Do we expect data engineers and software engineers to take the brunt of the layoffs? Or would AI related roles like Data scientist, ML engineer, etc. not be treated differently? I’ve heard mixed things from internal folks. Anyone have an inkling if it’ll be moreso specific IT job families or if it’ll be architects / scrum / managers as well?
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Everyone I talk to in IT also hates SAFE and wishes we could use non-Microsoft tools.
The problem is the business wants it both ways - Cheap IT AND their own custom IT solutions. The way you cut costs is by rationalizing the application and technology portfolio to support. But then BUs bi--h and moan about how they need to keep their special systems.
IT at Chevron is an impossible task led by useless incompetent leaders more concerned about politics and their next promotion than actual leadership. Little wonder the grunts are leaving as fast as they can. Business will end up with their lower cost MSP support that’s cheaper but even worse and leaders will claim success. RIP Chevron
Agree with the post below, we got a slavish devotion to Microsoft (who do not understand our industry, and don't care about it), and terrible self service tools.
IT are not interested in solving problems, they are interested in applying microsoft tools and SAFe framework, it takes fu--ing ages to deliver something that a competent software engineer could deliver in a few weeks, or a third party tool could deliver much cheaper. Mostly they are interested in App rationalization for the past few years, that's a fault of leadership. IT needs to be re-embedded in the business, with real customer satisfaction metrics. Some IT should report to engineering VPs, not corporate IT folks that are fu--ing clueless.
It's almost laughable, honestly, to see how vigorously our IT team defends their outdated, underwhelming strategy. Sure, there's a glimmer of brilliance in a few isolated spots – niche pilots here and there that showcase some shiny new technology. But when it comes to the everyday experience, it's just... terrible. IT keeps talking the talk about digital transformation – cloud, AI, robotics, data analytics – like it’s the answer to everything. But how are we actually doing on the ground? We've got poor system integration, broken workflows, and manual processes everywhere. We’re still running on Excel spreadsheets because the self-service analytics capabilities are a joke. Every day, tasks like tracking inventory, issuing work orders, or calculating downtime are painfully inefficient.
And let’s be real here – with the IT budget and the headcount they have, including all those consultants and MSPs, they should be delivering results that actually help us. Instead, all we hear are excuses, while operations are left to deal with the consequences of IT's failure to execute. We need leadership that is accountable, or else we're just going to keep picking up the slack.
BB and his team are directly responsible for the mess we’re in. Under their leadership, we’ve seen nothing but failure – poor outcomes, missed opportunities, and a constant pattern of inaction. Their inability to execute on the big promises left us stuck with broken systems and inefficient processes. The department needs a complete overhaul. We need fresh leadership, a new vision, and a team that's accountable for making things work. The current setup isn’t cutting it, and if we don’t act now, we’re going to keep falling further behind.
Look around – forget Oil & Gas, there are Tech companies out there that are far more successful, with fewer resources than our IT department. How are they pulling it off? Simple: they're spending time actually building and executing, not wasting it by hobnobbing with consultants or focusing on the next PDC. They’re delivering results, not just speeches.
Take a look at the revenue numbers:
Atlassian – $2.8 billion, 3,500 people.
Shopify – $5.6 billion, 3,500 people.
Zoom – $4.3 billion, 3,500 people.
Twilio – $3.8 billion, 3,000 people.
Dropbox – $2.1 billion, 2,500 people.
Okta – $1.5 billion, 3,000 people.
Datadog – $1.7 billion, 2,500 people.
These companies are thriving, and they have a fraction of the IT resources we do.
@2xbm you mean oh the things you can get in India for the price of an American scrum master or an agile subchapter head? You do realize that there are way fewer data scientists in the function than any other role across other chapters, and since the majority of them are horizons employees…
We have psg 25 agile subchapter heads. We have psg 23 scrum masters. You can count on one hand the number of data scientists at psg 24 and zero ML engineers at psg 24 because they’re all horizons. More than half are below that.
