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Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

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Re: Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

#31
post #16

I used to work at Gusto (ZenPayroll back in my day) and dealing with Zenefits was always a pain for this reason. They were the consummate hackers, using screen scraping and automation to do whatever the hell they wanted. One nightmare example was when a bug in their "automated" system rewrote bank account information for tons of employees to just be the last 4 digits of their account number. Such a mess. Even if this…

That blog post is one of the best advertisements I've ever seen for a tech company. If I weren't happy where I am, I'd apply for a position immediately. I get that moving fast and breaking things works for some products, but I wish more companies had the same attitude as you.

Glad you liked it! I'm now building software for local government and we've naturally taken that ethos to our new company.

If you are ever looking for another opportunity, check us out http://seneca.systems

Re: Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

#32

https://www.ycombinator.com/ethics/ > Some examples of ethical behavior we expect from founders are: > ... > - Not using misleading, illegal or dishonest sales tactics. > ... Does this mean Parker is no longer a YC Founder, if the allegations turn out to be true?

I don't think any of their sales tactics fell under "misleading, illegal, or dishonest." It was their California pre-certification practices that was blatantly illegal.

Re: Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

#33
post #16

I used to work at Gusto (ZenPayroll back in my day) and dealing with Zenefits was always a pain for this reason. They were the consummate hackers, using screen scraping and automation to do whatever the hell they wanted. One nightmare example was when a bug in their "automated" system rewrote bank account information for tons of employees to just be the last 4 digits of their account number. Such a mess. Even if this…

Without knowing much about the situation... how much was this necessary? The industries Zenefits are working with aren't exactly tech-friendly, and I just always assumed Zenefits was doing some gross things on the backend in order to make things easier for the user. (This doesn't excuse bad testing or bad code, but it's not like the insurance industry has well-documented public APIs for Zenefits to use)

ZenPayroll has an extensive API (I built it.) They did it because they wanted to.

http://docs.zenpayroll.com/

Re: Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

#34
post #25

In this one particular instance, good for them and its a shame that they got caught. I've had to watch quite a few of these "unskippable" videos for various government mandated trainings and there are a complete waste of time so that some bureaucrat can check a box and some company's lawyers can mitigate some liability. They don't educate the captive viewers and they don't protect consumers. Lets see how any customer…

Yes, it should absolutely be up to the individual to decide whether they've met the legal requirements for their job. I hope my surgeons self-certify that they're ready to operate, and the technician that repairs the airline I'm flying on should have the last word on whether he's qualified to start tinkering with the ailerons!

Re: Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

#35
Can someone give me a good explanation of how the COO wasn't responsible for this kind of stuff? It's mind boggling to me how hard Sacks is throwing Conrad under the bus, despite possibly being just as guilty.

I mean, I get it - power plays and all. But aren't they both responsible?

Re: Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

#36
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> uncovering some frightening immaturity pervasive in Valley companies. This is one of the dark sides to having an entire engineering team in the 25-30 age range. They can sling http just fine, but sometimes don't fully grasp the consequences of their work.

I was 22 when I started and cared very deeply about the consequences of what I was doing. It's more about heavily interviewing for alignment with your mission. If people care deeply about the problem you're solving — not just the technical problem, the people problem — then you're far less likely to have these issues. I interviewed dozens if not hundreds of people at ZP and there were two red flags for engineers: 1)…

Thanks for that tidbit. I work for a non-profit and sometimes it's hard to make the call when someone is technically sound but doesn't seem to get the mission. So far we've managed to get mission oriented people on board, but I'll make more of a conscious effort in the future.

Re: Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

#37

https://www.ycombinator.com/ethics/ > Some examples of ethical behavior we expect from founders are: > ... > - Not using misleading, illegal or dishonest sales tactics. > ... Does this mean Parker is no longer a YC Founder, if the allegations turn out to be true?

Alls well in the Good Ol' Country Club

Re: Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

#38
post #16

I used to work at Gusto (ZenPayroll back in my day) and dealing with Zenefits was always a pain for this reason. They were the consummate hackers, using screen scraping and automation to do whatever the hell they wanted. One nightmare example was when a bug in their "automated" system rewrote bank account information for tons of employees to just be the last 4 digits of their account number. Such a mess. Even if this…

That blog post is one of the best advertisements I've ever seen for a tech company. If I weren't happy where I am, I'd apply for a position immediately. I get that moving fast and breaking things works for some products, but I wish more companies had the same attitude as you.

Ironically, Facebook which popularized the saying "move fast and break things" is actually more reliable now than many slower-moving systems.

http://mashable.com/2014/04/30/facebooks-new-mantra-move-fas...

Re: Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

#39
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That blog post is one of the best advertisements I've ever seen for a tech company. If I weren't happy where I am, I'd apply for a position immediately. I get that moving fast and breaking things works for some products, but I wish more companies had the same attitude as you.

Glad you liked it! I'm now building software for local government and we've naturally taken that ethos to our new company. If you are ever looking for another opportunity, check us out http://seneca.systems

You had me at "...building amazing technology to unf* government."

Re: Zenefits Software Helped Brokers Cheat On Licensing Process

#40
post #34
post #25

In this one particular instance, good for them and its a shame that they got caught. I've had to watch quite a few of these "unskippable" videos for various government mandated trainings and there are a complete waste of time so that some bureaucrat can check a box and some company's lawyers can mitigate some liability. They don't educate the captive viewers and they don't protect consumers. Lets see how any customer…

Yes, it should absolutely be up to the individual to decide whether they've met the legal requirements for their job. I hope my surgeons self-certify that they're ready to operate, and the technician that repairs the airline I'm flying on should have the last word on whether he's qualified to start tinkering with the ailerons!

The spirit behind the hatred of the "you must stare at this screen for 52 hours" type requirements isn't that anyone should be able to do anything they want, but that it's a stupid requirement. Acknowledging the existence of a stupid requirement doesn't at all require thinking that all requirements are stupid.

That said, I'd never want to do business with a company that thought it could choose to ignore certain requirements, and deceive regulators about their fulfillment of them, even if they're stupid requirements.

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