, right? So business is business and business requires tough decisions, especially in these times. So that doesn't mean that a certain level of consciousness can be added on top of what the business world is doing right now. I'm not saying that, but I fully agree with you. People also need to understand that when I do my job, I do my job. And it's great to have a purpose. It's great to be fulfilled. It's great to do something for the bigger picture, the world and whatever you believe in. But as you said, it requires work. It's not like that you go there and you're just sitting on your beanbag drinking cold brew coffee and everything is fine. That's 100% not the case. It requires to work. But I'm rather looking at finding the right matches, because we see more and more that employers are getting unhappy with their employees and vice versa. Employees looking for something new because they don't feel appreciated, etc. anymore, because the values of both parties are so different. And I see right now a readjustment in the different values. And that's also why I believe many people are switching jobs right now or try to switch. And some people are also getting forced to switch. And don't get me wrong, we can also link it in, right? We have a whole episode on ethics and the importance of ethics and the importance that an employee plays in making sure that a company works in an ethical way, right? Because yes, business is business, but it cannot come at the cost of the users. As a designer, user centricity is the most important thing for me. It's not so much important what the short term value of something for the company is, it's more important to generate actual user value, which I still believe is the one thing that will help your company survive. But then again, if you push for ethics, and if you push for a certain purpose, I just think, and I've seen it, it has often been like an excuse, especially the whole mental health topic, where, if you use that as an excuse to have more free time, you're also not helping yourself in pushing a purpose further. If you're generally kind of demotivated, because you see the lack of purpose, and you don't work on driving that, that will also not bring you further, right? I mean, you know me, work for me is important. I don't see it as like, there is work, and there is free time. I mean, it gets blurry for me a little bit. But I think that's what makes it fun for me. Yeah. I think it was episode 63, by the way, where we raised the question if tech is getting unethical. But yeah, I fully agree with you. I mean, honestly, I think there is a point, right? You cannot use it as an excuse. And as you also said, if you think or if you are unhappy, or if you want to see some change, you are to change. So change job, talk to your boss, start initiatives, start campaigns, but it needs to be done by someone. And if it's not you, who else will it be? But I'm really curious to hear a little bit more reactions. I know I'm often very black and white on these topics. Some might say, some call me workaholic, some call me an asshole, I don't know. But yeah. I call you sweetheart. Thank you. Well, you know, a hello at product-bakery.com, let us know or make a post on LinkedIn. Absolutely. And with that, Christian, we talk soon. Nice talking to you, Alex. And have a nice evening. Bye bye.