OK, so I had no clue who Susan Fowler was. And now I am impressed: https://fledglingphysicist.com/2013/12/12/if-susan-can-learn... https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-l...
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Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
611–620 of 1001 posts
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#612Earlier quoted context omitted.
The story got picked up by the Verge, and there's a response from Uber's CEO... http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/19/14664474/uber-sexism-alleg...
The fact that the story got the traction it did means that the response couldn't have possibly been anything other than what it was (disgust and a promise to look into it). Even if the CEO was directly responsible for this culture the response would be the same. I don't think it's possible to extract anything meaningful from it whatsoever at this point.
He did box himself in a bit with "...will be fired". At least boxed into firing somebody. Not at all saying his outrage is genuine, but initial corporate responses don't usually go that far.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#613Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anecdotally speaking, I've noticed that Uber has become a dirty word among my friends. For example, someone using Uber will generally just say that they're calling a car rather than naming the service. Lyft doesn't have the same stigma. It should be concerning to management that the company's ethos is repelling customers. Edit: Management should be far more concerned that Uber is allegedly an environment that systema…
I don't think there is any stigma associated with Uber in Chicago. A lot of people will even say "I'm calling an Uber" even when they're using Lyft (name brand effect).
Definitely true. Case study in "any publicity is good publicity" -- they're always in the news as the assholes, but the market reality is it's a better service than waving your hand and maybe having a cab stop where the first thing the guy says is "meter is broken, cash only".
The services are more or less identical, but I always feel like I'm in the minority when I tell friends I'm calling a lyft.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#614What'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.
Learnt that lesson the hard way - as an independent consultant working with local businesses, did some work with a seemingly successful guy who boasted about how he always got a good deal/complained about service and got money back etc. Surprise, surprise, a month later he did that to me too, including stupid petty things like trying to pay the invoice without the VAT. What goes around comes around. I still support o…
Over the years I've learned that most of the time people tell you they are going to rip you off before hand. Not flat out directly, but they'll provide deliberate warnings because it makes it makes it easier to rationalize what they are going to do. The best test for whether or not someone will pay me is whether or not they will write me a check up front. People who intend to pay are ok with it, people who don't intend to pay aren't.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#615> The HR rep began the meeting by asking me if I had noticed that I was the common theme in all of the reports I had been making That's such a meaningless thing for an HR person to ask someone, that it clearly only serves to be patronising and hopefully stop them bringing problems up. I mean, how could you as an HR staffer possibly justify your inaction with an argument like that? "We didn't act on any of their compl…
Is anyone versed enough in common HR practices to actually explain this behavior? It seems much more likely that this is some perverse instantiation of an aggressive incentive to the HR team that actual incompetence. Is Uber rewarding HR for minimizing actions taken?
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#616Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Culture was extremely heavy on the drinking;" For me this is a red flag. Booze + programming == pissed programming This leads to bad code also bad team dynamics. Ultimately this will reflect on the product and bottom line. For individuals this reads like a culture where the barrel is creating ^bad apples^. Not a good look on a resume.
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)…
I can do exploratory coding when drinking, but I won't waste my time or an employers trying to write production code while drinking. As you note, it just doesn't work.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#617Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are huge professional and personal costs to suing. She has done more by most to protect others by going public. Isn't her job to fix Uber via lawsuit.
Someone needs to do it. It's not any particular person's duty, and she has definitely gone above and beyond by writing this up, but it would be a great public service for someone to bring a (preferably class-action) lawsuit.
> she has definitely gone above and beyond by writing this up
I would hazard a guess and say that she is doing this to market her newly published book and newly created book club than. Not really altruistic, although it may have a positive effect.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#618Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 w…
Rock stars don't need unions.
No, but they do need industry-savy managers and agents working for them to ensure they get the best deal.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#619I have generally been skeptical about joining Uber. I was in the job market a couple of months back and was always apprehensive when interacting with their HR. I have received recruiting mails from them indicating that I would be lucky to work at Uber, instead of the opposite tone in general. Uber is probably losing many potential employees due to this.
There is no answer to the retort that Uber is successful. If that was the only guiding light for humanity, then we should just be living as savages surviving on who can punch the hardest.
Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber
#620In case anyone isn't sure why the original interaction is harassment: relationships within a reporting chain are generally prohibited, for both legal, ethical, and practical reasons. Sex becoming part of the effective job description crosses both legal and ethical lines, and team effectiveness is hindered when people wonder whether someone is getting special treatment because they're sleeping with the boss. A manager…
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