Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 130 posts

Re: Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

#81

Post by st3v3r »

mseebach wrote: post #71
jcadam wrote: post #8

Several months ago I interviewed for a remote position with a startup based in NYC. The technical screening consisted of a project and of course a couple of phone interviews. After I did well on all of that, I was flown up to NYC for a 'culture-fit' interview. Which I failed, apparently. As a mid-30s guy who was raised in the mid-west, I felt like I had very little in common with the 20-something urbanites with whom…

Playing devil's advocate, there are definitely entirely legitimate reasons one might fail a "culture-fit" interview, especially for a remote hire: Perhaps you weren't so much "not-like-us" as "you kids don't know shit, just wait until you hire me" (your comment does come off slightly condescending) or just generally as someone who'd struggle being outranked by someone 10 years your junior (I understand mid-western va…

If you're going to reject people for "culture fit", and not because of any technical deficiency, then I believe you should lose any right to complain about a so-called "shortage of talent".

Re: Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

#82

Post by st3v3r »

endswapper wrote: post #64
eropple wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Culture fit" doesn't mean "open-mindedness, inclusion, and confidence in leadership" (and if meant the third of those you'd be being taken for a ride--leadership doesn't deserve confidence, results must be substantiated and all "confidence" does is let a company's leadership abuse you). In my experience, what "culture fit" really means is merely "are they like me." It is a filter to remove women and (most) minoritie…

To me, open-mindedness, inclusion, and confidence in leadership are incredibly important to the culture of an organization. Good leadership earns, deserves and requires confidence from the community that makes up the organization. I would go a step further to say great leadership earns, deserves and requires faith (to be crystal clear, non-religious faith). The cynicism and reductive reasoning you are expressing is a…

And how do you actually interview for these things? What is the quantifiable test you use to determine it? Cause if you don't have one of those, then yes, "culture fit" is a fool's errand at best, and a tool for discrimination at worst.

Re: Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

#83

Post by rubicon33 »

I've worked remotely for 3 years, for 2 different companies, and as with most things in life, there are positives and there are negatives.

One of the biggest negatives for a remote employee, can occur if the entire company isn't remote: You're left out.

Regardless of how much code you produce, how well you communicate on slack, how attentive you are to emails, or how perfect you are at attending all the meetings... Bonds form in the office. If you're interested in forming relationships, making connections, and nurturing the social side of your career, be cautious of remote positions.

Either work for a company that is 100% remote, or, be aware that you may face a situation in which you don't feel entirely connected with the rest of your coworkers.

Re: Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

#84

Post by 20yrs_no_equity »

dba7dba wrote: post #53
jcadam wrote: post #8

Several months ago I interviewed for a remote position with a startup based in NYC. The technical screening consisted of a project and of course a couple of phone interviews. After I did well on all of that, I was flown up to NYC for a 'culture-fit' interview. Which I failed, apparently. As a mid-30s guy who was raised in the mid-west, I felt like I had very little in common with the 20-something urbanites with whom…

I find it very ironic that a company in NYC full of 20-something (who probably identify strongly with diversity and Dems rather than GOP) insist on hiring people like themselves...

I'm one of those people who hits multiple diversity/minority characteristics for various reasons, which means in any group where we are all minorities, I'm the minority of that group for one reason or another.

All groups of people selected for some characteristic - whether it's "works for this company" or "wants hillary elected to office" or "was persecuted historically by X" have their own reflexes that exclude "outsiders" or "anyone who is associated with X".

Often at contradictory directions to their stated intent. For example, gay people supporting a candidate who has spent their entire career opposing gay marriage, over candidates and a party that has supported gay marriage for their entire career (and back to the founding of the party.)

Re: Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

#85

Post by sremani »

rubicon33 wrote: post #83

I've worked remotely for 3 years, for 2 different companies, and as with most things in life, there are positives and there are negatives. One of the biggest negatives for a remote employee, can occur if the entire company isn't remote: You're left out. Regardless of how much code you produce, how well you communicate on slack, how attentive you are to emails, or how perfect you are at attending all the meetings... B…

Trust can be established from face to face, and no other form of communication comes close to it. My recommendation to people who are into remote is, once they take a Gig, if possible go to the physical office location and spend some time 2 to 5 days mostly meeting their team and esp. their boss face to face. Once the trust is established face to face, it will carry on to other forms of communication and will not diminish (if performance is good).

