Thread regarding Charles Schwab Corp. layoffs

@jc your emdash is showing

@2h2 omg. I know who this is. And that's hysterical.

@2ej PicNick. Almost too arrogant to fit in with the other arrogants.

made architecture governance ineffective

Then fix it! Don’t blame the business for making money.

@2ef Who was the SF STS guy with the hair years ago who said no to Docker and wanted to move all db to Mongo? STS needs to go.

@2d7 hysterical and you likely really really believe all that too. No. Look at SCS and security tools. Tools to manage tools. New tools because a vendor took someone to dinner. Just one STS group. Tiny, Says, Menace aren't leaders. you're likely STS and don't see why cloud should have reduced central IT. Instead cloud became years of planning that fell apart on the first, second, third and fourth attempts. Why didn't we deploy Kubernetes? Spring and PCF were such great strategies. now we have many data halls and a huge Broadcom bill. lol.

Schwab’s STS business unit is complex due to supporting business unit requirements and strategy, that has overcome and made architecture governance ineffective. This is why there is a plethora of tools, integrations, infrastructure, etc. The governance assists with standards but that’s about it. Business drives pretty much tech decisions and this is what needs to be halted/governed. Still meet business unit needs, yet in a controlled architecture model… the days of the Wild West and buy whatever you want and do RFPs in Silos should be ended and tech needs some solid CTO/Governance players it doesn’t have right now. This is 100% why Schwabs tech spend is out of control…. The hiring is due to support required FOR the business that’s gotten outta hand with tech spend. Business/EC needs a tech plan and needs to start listening to the STS leadership.

@jc what about linux? Isnt that side not as bad? My team doesnt have to do anything for patching.

The whole tech stack at Schwab is complex. The next CIO and CTO have their work cut out for them. Old systems and processes, actual tech debt, and unclear technical direction. Four years in and just now starting to understand how deep the rabbit hole goes.

100% - Just Win Baby - Al Davis - NFL Oakland Raiders former owner.

Ha AI at Schwab. What a Joke. Why don't you fix your d-mb website first at the least center your d-mb content then we can talk about AI. Oh wait my leaders know nothing about tech finance or anything for that matter they just ask what's the status. lol

@jc IaaS. I Always Architect Servers. We are so overbuilt.

Yes, we run mainframes—stalwart beasts from a pre-cloud era—but AI can help modernize them without a heart transplant. AI-assisted COBOL-to-Java migration tools and intelligent code refactoring engines can reduce our dependence on aging skillsets and closed ecosystems. AI doesn’t blink at legacy; it reads, translates, and refactors with no judgment.

Our Windows Server squad loves their patch cycles and their reboot schedules. But AI-based monitoring and self-healing agents can dramatically reduce the "click-next-next-finish" fatigue, automating updates, predicting outages, and proactively securing environments—before another RDP session begins.

The IaaS folks in wrap-around sunglasses? Let’s be real—they deploy VMs like it’s still 2011. But AI ops platforms can identify underused infrastructure, optimize scaling policies, and even recommend workload containerization strategies. They can still wear their sunglasses... now with dashboards that tell them how to save 40% on cloud spend.

Our platform team, who treat vendors like oracles? AI can help them write their own prophecy. LLMs and AI copilots can demystify Kubernetes configurations, automate Helm chart generation, and troubleshoot service mesh nightmares without needing to open another $50k support ticket.

And finally, the network team—our resident attitude champions. AI-powered network observability and anomaly detection can preempt their “I told you so” moments by diagnosing issues before they need to step in. Think of it as a peace treaty brokered by machine learning.

Unless some is making money in kickback and commission from AI which means Actually INDIAN

We run mainframes, windows servers, have IaaS people who think .NET is awesome, as well as wrap-around sunglasses. Do not forget our impeccable platform team that relies on vendors to tell them how to run containers, or the network team who have always been better than you and make sure you know it with plenty of attitude.

THIS is our technology team. Of course we will be successful. Who needs AI.

@fj Just like they hired Andy to be in charge of cloud.

Didn’t they just hire an ex McKinsey to be in charge of AI?
Like last week.

We don’t even let new clients upload documents without an account. They can fax them in though… we also still have BlueZone… Schwab doesn’t give a sh-t about technology… in the same way they don’t give a sh-t about their frontline workers.

It should be clear by now that every reduction in headcount technology doubles the required headcount.

This high overview

+----------------------+
| User/Employee Query |
+----------+-----------+
|
v
+-----------+------------+
| Integrated AI Platform |
| (ChatGPT / OpenAI / |
| Olamo / GitHub Copilot)|
+-----------+------------+
|
+--------------------+----------------------+
| | |
v v v
+--------------+ +------------------+ +------------------------+
| Internal Code| | Internal Docs | | Public Docs (OpenAPI, |
| Integration | | Integration | | vendor, GitHub, etc.) |
+--------------+ +------------------+ +------------------------+
  | /
  v /
+------------------+--------------------+
|
v
+--------------+--------------+
| AI Processes Query Context |
| (Code, Docs, Tools, UX) |
+--------------+--------------+
|
+---------------+----------------+
| |
v v
+-----------------------+ +----------------------------+
| Direct Response via | | Deferred Response via |
| Chat (Instant, Common)| | Internal Follow-Up / R&D |
+-----------------------+ +----------------------------+
  /
  /
+------------+----------------+
|
v
+------------+--------------+
| User Gets Helpful Answer |
+------------+--------------+
|
v
+---------------+-----------------+
| 75% Reduction in Support Staff |
+----------------------------------+

By leveraging general AI platforms such as ChatGPT, OpenAI, and Olamo, we have significantly reduced the need for a large support team. Here's what we implemented outside of Schwab:

Integrated our codebase with one of the AI systems.

