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We're hearing about troubles at Nest

businessinsider.com

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Re: We're hearing about troubles at Nest

#221

Post by a3n »

aledalgrande wrote: post #77
outside1234 wrote: post #11

I worked there. It was literally the worst experience of my career - and I have worked at all of the hardest charging blue chips and two successful startups - so it is not about high expectations - but abuse. I still wake up with something like PTSD occasionally from getting yelled at and bullied by Tony Fadell almost literally every day while I was there. I have a distance from it now -- and a way better job. It mad…

Thanks for sharing your experience. We, as a community, should point out these so-called "leaders" who build their fortune on the efforts of other people.

All leaders build their fortune on the efforts of other people, pretty much by definition.

Re: We're hearing about troubles at Nest

#222

Post by brandmeyer »

outside1234 wrote: post #155
throwaway6497 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feel terrible reading this. Is rest of the Alphabet upper management completely oblivious to what is happening inside Nest? Don't they care? Isn't leadership about doing the right thing. If people are getting abused, Alphabet/Google better do something about it. I thought Alphabet took pride in the kind of leadership traits they support and want their leaders to embody. I am pretty sure a ton of current/ex-Googlers w…

My understanding (maybe wrong) was that the Alphabet changes made it really hard to move between the subsidiaries.

It depends on the subsidiary. My little corner maintains close ties with Google's engineering tools, job ladder, promotion process, etc. for the express purpose of enabling easier hires/transfers from Google. So really it's up to the subsidiary as to how they choose to behave.

Re: We're hearing about troubles at Nest

#223

Post by outside1234 »

brandmeyer wrote: post #222
outside1234 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding (maybe wrong) was that the Alphabet changes made it really hard to move between the subsidiaries.

It depends on the subsidiary. My little corner maintains close ties with Google's engineering tools, job ladder, promotion process, etc. for the express purpose of enabling easier hires/transfers from Google. So really it's up to the subsidiary as to how they choose to behave.

You will probably not find it hard to believe that Nest made it sound impossible. :)

Re: We're hearing about troubles at Nest

#224

Post by a3n »

st3v3r wrote: post #167
bobby_9x wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also seen honesty being confused with being an 'asshole'. You tell someone something they don't want to hear, but need to hear, and you are now known as an asshole.

Not usually. People who do that think they're saying something that someone needs to hear, but they're usually either wrong, or saying it in a manner that does make them an asshole.

> People who do that think they're saying something that someone needs to hear

... but usually they're saying something that they want to hear themselves say.

Re: We're hearing about troubles at Nest

#225

Post by outside1234 »

bravura wrote: post #150
outside1234 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The really great thing about being in software in Silicon Valley is that you can more or less write your own meal ticket somewhere else. My advice to anyone else in this situation is to do just that. The first time abuse happens, just walk out, have a laugh about it (it reflects on them not you), and find another gig. There are a lot of great jobs out there. I have a lot of empathy now for all the crummy jobs where p…

The first time abuse happens, just walk out, have a laugh about it (it reflects on them not you), and find another gig. With all due respect, why not look them directly in the eye and reply: "Don't speak to me that way" and wait? That sort of response helps other employees see how inappropriate it is.

I can understand your response - that was the way I used to think as well.

Its harder when its real life, you are getting a paycheck literally from this person, and you are usually surrounded by sycophants who think this is perfectly normal.

Re: We're hearing about troubles at Nest

#226

Post by outside1234 »

jonesb6 wrote: post #149
outside1234 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The really great thing about being in software in Silicon Valley is that you can more or less write your own meal ticket somewhere else. My advice to anyone else in this situation is to do just that. The first time abuse happens, just walk out, have a laugh about it (it reflects on them not you), and find another gig. There are a lot of great jobs out there. I have a lot of empathy now for all the crummy jobs where p…

To abuse your metaphor a little bit not everyone has the ink or the paper to write a new meal ticket just like that.

This is a good point. I am mid career so I was able to find a great job somewhere else in literally days because I (ironically) worked at Google before Nest. Not everyone has that experience or personal network to be able to do that - I was profoundly lucky and I realize that.

Re: We're hearing about troubles at Nest

#227

Post by [deleted] »

reality_czech wrote: post #217
outside1234 wrote: post #11

I worked there. It was literally the worst experience of my career - and I have worked at all of the hardest charging blue chips and two successful startups - so it is not about high expectations - but abuse. I still wake up with something like PTSD occasionally from getting yelled at and bullied by Tony Fadell almost literally every day while I was there. I have a distance from it now -- and a way better job. It mad…

Maybe you just needed to leave the Nest?

[deleted]

Re: We're hearing about troubles at Nest

#228

Post by PhantomGremlin »

ilvnvtoomuch wrote: post #137
outside1234 wrote: post #11

I worked there. It was literally the worst experience of my career - and I have worked at all of the hardest charging blue chips and two successful startups - so it is not about high expectations - but abuse. I still wake up with something like PTSD occasionally from getting yelled at and bullied by Tony Fadell almost literally every day while I was there. I have a distance from it now -- and a way better job. It mad…

I hate to say this, but I felt the same way at "Accenture".

I really miss Pud at fuckedcompany.com. He was always railing against moronic companies like Accenture. He'd write something like "Accenture (pronounced ass-enter)".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucked_Company

Re: We're hearing about troubles at Nest

#229

Post by a3n »

atonse wrote: post #8

I have a nest and it is a real piece of shit. I usually don't curse on HN but I can barely contain my hate for this product. My absolutely ugly, crappy old thermostat with a needle on it works WAY better than the nest (thankfully we have it upstairs where we sleep). When it's cold, we turn that needle up, and we get warm. With the nest, which is downstairs, when we're cold, we turn the nest up, we get weird "+2 hour"…

> it fails spectacularly at the ONE thing it's supposed to do, which is to let us set a comfortable temperature for our house.

Is that the one this it's supposed to do? I thought it's main feature was to be connected to the internet. Why you'd want that I have no idea.

I have about as cheap a programmable as you can get. It has four time ranges per day. I set them for morning, away, evening, sleep. It always works, all the time. If I come home and it's cold, or if I'm up late and it's cold, I hit the button a few times and go back to the couch.

It always works. Always. Always.

Re: We're hearing about troubles at Nest

#230

Post by a3n »

Animats wrote: post #122
Eiriksmal wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a horrible experience. But, to be fair, many newer structures have all their smoke detectors wired together so when one goes off, they all go off. I experienced that in my house, built in '97, which was extremely disorienting and stressful when it first happened. Growing up in a house built in the 80s, only the kitchen's smoke detector would go off if you burned something. I understand the perceived safety enh…

Yet industrial/commercial grade hard wired smoke detectors work just fine. I've worked in industrial facilities where there were thousands of smoke and fire detectors, and a zero false alarm rate. Yet, one day, when a HVAC unit overheated and smoked, all the right stuff happened. The local alarms went off, and the duct dampers slammed shut to contain the smoke. But because there wasn't confirmation from a second dete…

Because they're disrupting thermostats.
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