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Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

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Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#71

Post by pascalo »

halestock wrote: post #50
golergka wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is correct. However, it's still strane to mention ages in this context. Just replace age descriptions with race descriptions to see how weird and out of place that is. > She was white, had been with the company for four years, and was told without explanation by her latino manager that she had two weeks to get out.

Age implies wisdom and experience, which I think was the point he was trying to get across. Comparing it to race is just silly.

The way I read it he used the age and gender info in his comment to illustrate that it would be harder for the person to get a job. Hence it being extra cruel to use the weird lingo and act like it wouldn't be hard for her.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#73

Post by theoh »

slg wrote: post #62
ianstormtaylor wrote: post #5

Does anyone have more context on Dan Lyons? After reading this article, and the one from Fortune[0], and his post on LinkedIn[1], it feels like he's out there scraping together blatant PR for his new book. And it makes me honestly wonder whether he went to work for HubSpot looking for a story to write in the first place... and being a writer for the "Silicon Valley" TV series doesn't really help his credibility in th…

Like the Silicon Valley TV show, the truthfulness of the specifics of this story aren't really the important part. If public perception of startups is as childish frat house like cults, that is a problem whether or not specific startups are in fact childish frat house like cults. I mean that is the exact reason why we use the phrase "frat house" as a pejorative regardless of the merits of specific fraternities.

Actually, what you are asking for is cumulative correct reporting of individual cases leading to a correct impression of the whole sector. I may just have downvoted you (fat finger error, and no way to reverse a vote on HN) but I agree.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#74

Post by PhasmaFelis »

justin_vanw wrote: post #66

So does the author think that everyone is great at their job? What do you do when you have an employee that can't do the work and you are confident that they won't improve? Pointing out the age difference in the manager and the employee, and their sexes, is just baiting. Unless he wants to make the case that there was sexism or agism from the manager, or that the company engaged in sexism or agism, it is just a red h…

> If she was good at her job, then the manager is just an idiot who is cutting his and the companies own throat, and we can't make a moral argument against stupidity.

We can't? Why not?

Being stupid does not exempt you from responsibility for your actions.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#75

Post by josh_carterPDX »

fleitz wrote: post #69
josh_carterPDX wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what does it say about those that put these people in a position of power?

I haven't see many places that that only have incompetent managers and no incompetent employees. :) Or alternatively, what does it say about people who have seen this culture for 4 years and are still there?

Yeah there's a balance. Everyone thinks a company has it all figured out until they work there and find out it's just like every other company struggling to figure stuff out.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#76

Post by Scoundreller »

WalterBright wrote: post #18

> Given the choice, I think I’d rather make furniture. So go start making furniture.

Likewise,

> Companies sell shares to the public while still losing money. Wealth is generated, but most of the loot goes to a handful of people at the top, the founders and venture capital investors.

Then become a founder if it's such an easy way to generate wealth.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#77

Post by fleitz »

Scoundreller wrote: post #70

> I joined the company in 2013 after spending 25 years in journalism and getting laid off from a top position at Newsweek. I thought working at a start-up would be great. The perks! The cool offices! > It turned out I’d joined a digital sweatshop, where people were packed into huge rooms, side by side, at long tables. It sounds like this journalist failed to investigate their new job before Day 1...

Yeah it's like those people who have been working with J2EE for 25 years at Big Company X that is now bankrupt, and constantly complain about the lack of GANNT charts, or whatever the hammer and chisel tools they use to make J2EE apps.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#78

Post by distances »

overgard wrote: post #64
dataker wrote: post #8

The philosopher Slavoj Žižek explains this with the ‘postmodern’ boss: >Not a master but just a coordinator of our joint creative efforts; the first among equals. There should be no formalities among us, we should address him by his nickname, he shares a dirty joke with us… but in all this, HE REMAINS OUR MASTER.

I love some zizek, what piece did that come from?

I seem to run to Žižek more and more often -- frankly he is the only currently alive philosopher I can name. I really should read something more from him.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#79

Post by eropple »

ianstormtaylor wrote: post #5

Does anyone have more context on Dan Lyons? After reading this article, and the one from Fortune[0], and his post on LinkedIn[1], it feels like he's out there scraping together blatant PR for his new book. And it makes me honestly wonder whether he went to work for HubSpot looking for a story to write in the first place... and being a writer for the "Silicon Valley" TV series doesn't really help his credibility in th…

I don't know Lyons, but I do know HubSpot, and everything he's saying tracks with what I've heard from other people. And not just people with the temerity to be old, but just with the misfortune to be able to read a social group and make some conclusions about it. The company is a culture mob, there is aggressive practice of neuro-linguistic programming all over the place (never mind that it doesn't work, of course), and the whole thing is notably cultish and terrifying, in a startup world where "cultish and terrifying" is part of the standard playbook in the first place.

I do not much like them, if that is not obvious.

What makes me a little bit sad is when I meet somebody who works there--it's Boston, if you are in tech circles you are going to meet HubSpot people--and they're bought-in hard enough to not see that the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train. They hire a lot of good kids and try to kill them, or at least turn them into Dilbert-esque sodden gray rags, by the end of their second year. They're not the only company to do it, and not the only company to do it here in Boston, but they are a stand-out offender.

Re: Congratulations You’ve Been Fired

#80

Post by aleyan »

Issues raised in the article aside, I am here to argue semantics.

The article used the word start-up 3 times, plus one more in the title of his book. The company he worked for however, HubSpot is 10 years old and public and thus by definition is not a startup. Other two companies mentioned, Amazon and Netflix are both over a decade old and public and thus are not start-ups by any stretch of the imagination. Startups and tech companies are not synonymous and using them interchangeably is harmful to our discourse. If we can't agree on what words mean, how can we agree on deeper issues?

PS. I also have issue with author's use of the word "tech worker" to describe telemarketers. I maybe wrong, but a "tech worker" to me is not someone who works for a tech company but rather is one who creating the tech.

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