GitHub, the popular open-source developer platform owned by Microsoft, has reportedly laid off its entire engineering team in India. The move has come as a surprise to many, given that India is the platform’s second-largest developer community after the United States. It is estimated that the company has let go of around 100 engineers in India.
The news was first shared by Gergely Orosz, a tech writer who tracks global tech layoffs, on Twitter. According to him, the layoff was a part of the reorganisation plan that was announced in February. The spokesperson for GitHub has confirmed the job cuts and said that they were part of the difficult but necessary decisions to protect the health of the business in the short term and invest in long-term strategies.
GitHub has recently reached 100 million members globally and is growing fast in India, with over 10 million developers. This raises the question of why the company has chosen to lay off its entire engineering team in India, especially when the cost of labour is cheaper than the US and the EU. Orosz has speculated that the India team may not have been at the critical size and may not have owned core things.
The move has surprised many in the tech industry, as layoffs in India are generally considered to be less likely due to the country’s lower cost of labour. However, as Orosz has pointed out, the fact that the India team did not own core things may have made it easier for the company to make this decision.
GitHub’s CEO, Thomas Dohmke, had earlier announced that the company was laying off 10% of its workforce through the end of the fiscal year. In an email to employees, he had emphasised the need for sustained growth and becoming the developer-first engineering system for the world of tomorrow.
In conclusion, the layoff of GitHub’s entire engineering team in India has come as a surprise to many in the tech industry. While the company has cited the need to protect the health of its business in the short term and invest in long-term strategies, the move has raised questions about the factors that led to this decision. It remains to be seen how this move will impact GitHub’s growth and future plans.
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