from Hacker News

Autodesk to lay off 1,150 as company restructures

by zaius on 11/29/17, 12:50 AM with 3 comments

• by hiram112 on 11/29/17, 9:45 AM

  So it appears that in just the last 5 years, Autodesk, Inc. has sponsored over 500 H1B visas.

  The majority of these sponsored positions are in the Bay Area, with its high cost of living; a median salary of about $100K for software engineers is definitely appropriate and the prevailing wage for such uber-talent which they searched high and low for in the US, but simply could not find. /s

  I'm assuming that of the 1000+ workers to be laid off, the majority of these 500+ H1Bs will be included. Though I won't hold my breath.

  If Autodesk truly has a need for such hard-to-find talent, they're in luck: the O-1 Visa was made for just this.

  * http://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=Autodesk+Inc&job=&city=&yea...

  * https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-worker...

• by googletazer on 11/29/17, 4:32 PM

  Autodesk is stuck in the past - 3Ds Max still costs too much. So does Autocad. Epic saw the writing on the wall and made Unreal Engine royalty based (and if you don't make over the cutoff - free). They also got competitors that are better then them in specialized tasks - ZBrush, etc...

  Stuck in the past and cutting headcount - Autodesk is circling the drain. Good comment on HB1s as well in the thread too.

• by gt_ on 11/29/17, 9:36 AM

  Every time this happens, I have a hard time going to sleep. I don’t understand what the actual problem is. I mean, I see them undertaking strange initiatives all the time. It is probably the most strange company I have ever followed. But, nobody seems to have much idea of what the root cause is.

  Just please don’t cut 3ds Max. Oh, what’s the use? They’re going to cut 3ds Max.