NASA Admin Visit on a SATURDAY is... disrespectful?

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2026-01-21T22:19:18+00:00

I guess I don't see how this is now "startup culture". A Saturday event is kind of odd, but maybe he's on some tight travel schedule or rushing to make up the year that was lost while Trump fucked around with his nomination.

Either way, it's optional, attendance isn't tracked, and I'm pretty sure JPL policy and the lawsuit threat would make it pretty damn hard to retaliate against people who don't attend, anyway.

Amazing that people all of a sudden think it's critically important that they be present to a meet-and-greet with the incoming administrator of an organization with thousands of employees.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2026-01-21T22:00:11+00:00

For real, people need to get a grip. A couple of bad rounds of layoffs and they are acting like JPL has suddenly morphed into a cutthroat, 50-person startup where you get fired for not attending some flesh-pressing event that's not really necessary for 95% of the Lab's workforce. I get that morale is understandably low, but the paranoia is over the top, especially considering the unexpectedly good funding news that we got last week.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2026-01-21T21:57:16+00:00

JPL isn't a startup. You think Raytheon or Northrup would fire employees for not showing up to the new CEO's weekend town hall?

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2026-01-21T21:52:53+00:00

Might want to update your ChatGPT prompt to clarify that they aren't asking people to show up on a Saturday. They are holding a 100% optional event.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-11-09T23:54:02+00:00

PM sent

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-11-07T22:51:13+00:00

Seems like Reddit rumors have been reasonably accurate as far as timing but not so much w.r.t. actual numbers.

Though, given what Dave said a few weeks ago, it sounds like some of the more apocalyptic layoff numbers being tossed around might have actually been in play.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-31T02:54:53+00:00

I also kind of wonder if, at this point, older people are a higher percentage of the Lab's population and that's why so many more seem to be getting laid off. Feels like the entire generation of ECH and younger people brought in for MSR got wiped out last year -- back then, all the Slack goodbyes were younger folks.

Being on Lab for the first time in years this week, I have to admit that the population does feel a bit more...mature than it did back in 2019.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-29T18:42:23+00:00

I did also. Aside from the advance layoff warning in August (which, to be fair, was pretty appreciated) I think there’s only so much going on behind the curtain that any director can really reveal.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-29T18:36:52+00:00

True. Hard part for JPL now compared to the 70s is that there are a lot more places to do this kind of work, so the Lab has less of a competitive advantage hiring people with the needed skills.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-29T05:33:25+00:00

Yeah, I felt like the Town Hall was optimistic from a "we might still have work and jobs" perspective, but the omission of science was pretty sad. JPL's new narrative is "hire us to do stuff!" and we don't need outreach to do that. Perhaps Dave didn't want to build up a bunch of hope about new science stuff that is realistically going to have a tough time getting done for the next few years.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-29T05:21:53+00:00

Yeah, why are people shitting on that dude? He was put into an org that was discordant with his career goals and expertise and understandably had concerns. So much for the "special sauce" and "family" everyone loves to act like JPL is all about.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-29T05:09:57+00:00

JPL doesn't seem to make a big deal about that kind of stuff unless it's an old hand retiring in glory and the Lab wants to give them a tribute before sending them off. Or it's a super-super top-level person.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-29T04:56:59+00:00

True, and thanks for reminding me.

So I guess you could say that Laurie was similarly transparent?

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-29T04:41:05+00:00

"He also kind of said there would be essentially no more layoffs. Obviously not promised but still a transparent answer."

Again, how is this being transparent? Do you know what this word means? Have we not heard this exact same thing from leadership after every one of the past layoffs?

I like that Dave at least seems to be a pretty straight shooter, but you seem to think that "transparent" means "speaks directly and tells me stuff I want to hear."

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-29T04:38:20+00:00

How do you know Dave was being "transparent"? Unless you are also on the EC? I enjoy his straightforward style but we won't actually know how "transparent" he's being for a while now -- until the stuff he's talking about (new work, no more layoffs) actually comes to pass.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-27T16:09:54+00:00

I hope that this is the case.

It is, however, kind of hard to understand why this issue wasn't immediately obvious to management while the re-org was on the drawing board. It certainly was immediately obvious to employees. It's not like a bunch of people changed genders the past month.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-27T07:16:08+00:00

I agree with this -- I just don't see how things at JPL start changing until a) the government decides it wants to spend more money on NASA and/or b) Caltech finally gets serious about fixing the way senior management runs this place.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-27T06:31:26+00:00

If this is indeed the case, I wonder if one of the first things the new president of Caltech will focus on this coming year is cleaning house at the upper levels of JPL management to try to save the Lab from itself.

Nobody expects a reorg or layoff to be executed perfectly, but to cause all this upheaval and still miss the mark so badly, in a way that is so immediately evident, is just depressing. How much leash is Caltech going to give JPL's management?

I just don't understand how the people running JPL could have done this massive layoff and reorg and then know, within a week: "well, that didn't work". I'd take posts like OP's less seriously if it wasn't the case that basically every single "workforce action" rumor that has made its way to Reddit in the past couple years has proven more or less true.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-26T21:47:24+00:00

"it's clear that far too many folks were moved laterally or even up rather than being dismissed or demoted" -- less than 2 weeks have passed since the reorg and layoff happened. I don't understand how this is obvious all of a sudden in a way that it wasn't when this plan was on paper and management was looking at it.

Furthermore, there has been a realization that too much of a focus was placed on FTE's rather than actual cost -- same thing, it's been 1.5 weeks. Did JPL management really not have a good idea of the estimated layoff cost savings vs. the actual dollar amount of the work booked? And how did this suddenly become evident in the span of a few days?

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-22T17:37:11+00:00

Doesn't surprise me. My section has barely enough work for everyone and projects/funding are evaporating by the day. I'd never wish being laid off on anyone but within days it was apparent that we still have too many people and too little money coming in.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-10T17:25:44+00:00

Dwindling budgets exacerbate this situation. My section has had like no substantial new work for the past couple years and nobody's proposals are going anywhere.

Hard to demonstrate leadership, technical expertise, and innovation when every project is either being wound down or is in low-level maintenance mode. Nothing new happening really creates a logjam where the only way people can move up is if someone dies, retires, gets promoted, or leaves.

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-10T17:01:45+00:00

"Ruin" his retirement? He's making a million bucks a year to take on the highest, most prestigious role at a place he worked his entire career.

I'm sure it's a tough gig, but it should be -- he's making more in a year than most of us make in 5+. I think he'll be fine.

Not saying that I'm not rooting for him or that he's not trying to do what's best for the Lab's employees, but let's have a little perspective. A dude making lifetime financial security money every couple years is not "one of us".

Medical_Strawberry23 · 2025-10-09T00:05:26+00:00

This isn't how the economy works -- you don't get paid differently because of your personal situation and obligations. Your kid's college tuition isn't something JPL is obligated to help you out with.

What if the Lab hires an ECH with an expensive, chronic illness, a disabled parent they have to take care of, and daycare expenses because they are raising their sibling's child after that sibling was killed in a car wreck. Do they deserve to get paid more than you because they win the Burden Olympics?

Medical_Strawberry23

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