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What does it feel like to be fired from Facebook?

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Re: What does it feel like to be fired from Facebook?

#111

Post by caseysoftware »

finnyspade wrote: post #33

So having interned at Facebook, I find this post confusing. They made it very clear to us during HR onboarding that the only zero tolerance policy was on unauthorized access to user data. The harassment stuff isn't a zero tolerance thing. They even told us to go ahead and ask out other employees if you're interested, but just don't press if you get a no. It's pretty clear he accessed data he shouldn't have, and for t…

In most larger companies, there "zero tolerance policies" and "wink wink nudge nudge zero tolerance policies."

If you break the first type, you are out the door, no questions asked.

If you break the second type, you might be out the door depending on why you did it, who you did it for, who you report to, if you're part of the "in group" or whatever. In some cases, they're forgotten until later when someone wants to demonstrate an "ongoing pattern."

Re: What does it feel like to be fired from Facebook?

#113

Post by LgWoodenBadger »

dnate wrote: post #19

I would be interested in what constitutes as "jaywalking" in a software company. Something everyone does but can be grounds to termination? Can anyone tell me about specific cases?

"Misuse of company resources" like "reading/commenting on hacker news from work." The ability to find something "everyone does" in order to get rid of people you don't like, for whatever reason.

Re: What does it feel like to be fired from Facebook?

#114

Post by ArkyBeagle »

I haven't seen this thought so far:

Zero tolerance policies must be justified much more strenuously than they are. Strictly speaking, there should be no zero tolerance policies. Things that are subject to zero tolerance should be strictly controlled to where those policies can't be violated. Depending on a memo being broadcast to "fix" it won't work.

At work, if there is a zero tolerance policy and someone asks me to do something that even causes me to look at a zero tolerance policy, I bring that up and negotiate the ... something down. "We can't do that because..."

I'm not here to debug your policy suite ( unless you ask nicely ) . If it's in writing, I won't violate it - period. If stuff doesn't get done, then that's been already decided to be less costly than violating the policy.

Re: What does it feel like to be fired from Facebook?

#117

Post by ArkyBeagle »

ska wrote: post #52
zerr wrote: post #49

> Many companies do PIPs (performance improvement plans) Isn't this a first signal when one should start looking for a new job asap?

Not necessarily. As a manager if you have an employee who you believe is basically a good fit but has a performance issue you would really rather they turn this around than have to hire again. Particularly with junior people this can often work well. I realize that some organizations often use PIPs for legal converage reasons and in that case it may be a foregone conclusion.

But you don't know which is that case when its assigned to you.

Re: What does it feel like to be fired from Facebook?

#118

Post by ArkyBeagle »

jccc wrote: post #98
brohee wrote: post #50

"Every morning, I'd get up, hop in the shuttle, and that's when my day began. Getting breakfast, seeing all my friends" Confusing friends and colleagues, possibly having no life outside of work. "She's never at her desk, and she routinely cancelled our regular 1:1 meetings because she has no other choice" Stockholm syndrome "My boss's voice was devoid of emotion, even though we had gone through a lot together (at lea…

Why is it easier to make assumptions about the person than it is to think that Facebook's culture has a problem? Do we generally blame the individuals who get pulled into a cult, or do we criticize the cult?

All cultures have deep problems.

Re: What does it feel like to be fired from Facebook?

#119

Post by otterley »

stevejones wrote: post #92
finnyspade wrote: post #33

So having interned at Facebook, I find this post confusing. They made it very clear to us during HR onboarding that the only zero tolerance policy was on unauthorized access to user data. The harassment stuff isn't a zero tolerance thing. They even told us to go ahead and ask out other employees if you're interested, but just don't press if you get a no. It's pretty clear he accessed data he shouldn't have, and for t…

> They made it very clear to us during HR onboarding that the only zero tolerance policy was on unauthorized access to user data. Given that Facebook HR trawls user data to send job spam I find this claim quite ironic.

What evidence do you have of this? Particularly with respect to nonpublic data.

Re: What does it feel like to be fired from Facebook?

#120

Post by ska »

ArkyBeagle wrote: post #117
ska wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. As a manager if you have an employee who you believe is basically a good fit but has a performance issue you would really rather they turn this around than have to hire again. Particularly with junior people this can often work well. I realize that some organizations often use PIPs for legal converage reasons and in that case it may be a foregone conclusion.

But you don't know which is that case when its assigned to you.

If you know your company and/or your manager you have at the very least strong hints.
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