Earlier quoted context omitted.
If this article catches public attention, Uber will attempt to bring these canons to bear anyway.
It's currently the top story on The Verge.
Including a response from Kalanick...That was fast.
Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
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Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#372Sounds horrible. I do wonder if this post would have come out if uber was using stripe for payments.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#373Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am shocked, how is possible to get away with this toxic company culture.
probably because "Brilliant Jerks" are tolerated
Yup. There was the article a couple days ago about how employers should avoid the "brilliant jerks", and everyone in the comments was saying how they'd rather have the "brilliant jerk" than someone who was nice and mediocre (despite the fact that isn't the choice at all; there are plenty of people who are talented and not asshats). Well, when you make that decision, this is the kind of workplace you get.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#374I think this proves that HR should be fundamentally separate from a company. The incentives are setup for a company's HR division to try and maximize success for the company. Just like the NFL and NBA have player's associations, HR should be managed by external companies, or at least separated by function (supporting employees vs management). Companies would still be paying the HR teams, so incentives wouldn't be opt…
By ensuring unethical/illegal behavior doesn't go unaddressed, HR is working to maximize success for the company.
With that in mind, it's in the company's best interest to have HR be a core department with proper training, funding and oversight.
The arguments frequently rehashed on HN about "HR is not there to help" only make sense in dysfunctional companies (which there's a lot of, unfortunately). Moving HR to a separate organization, outside the company, won't help with that.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#375What's with all the 'this is unbelievable' comments here? This is absolutely believable, Uber has pretty much made it their standard to break the laws where-ever they can, why should work place conduct be any different? In for a penny, in for a pound. You'd never hear something even close to this from Stripe or some other company run by upstanding folks. Fish rots from the head.
If anything, OP's subsequent employment by Stripe is a very strong endorsement for the workplace culture of the company.
Stripe seems to hire an unusual amount of really talented engineers who are also really good at explanatory writing. (Though this may just be an availability bias thing for me.)
Fowler is one. Julia Evans is another that comes to mind.
I wouldn't be surprised if they had amazing internal documentation for their engineers.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#376What's with all the 'this is unbelievable' comments here? This is absolutely believable, Uber has pretty much made it their standard to break the laws where-ever they can, why should work place conduct be any different? In for a penny, in for a pound. You'd never hear something even close to this from Stripe or some other company run by upstanding folks. Fish rots from the head.
I absolutely believe it but find it astonishing that a company can behave like this.
So, not sure what you're referring to but perhaps people are using unbelievable as a synonym for astonishing. ie. not literally.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#377Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have to be honest, I know a lot of people who claim that they can write really good code if they've been drinking. I just absolutely do not understand how that is even possible. If I have ONE beer, it throws off my ability to write good code, or hold all of the concepts in my head. One of the weekly coworking meetups I go to always ends at a brewery (there is a brewery next door to the hackerspace where it is held)…
They likely dont tackle work of significant complexity
This may be the case. I generally say I can't code worth a damn if I've had a beer or two, because my ability to really focus goes way down. But I've also had the experience of getting a bit buzzed and absolutely plowing through a whole bunch of easy-to-write code and enjoying it quite a bit, whereas it was otherwise kind of dull work.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#378Earlier quoted context omitted.
First of all, it should be all tech workers that unionize, not just software engineers. And you should talk to some of your fellow workers and ask if they all think they're being fairly compensated. Even aside from the issue of salary, tech workers are rarely given a fair stake in ownership in the company, and their equity grants often come with lots of clauses to deprive them from what little stake they have. I sugg…
Unions originated as a way to commoditise labor. It has since grown into a way to keep out freelance competitors, and to force employers into doing things (both of which I don't agree with). In terms of commoditsing labor, tech is a very skill specific profession with no cookie cutter employee to sell, which makes it a bad candidate for unions.
It doesn't really matter what unions become in certain cases, does it?
Unions were reinforced by the NLRA to enable workers to bargain collectively. That can mean a lot of things
A union for software engineers is a blank slate. It hasn't been done before. It could be anything someone makes of it.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#379'I pointed out that I was publishing a book with O'Reilly, speaking at major tech conferences, and doing all of the things that you're supposed to do to have an "upward career trajectory", but they said it didn't matter and I needed to prove myself as an engineer.'
Maybe that's why she didn't get a promotion. Personally, I have had colleagues attempt similar things. When they embark on these external endeavors they have significantly reduced quality work in their primary job.
Obviously I don't know this author and I don't work at Uber.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#380Earlier quoted context omitted.
First of all, it should be all tech workers that unionize, not just software engineers. And you should talk to some of your fellow workers and ask if they all think they're being fairly compensated. Even aside from the issue of salary, tech workers are rarely given a fair stake in ownership in the company, and their equity grants often come with lots of clauses to deprive them from what little stake they have. I sugg…
Unions originated as a way to commoditise labor. It has since grown into a way to keep out freelance competitors, and to force employers into doing things (both of which I don't agree with). In terms of commoditsing labor, tech is a very skill specific profession with no cookie cutter employee to sell, which makes it a bad candidate for unions.
This notion that there is a wide distribution in engineer competency has come under a lot of criticism for many reasons (not the least of which being that its often used as a cover for discrimination on the basis of gender): https://lwn.net/Articles/641779/ If you believe there to be such a wide distribution in talent and that salaries at your company are commensurately paid, I suggest you ask your employer if they will disclose every employee's salary and the justification for them.
Even if this we take this for granted, its completely untrue that all unions commoditize a trade by flattening pay. There are plenty of unions that have chosen not to put standardized salaries in contracts or have advocated tiered salary agreements or merit pay. Whether or not these are good things, they are things that unions have done and should dispel with the notion that unions are inflexible towards these concerns by workers.
As for your concern that unions "force employers to do things", well I suggest you consider all of the ways your employer can coerce you to do things and whether you actually have a mutualistic relationship. Many workers don't feel that they do.