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Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

susanjfowler.com

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Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#731

Post by chimeracoder »

Apocryphon wrote: post #478
home_boi wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm of the opinion that the average software engineer in the USA is already overpaid and underworked with excellent benefits and low incentive to unionize. I'm simplifying it a bit but if you don't like your job, just grab a copy of Cracking the Coding Interview and apply to big companies. The big companies pay very well, have good benefits and interview everyone because of the need for a high head count

Doctors, lawyers, professional athletes, and leading Hollywood actors and actresses might all be overpaid relative to other professions, and yet they all have professional organizations, even unions, representing them. What makes software engineers so exceptional?

> Doctors, ... might all be overpaid relative to other professions, and yet they... have professional organizations, even unions, representing them

Doctors do not have professional organizations or unions representing them.

The AMA is frequently mis-cited by people not familiar with the industry as a union, but it's not one at all. Only 25% of doctors are members of the AMA (most of them only because they require licenses to CPT codes, which the AMA has a monopoly over) and the AMA does not advocate for physicians' interests.

In no meaningful sense does the AMA "represent" doctors at large.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#732

Post by azernik »

kevinburke wrote: post #197

Mike Isaac (reporter for the New York Times) is collecting more stories of harassment & toxic work environment at Uber: https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac/status/833445850130944000

Hopefully he can turn the story around fast enough to get in while public attention is focused here.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#733

Post by obstinate »

x0x0 wrote: post #409
ChuckMcM wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Top engineers were being poached from Google/FB and these people > were trying to carve out territory in a quickly growing engineering > team. It is always a bit sad when one of the top characteristic of an engineer from organization X is their political ability to carve out an empire. I'm a bit surprised she doesn't have at least one law firm trying to get her to be the lead claimant in a class action lawsuit. See…

My partner was in a somewhat similar position. When she spoke to a lawyer, the lawyer asked her two questions: 1 - did she ever want to work in X industry again / was she comfortable with being blacklisted, legal or not; 2 - was she comfortable with this being what she did with the next two years of her life It's a harder decision to make than you think. Not to mention the unrelenting wave of assholery that would be…

Thank you for the context. I have to admit that this thought did cross my mind. I wish Uber would be forced to pay dearly for their treatment of Ms. Fowler, but I don't want Ms. Fowler to be the one that has to sweat to make that happen.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#734

Post by chimeracoder »

knucklesandwich wrote: post #436
morgante wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People hear the term "union" and they think "shop rules" and "union contract salary". The problem is that a significant number of the people who push "unions" (especially on places like HN) are actually trying to push for those things. Just look in this thread to find people arguing over whether there actually are large differences in developer performance. If people want a professional association (I do!) let's ca…

Hi, I assume you're talking about me (the person above expressing some skepticism about the 10x programmer thing). I'm actually open to be proven wrong, but I'm not sure that makes much of a difference in terms of how compensation is justified in the real world (again, ask your employer to provide justification for salaries if you think 10x programmers exist and they are paid as such). Whether or not I'm right, I'm o…

> The AMA for example, does not engage in collective bargaining with the management of a hospital and has no legal right to compel such a thing under the NLRA. The AMA does however lobby politicians and puts its people on medical boards to limit the supply of doctors.

This is a common misconception.

The AMA does not limit the supply of doctors. The AAMC (used to) limit the supply of doctors, but (a) they have been trying for the last 10+ years to increase that, and (b) the actual number of practicing physicians is bottlenecked by funding for residency positions, which is funded by Medicare, not the AMA or AAMC. The AMA has actually lobbied to increase funding for GME, which would increase the supply of practicing physicians.

The AMA does not represent doctors in any meaningful sense - only 25% of physicians belong to the AMA, and only because membership is required for licensing the CPT codes that those doctors need for billing. The AMA does not consistently advocate for physicians' best interests, and in the last couple of decades, it has actually consistently sided against physicians' best interests.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#735

Post by freyr »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #263
uber_eng_throw wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hijacking this top comment to provide some personal experiences. I started as an engineer in the spring of 2014 and this was definitely the case there. Top engineers were being poached from Google/FB and these people were trying to carve out territory in a quickly growing engineering team. The misogynistic culture, in my mind, comes from most of the early employees being former frat bros. Culture was extremely heavy…

> Top engineers were being poached from Google/FB and these people > were trying to carve out territory in a quickly growing engineering > team. It is always a bit sad when one of the top characteristic of an engineer from organization X is their political ability to carve out an empire. I'm a bit surprised she doesn't have at least one law firm trying to get her to be the lead claimant in a class action lawsuit. See…

> It is always a bit sad when one of the top characteristic of an engineer from organization X is their political ability to carve out an empire.

When Organization X consistently scoops up the top graduates from the top schools, they end up with a glut of very smart engineers, most of whom are probably overqualified for their day-to-day work. Since brains and talent aren't distinguishing qualities, political cunning becomes the key differentiator.

> I'm a bit surprised she doesn't have at least one law firm trying to get her to be the lead claimant in a class action lawsuit.

Who's to say she doesn't? She just posted the article.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#736

Post by fullshark »

curiousDog wrote: post #39

Uber seems like one of the worst companies to work for right now. I don't understand why there are hordes of Google and Facebook engineers still leaving to work there. Is the pay really that good?

Anecdotally the fact that the office is in SF is a major reason. I also think many later hires at those companies feel like they missed out on the early days and want to go to Uber.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#737

Post by brongondwana »

jackweirdy wrote: post #13

> 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…

I complained to HR that it was 16 degrees one day and 26 the next when the air conditioning was being awful and was actually told "first you complain it's too cold, and now you complain it's too hot". Duh, because it was too cold and then it was too hot. You get some classy responses when people don't want to deal with stuff.

Re: Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

#740

Post by tajen »

rhizome wrote: post #147
angry-hacker wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are used to break the laws, it's called disruption, I think.

As someone who was truly frustrated with the taxi system for years, to the degree of refusing to use them hardly at all, I don't mind so much Uber breaking outdated laws (I do believe some kind of taxi commission is warranted in general) so much as the results of their business model: replacing one mafia with another. That a secondary effect is to flood the streets with even more batshit-awful drivers is proof that t…

It could even be worded like this: Given most taxis across the world provide a dodgy service and hijack fees way above official metered levels (or hijack meters or add luggage fees or spend 20 minutes negociating the fare after you've made them aware you're in a hurry for a flight) to the point that most middle-class doesn't use them, ... is replacing this mafia with a batshit-awful company still a progress?

As long as the middle-class now can afford taxis on a regular basis, and the offer of drivers is in an all-time high, with better control of driver and passenger identities, then it's an economical plus for the society. Of course there's Lyft and Grab too.

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