Which is odd. Sales people don't cost much. They either pay for themselves or they're let go quickly. They're not usually let go in a group like that. Usually engineers are cut early; they cost more. Not trying to pick a fight, I've just been through layoffs before and this is how the finance team always justifies their cuts.
If things are going bad, the engineers become assets for a potential aquisition. I've never seen engineers let go when things get dicey. Almost everyone else is let go first.
That's probably a sign of frothy (dare I say bubble?) times. The opposite is usually the case. Cut the engineers and outsource the work was the M.O. for a decade+.
