Apr 30, 2024 10:40:00

Google fires some employees from Flutter, Dart, and Python development teams

Google laid off some engineers working on

the Flutter , Dart , and Python teams in April 2024. According to Google, the reason for the layoffs is organizational restructuring.

Google lays off staff from Flutter, Dart and Python teams weeks before its developer conference | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/29/google-lays-off-staff-from-flutter-dart-python-weeks-before-its-developer-conference/

Google layoffs hit Python and Flutter teams • The Register
https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/29/google_python_flutter_layoffs/

Google confirmed to TechCrunch that it had laid off employees, but did not disclose the specific teams, roles, or numbers of people who were laid off.

However, on the internet message board Reddit, some have said that 'those on the Python team who were targeted for firing were people who managed the internal Python runtime and toolchain and worked on OSS Python, including several current and former core developers and steering council members.'

Hacker News reported that Google's Python team had fewer than 10 engineers working on maintaining the tools, developing a type checker, and acting as a help desk for Python users.

'Throughout the second half of 2023 and into 2024, we're working to improve the efficiency of many of our teams to better optimize our priorities,' said Google spokesperson Alex Garcia-Kumart. 'As we do this, we're removing layers of work, optimizing resources and simplifying our structure to give employees more opportunities to work on our most innovative, important advancements and biggest priorities.'

Kumat also said the layoffs were not company-wide, but were part of a normal business restructuring, and that the engineers who were laid off were given the opportunity to apply for positions elsewhere in the company.

'This cutback impacted many of our teams. A lot of great people got bad news, and a lot of great projects lost valuable talent,' said Kevin Moore, product manager for the Flutter and Dart teams. He revealed that the cutbacks also affected the Flutter and Dart teams.

Hey folks! Kevin, product manager on Flutter and Dart here.

The layoffs were decided at the very least, at a couple of layers above our team, and a LOT of teams were affected. (I think I can say that). Lots of good people got bad news and lots of great projects lost people.

— kevmoo (@kevmoo) April 27, 2024

'We are over the loss of our teammates and remain fully committed to I/O and other activities,' Moore said.

We're sad, but still cranking on hard on I/O and beyond.

We know ya'll care SO MUCH about the project, the team, and the awesome ecosystem we've built together.

You're nervous. I get it. We get it.

You're betting on Flutter and Dart.

So am I. So is Google.

— kevmoo (@kevmoo) April 27, 2024

'I'm sad to see so many of the engineers I worked with directly, including my boss, being let go,' said Thomas Wouters of the Python Steering Committee. 'However, Google didn't completely eliminate the Python team; they replaced it with another team based in Munich, Germany. The people who were let go were engineers who were not happy with that decision.'