Connected our internal documentation to the AI system.

Linked publicly available documentation to the AI.

Used OpenAI and GitHub Copilot to generate user-friendly and context-aware responses.

Some responses were delivered instantly via chat, while others required internal research before being provided.

This approach helped us reduce the need for product, tool, and application support staff by approximately 75%. If Schwab is interested, a similar workflow can be adopted to achieve comparable results

Once they implement AI they will just do mass layoffs like everyone else

apart and a part have two different meanings - @a1+1jzkp6n3z - better check A1 on that

They are all interested in surviving and milking the cash cow as long as they can. They do not care about positioning for the future. They manage risks, current risks, and this is not on the radar for now so they can afford to lag. By the time it catches up with them they will be so wealthy nothing will matter for them. You care, they are mercenaries

would it be funny or foul if Schwabs execs were found to not be using AI and still stuck in their 2002 way of doing things? Almost positive the new ideas lacked ai the past year and it’s started to show as other companies are shining with their talent:

@ak what background do those leaders have in AI? Or how have they kept up with skills? All the names keep aligning with names that have implemented failed technology in the past. Schwab needs to join the the fintech work or they will get left behind. Can AI do those leaders jobs?

Schwab is currently hiring for multiple jobs that AI can do, what does they tell us about their direction? Or lack of direction.

Our stock is hitting record levels, once it’s out we are not planning for the movement with AI when every competitor is, we will be crushed.

@ah Politics. Andy and other removed talent were threats. Tiny and Menace don't want threats. Same for control. How many groups own cloud?

Spent lots for one moderately successful effort and most of the money was for ToS. STS and business units fail constantly. How many datacenters do we have? How many applications in public cloud? Voice and AI aren't different. Cloud CX works fine with AI, recording and logging but our CIO and CTO can't spell AI and don't understand how it would work here. They won't listen to architects and engineers who can define solutions and plan deployment schedules. Better to have 50 meetings, then defer decisions while project x is four years behind. Massive tech debt. Then we canned VPs who could have delivered to protect old timers.

I’ve been wondering why Schwab hasn’t created an AI department yet. When every other financial firm has.

AI can handle workforce management.

How should Schwab reward execs?

🧨 Why Schwab May Be Overpaying Its Executives (For What They Deliver)

1. They’re Not Driving Bold Innovation

• Other firms are integrating AI, automating workflows, and evolving client experience faster.
• Schwab’s execs are still rewarding safe operations and decades-old playbooks.

💬 “If your strategy hasn’t meaningfully changed in five years, why has your pay doubled?”

2. They’re Rewarded for the Past, Not the Future

• Compensation is still largely tied to AUM growth and stock performance, not internal transformation, speed to market, or client effort scores.
• But the AUM growth? It’s not innovation-driven. It’s inertia and market performance.

3. Frontline Talent is Carrying the Load

• Client-facing teams are overburdened, understaffed, and under-resourced.
• Tech teams are struggling with internal red tape. Meanwhile, execs cash in on equity despite delivery gaps.

💬 “You can’t claim efficiency wins when your employees are duct taping the client experience.”

4. They Play It Safe

• Where are the visionary risks? New business models? Reinvented service models?
• Executive compensation should be tied to transformation, not just stability.

⸻

🔄 What Would Fairer Executive Pay Look Like?
• 💡 Tie more comp to real transformation metrics:
• Client effort score
• Time-to-innovation
• Automation adoption across operations
• 🤝 Link pay more directly to employee experience:
• Frontline attrition
• Tool usability ratings
• 📉 Scale back base pay + perks unless it correlates with measurable modernization.

If you hold a position that plans meetings all day, trainings, organizes group, or invents new business processes. You have a ticking time bo-b of a job. AI can do it. To those of you in senior leadership, AI can probably do what you do in seconds, so be thinking what else do you bring to the table?
Input tech teams, once we hire any leader from one of the top Tech firm they will see the holes in Schwabs tech structure and waste zero time in removing waste. Let the games begin!

How much did Schwab invest in accountability training?

That money should have been spent on AI. It’s silly that one person or small idea can drive an entire worthless idea and set a company back years.

What about project managers? Ai can do, how long till Schwab figures out?

Imported Schwabs q2 statement into AI it said it can save 100 million annually.Tell me our execs are doing this; tell me Rick did this before he signed anything.

Why has not a single person mentioned AI? That’s the question are we scared it’s going to take our job of rewriting old code, Schwab I hope you know AI can do that. They can interpret your previous code and create a new one. We all saw those $$250k plus incomes from the visas.

Hey there Sheila, your Boss will no longer have a job because of AI. There will be less needs for an executive council and I hope all share holders add a monitor. So that the person getting paid much has to have an AI monitoring them. To show us what we are paying for. Not them sitting at home.

Assistant for one at Schwab, they are embarrassingly confused with AI. It’s so funny they can bark orders yet refuse to figure AI out. Nor do I feel they want to try. They love that Schwab is left in the past. Their bonuses remain huge for their relationships. We all know they bring zero new ideas to the table and meetings are a waste of time. Keep eating your underbite and drinking expensive wine we know who you are. Enjoy your summer house!

Every single human that’s apart of an executive council and CEO in the country is talking to AI from the minute they wake up.
You are wrong there is no way they were sleeping and forget to stay ahead of the ahead of this. AI is the biggest disrupter more than the internet and I bet they are already using it as a thought partner.

If you are reading this and you are not? Good luck with life.