> “Like, man, this is a really nice office,” he recalls thinking. “Open floor plan...” So "Tyler" wasn't a programmer, then. Got it.
Not everybody dislikes an open floor plan.
The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do
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Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do
#22Maybe I just forget what it's like to be a beginner, but how on earth do you work on Ad Injection software and not realize that you're working on Ad Injection?!
These guys are _very_ good at selling, in other words, making something seem good and pure and beautiful. I ended up in an almost identical company doing identical tech. At first we were building an anti-spam platform for which the user would only see two ads a day from us, and none from anyone else. Seemed like a good trade off. Except we never got to the anti-spam bit -- just the ad bit. I was gone within 3 months of arriving.
It might have just been that particular company at that time, but I've never worked with so many morally questionable people at one company. Never again.
Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do
#23> “Like, man, this is a really nice office,” he recalls thinking. “Open floor plan...” So "Tyler" wasn't a programmer, then. Got it.
He also didn't like octagonal windows, and definitely used a spatula when making omelettes.
Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do
#24> “Like, man, this is a really nice office,” he recalls thinking. “Open floor plan...” So "Tyler" wasn't a programmer, then. Got it.
Programmers don't have to dislike open floor plans. I know this because I am one.
Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do
#25> you’d see ads on sites like Wikipedia or Target.com
Normally we call that vandalism. They should be facing criminal charges, not civil lawsuits and pressure from Google.
Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do
#26This is like the Mickey Mouse version of the 'The Firm'.
Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do
#27Reminds me a bit of an experience I had at an event around 2000 or so. Most of the folks there were heavily academic, but at lunch I found myself sitting with one of the organizers who was clearly cut from different cloth, so I asked what he did the rest of the year. After a couple of rounds of vague responses about how he helped companies use email to get in touch with potential customers, it finally dawned on me th…
You talk as if the 'rest of us' in tech are so innocent and pure. Spam is small potatoes compared to the ethical violations many big tech companies get up to on a daily basis.
Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do
#28> you’d see ads on sites like Wikipedia or Target.com Normally we call that vandalism. They should be facing criminal charges, not civil lawsuits and pressure from Google.
There's no case afaik, because they disclose everything in the original agreement when you install their software.
Unethical, sure, but there's little the law can do to prevent people from agreeing to such things.
Maybe a requirement for certain disclosures to be made more prominent (like for cigarettes)?
Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do
#29I worked at a company very briefly in the early aughts. I thought I was hired to be on the team that built the platform. But before we would do that we needed to have a list of beta users. So my job was writing bots that scoured forums and other social networks for contact information (emails, phone numbers, names, etc.)
It took me a week to realize what I was actually doing then another week to plan and execute my escape. The rest of the team were east european and did not give a fuck about what they were doing, it was good money to them.
They eventually did release a product with a few thousand users. Not long after, Facebook changed their signup strategy from schools to the general public and the rest is history.
Re: The Perks Are Great, Just Don’t Ask What We Do
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I find it difficult to understand how you would even interview & accept a job without understanding what the company did.
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!" --Upton Sinclair
I really think this quote is a bit unfair here. Especially in the startup scene, many companies have quite vague product descriptions. I've worked at a place where it took me 3 months to figure out what they were doing (nothing immoral BTW, just very complex/diverse products).