Re: Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

#86

Post by ryanmarsh »

seangrogg wrote: post #61
ryanmarsh wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's valid, I believe, for the company to vet candidates for culture fit I'm not sure what culture fit means. I have been passed over for culture fit and seen others passed over for culture fit and I have never seen it be because someone couldn't be productive with their peers. It seems, anecdotally, to just be based upon affinity, which seems stupid to me unless you're a lifestyle brand, like FitStar. In the Army…

Navy (reserve) vet here - I definitely agree that culture can be taught but unfortunately you have to find someone willing to learn. And unfortunately, most software developers aren't of the military "situationally adaptive" mindset but rather the "I'm a hot commodity where the hell is the ping pong table" mindset. It's far easier for most young companies with ping pong tables to hire developers that like ping pong t…

We are remarkably malleable. Being "situationally adaptive" is universally human.

Re: Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

#87

Post by ryanmarsh »

supahfly_remix wrote: post #68
ryanmarsh wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's valid, I believe, for the company to vet candidates for culture fit I'm not sure what culture fit means. I have been passed over for culture fit and seen others passed over for culture fit and I have never seen it be because someone couldn't be productive with their peers. It seems, anecdotally, to just be based upon affinity, which seems stupid to me unless you're a lifestyle brand, like FitStar. In the Army…

> I've indoctrinated them into our values, and only on rare occasions has that not worked out. What do you mean by "indoctrinated"?

Knew that would be a trigger word. LOL.

Re: Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

#88

Post by pjlegato »

eropple wrote: post #54
endswapper wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a major difference between "culture fit" and the ability to adapt. Both serve a distinct purpose and both are valid. Someone's ability to adapt shows tactical proficiency. Particularly in an engineering environment I would put a high premium on tactical proficiency because the objectives are typically explicit and linear. Culture fit speaks to traits like open-mindedness, inclusion and confidence in leadersh…

"Culture fit" doesn't mean "open-mindedness, inclusion, and confidence in leadership" (and if meant the third of those you'd be being taken for a ride--leadership doesn't deserve confidence, results must be substantiated and all "confidence" does is let a company's leadership abuse you). In my experience, what "culture fit" really means is merely "are they like me." It is a filter to remove women and (most) minoritie…

It may be as you say. Can you present any evidence that "culture fit" is a filter to remove women and most minorities?

"It seems to me..." does not count as evidence.

Nor do demographic reports on the composition of companies that use "culture fit," since correlation does not imply causation.

Re: Why Remote Work Should Change Startup Culture

#90

Post by cjp222 »

rubicon33 wrote: post #83

I've worked remotely for 3 years, for 2 different companies, and as with most things in life, there are positives and there are negatives. One of the biggest negatives for a remote employee, can occur if the entire company isn't remote: You're left out. Regardless of how much code you produce, how well you communicate on slack, how attentive you are to emails, or how perfect you are at attending all the meetings... B…

I've worked remotely for nearly 20 years in various configurations (all team remote, team collocated and I was the lead and remote, some local and some remote, as lead and as a team member) and this is spot on. My current situation is one where it's actually harder to be remote than it was when we all worked for a giant company that was openly hostile to teleworkers (If you're not in the office everyday, you're part of the problem). Even though I'm in a smaller company and an environment that brags about its startup culture and flexibility.

In my current iteration, information does not flow naturally, but rather 1:1 and in-person along restricted paths, making it much harder to work remotely. So to build up a picture of what's going on, I connect with several other teleworkers and we try to compare notes on "what have you heard about X" and "who's working on y."

If the whole team is remote or acts like it (open communications, info flowing visibly, etc.) then remote working, remote bonding, remote team-building is natural and easy. I know; I've done it for years, building high-performance teams that see each other once or twice a year.

If you're the outlier and most everyone else is local, it takes a lot more effort, and even then can be very, very hard.

Some places are just easier to work for than others.

Post reply on HN