And again, there’s like less than 100 people across the whole company while agile has like 300 people or more and software engineering has like 1000 people.
Now tell us where the opportunities are and what the biggest bang for the buck is when you talk about shifting roles to India?
The multi cloud comment just made it sound like he only knows Google cloud and wants to use it because it’s familiar instead of learning Azure.
It’s gonna cost more money to be multi cloud. More difficult to manage and support too. D-mb d-mb idea
He said in the townhall that we are going to test out multi-cloud because companies like google have real superior data management capabilities that we need. Does he even know what that means? Has he even tried to talk to any business people to understand that data management has f-ing nothing to do with AWS or GCP or Azure?
The incompetence is real. MN or EB royally f’d up with this hire.
How incompetent is LC?! I was glad when they hired from the outside but wow LC was a poor decision. He’s got room temperature IQ.
Every role is on the chopping block. If you aren’t actively applying outside chevron, I’d start.
App Eng sounds easy and simple swap but the replacement spread on SE and data science may be too tempting to pass up. Oh the things we could get in India for the price of a few American data scientists...
I know some good POs and I know some dogshit POs. The role seems to basically be a team lead. My guess is some move offshore and some stay based on strategic important of the stuff they own
@1vuu Actually, the agile chapter on average is higher psg than the data engineering chapter. Most of our data engineers are horizons employees. We stopped university recruiting business analyst and agile roles for many years.
You’re right, there aren’t enough agile people to offset the cuts that are needed. But we aren’t cutting half of every role. App engineers and data analysts move to BA and Manila and India.
Software engineering and data engineering will not be cut as much as the other roles.
What about POs? Especially the ones with technical / domain knowledge? Do you all think they are on the chopping block too?
@1vuu They are targeting a specific amount. A SM isn't earning near what a Data Engineer or SE make. Again, not enough Agile people to buffer the storm.
@1ptv. No, the roles aren’t going to ENGINE because it’s useless in the US and in ENGINE. If LC is being asked to cut 50% in the US, do you think he’s getting rid of a dev or the scrum master who’s starting the teams meetings and facilitating it with no business knowledge?
People have already heard many XLT members being creative like making architects play that RTE role. With the consolidation of platforms, you can also bet on fewer APM roles, too. Good luck to all.
Everyone hates SAFe...then before everyone hated CPDEP. The king is dead.....long live the king.
Love how everyone thinks the Agile chapter cuts can buffer and protect the rest of you. Do you see one Agile role being posted in ENGINE? Keep dreaming folks...you are on the chopping block too.
The phone wipe snafu was caused by an India-based msp. Do we expect any different from engine?
No, each job family will not be equally cut.
There are some roles that will remain important in the US. data engineers, software engineers, data science and machine learning engineers won’t get cut as much. Scrum masters are most out of all the roles. PL architects, SCHs with more technical understanding or the business domain understanding will effectively replace the RTE as well.
Depending on the platform and how much the work is shifted to Manila, Buenos Aires, and Bangalore, the data analysts and application engineers may or may not stay.
If you’re a US BU co-located employee (aka BU IT before 2020), I would go ahead and start applying for jobs unless you can move to Houston for the role you are doing in Bakersfield, Midland, Greeley, or Covington because those IT roles are likely done for.
Could some of the ineffective leads and managers under RS be replaced by AI? It might be the only way to fix our broken network and underperforming SD. Our infrastructure is a joke—connecting to Teams from the office is hit or miss, and using a Bluetooth headset without glitches is a rare occurrence. To make matters worse, these "intellectuals" somehow managed to wipe my phone (along with many others) and lose important data. At this point, I'd take AI or even aliens over this motley crew, and God only knows who from ENGINE.
Plssss all scrum type stuff lol
Hopefully they cut any role associated with SAFE. Massive waste of money and only serves to slow everyone else down.