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KM Kevin Martin On Data Engineering Central

“Square, Jack Dorsey's company, laid off like 25% of their staff. He mentioned it was because of AI. And the stock went up 25% after hours. So I feel like what's actually happening is a lot of these big tech companies way overhired during COVID. They're super bloated. A lot of the people there aren't actually doing anything. And there's a free out now: you can get rid of the fat and fire people and say it's AI-driven and the stock's going to go up.”

Data Engineering Central · Software Engineering & Infra · November 2026

“Square, Jack Dorsey's company, laid off like 25% of their staff. He mentioned it was because of AI. And the stock went up 25% after hours. So I feel like what's actually happening is a lot of these big tech companies way overhired during COVID. They're super bloated. A lot of the people there aren't actually doing anything. And there's a free out now: you can get rid of the fat and fire people and say it's AI-driven and the stock's going to go up.” — Kevin Martin, Data Engineering Central

Context

Kevin, who left Apple after nearly 13 years, gives his theory of why big companies attribute layoffs to AI. The Square figures are his recollection, not checked numbers.

Transcript

Data Engineering Central
Kevin Martin

…don't have that anymore. And even if you are at the Microsoft or Facebook or whatever, like it's not a safe job anymore. And it's kind of like we're seeing this movement to everyone is their own free agent. And at any time, you might need to deploy that free agency, whether it's your choice or not.

Dan Beach

…if that's true or not, but it almost seems like it flops so much that like I would be surprised if someone like wanted to work at Meta or something, right? Just like reading the news or Amazon and be like, what if they hire me and fire me like in three weeks? Because that could probably happen.

Kevin Martin

And the craziest thing now, and I had the light bulb moment. I don't know if you remember this, but Square, Jack Dorsey's company, they laid off like 25% of their staff. He mentioned it was because of AI and all that. And the stock went up 25% after hours. So I feel like what's actually happening is a lot of these big tech companies way overhired during COVID, the COVID time. They're super bloated. A lot of the people there aren't actually doing anything. And there's a free out now. Like you can get rid of fat and fire people basically and say it's AI driven and the stock's going to go up. So to the actual employee, like you, you've, no one is safe. Like nobody is safe.

Dan Beach

Sure. Yeah. I totally agree. It's a weird world and strange world. And yeah, it's definitely changed. I think

Kevin Martin

it happened quick. Like talking about these big tech companies, like man, in 2022 and 2023, the big tech stocks were doubling and tripling. That was the place to be. And that was two years ago. So you got to adapt.

Dan Beach

That's crazy. Tell people. Neither of us are financial advisors. And this is like skipping ahead a little bit, but what would you somebody's like watching this, someone working in tech and they're sweating and going to bed every night. If you were going to give them like five bullet points of like…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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