That's your chance to do something that is worth for the world. IMHO you should not let it pass. Good recruteirs will not judge you by that. If they do, they aren't good recruiters. And good companies should have good recruiters.
Ask HN: Should I testify?
181–190 of 250 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#182It would not affect my decision to hire you. In fact, I'd probably admire you more for doing the right thing.
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can certainly aspire to that. Some companies are really good at hiding their true colors. Mortgage, kids... Sometimes you need a paycheck.
Right, which is why trying to hide the fact you testified might be a bad idea... If someone won't hire you because you testified against a criminal employer... You probably don't want to work for them. Since, as you said, companies hide their true colors, this way you can know before being hired.
On the other hand, many times hiring managers are just looking for a reason to discard your resume to narrow down the talent pool. Anything negative gets you tossed. They see this. Maybe it's a good sign, maybe it's a bad sign. Either way it's something out of the ordinary that will take more time to evaluate. Better just toss the resume. There's still another stack of 100 candidates to go through...
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Fucked up, but organizations are often so. You can choose not to be a part of these organizations.
You can certainly aspire to that. Some companies are really good at hiding their true colors. Mortgage, kids... Sometimes you need a paycheck.
Doing the right thing is rarely the most convenient option, that's why it's considered notable.
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would that be lying? Being forced to do something doesn't imply it was against your will. It simply means you didn't have any other choice.
It belies the fact that OP prompted the lawyers to subpoena him.
Could you explain what exactly you see as the difference between "I won't cooperate unless you subpoena me" and "I would like to cooperate, but I don't want this to affect my future job prospects, so please subpoena me"?
The OP is prompting the subpoena in either case, as far as I can tell. In either case, the other side can choose whether or not to subpoena him/her. I'm not sure I see any difference between the two...
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#186My name is associated with a lawsuit where I testified against a former employee. It's all in the public record, and if you try really hard, you can find all about it on Google. But it would take you a lot of work. Unless you get mentioned by name in all the associated press, you're probably safe, especially given your projects and presentations and blogs posts.
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#187My name is associated with a lawsuit where I testified against a former employee. It's all in the public record, but it's almost impossible to find using Google unless you know a few of the details. Like you, I've been creating a lot of my own content for a while and that's still what dominates the results for my name in Google. From a practical standpoint, unless you get mentioned by name in all the resulting press, you're probably safe.
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#188I don't wanna sound evil, but why not something else? You could let them know you've got proof and try to get into a deal.
After that, even if you left the company, they wouldn't get sued or have any media attention. You wouldn't be known as 'the whistleblower' and probably get a decent compensation.
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#189I'd say there's something even more important operating here for you than career, and that's who do you choose to be? This is really a question it works for you to answer yourself. Consult your own values, search your feelings, is this something that really inspires you? Are you being you authentically if you do testify or not? Whatever you discover, take the risk and act on that, whichever it is. The choice that is…
Beautiful.
I say don't do it if it is not your business, if what the person did did not intentionally physically, financially, emotionally destroy anyone.
If you do it, who would you be helping?
There is something I love about the law, a concept named balance of hardship. If the testimony will do damage to this person, while on the other hand only inflicting slight inconveniences for the business, than again don't do it.
EDIT: Now if the person knew the consequences and intentionally wanted to harm, then I guess they knew what they were getting into.
Re: Ask HN: Should I testify?
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is bad advice. This is living life on hard mode. I wouldn't testify. You don't have anything to gain other than morality points, but you'll have everything real to lose.
Confucius once wrote that 'seeing the right thing and not doing it is cowardly'. This is still true today. But you are right that the life of a coward is easier. Living a virtuous life is always 'hard mode'; if it were not, would we ever have bothered to identify virtue?
Why stop here then? Why not donate 90% of your income to charity and live in a shanty town?