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Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber

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

#801

Post by tommorris »

mncolinlee wrote: post #669
blhack wrote: post #277

Earlier 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)…

There is something called the Ballmer Peak, which has even been demonstrated in one study. Up to a point, the theory goes, creative work benefits from mild intoxication. Beyond that point, productivity goes out the window. For me, I believe that point is around two drinks. For you, it could be teaspoons. Either way, I wouldn't generally drink before the end of the work day. Personally, I find coding is hardest when y…

> There is something called the Ballmer Peak

Wait, we're citing XKCD comics now as if they are peer-reviewed scientific journals?

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

#802

Post by tomp »

mightykan wrote: post #541
BinaryIdiot wrote: post #139

I may have experienced a little bit of sexual harassment in my youth when working at a local McDonald's but, being a guy, it was the only time and I was able to put a stop to be rather quickly. However, being in software engineering for the past 12 years, I have seen the sexual harassment of several women all of which never saw a proper resolution. For instance I worked at a small company that was later bought by a l…

We should teach our sons to truly respect women. We should teach our sons to be respectful honest decent human beings. We should teach our sons to not be assholes who think they are entitled to a woman’s body. We should teach our sons to be humans with emotions and empathy for others. We should teach our sons to not be toxic despicable entitled pathetic beings. It’s on us (men). If we behave badly, it’s squarely on u…

Can you write an even more sexist comment? Why not teach our children instead to respect other people?!

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

#803

Post by tommorris »

chimeracoder wrote: post #731
Apocryphon wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 lic…

That's just in the US though. There's a whole world out there that is not the United States.

The British Medical Association certainly claims to be a trade union.

https://www.bma.org.uk/about-us/bma-as-a-trade-union

And they have engaged in collective action - e.g. the junior doctors strike.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/01/what-you-nee...

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

#804

Post by patricius »

edent wrote: post #791
patricius wrote: post #763

Whenever I hear about a case of a woman being harassed at work, I can't help but wonder how I would react in a similar situation. I am male and I have never experienced workplace harrassment, but if a female co-worker started writing things like those in the story I can't imagine that it would annoy me the slightest. If she was attractive, I would probably be flattered. If it _did_ annoy me, I would ask the person to…

Imagine, just for a moment that it was your boss harassing you. They have the power to fire you, or make your life hell. Now imagine that they are physically stronger than you. There is a high likelihood of them being able to over-power you. Now imagine you live in a culture where rape cases are rarely prosecuted and, when they are, rarely successful. Now imagine that you also live in a culture which refuses to conde…

If all those things were true, an HR department might not be able to help you in any case. An HR department doesn't make you physically stronger. They do not have control over the culture in general, and do not prosecute rape cases. They do not control the minds of people that may think you were asking for it.

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

#805

Post by OOPMan »

This blog post has further confirmed something I've thought for a long time.

Avoid working at companies with HR departments. In order to have an HR department a company has to be big enough to support a population of what I like to call "floaters".

No, I'm not referring to those visual artifacts... No, I'm not referring to people who aren't attached to teams...

I am referring to turds, of course.

Furthermore, the larger the HR department the more likely there is to be a turd infestation of horrific proportions.

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

#806

Post by soneca »

lordnacho wrote: post #792
soneca wrote: post #167

In São Paulo, where I live, taxi apps appeared a couple of years before Uber entering the market. It took the market by storm, so every single cab had to be in at least one the two major apps (Easytaxi and 99taxi). It was easy, fast and safe to call a cab anytime. But it was still expensive. Uber came with its black cars. No one bothered. But Uber came with UberX and then Uber pool. It was a revolution, 50% cheaper.…

Ignoring all the bad press they've gotten lately, this is a major issue in their business model. I just don't see why the cab business should present an opportunity that requires a landgrab on a global scale. Something like Facebook, sure. You need to be the social network with everyone on it. A cab company? It doesn't sound like it matters whether it's Uber or some local competitor. Internet is going to be cheap mos…

And international travelers are not that big of a customer base. There is no barrier to entry in this market. This is why laws like 'medallions' (and following corruption) were created in the first place to protect the monopoly and interests of the first cab drivers.

This monopoly has led to a mix of expensive prices, poor service and unsafe conditions (with every place having its own local flavor of its mix - in SP is basically just the expensive price; in Rio de Janeiro is mostly the other two).

Uber found an innovative way of breaking this monopoly. But... without creating any other barrier except money to keep its prices artificially low. But cheap money doesn't last forever. And Uber is not the only company with access to money in the world.

As soon as the competitors stop fighting Uber in the court or in the town halls and start fighting back in the market, Uber's business flaws will show up.

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

#807

Post by chimeracoder »

epmaybe wrote: post #794
chimeracoder wrote: post #731

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 lic…

The AMA doesn't advocate for physician interests? How so? As a student member of the AMA, I can attest that they aren't the most effective organization, but they do plenty to further physician interests. I think what you're likely getting at is how heterogenous physician interests are considering each specialty.

> The AMA doesn't advocate for physician interests? How so?

The AMA sometimes does things that align with doctors' interests, but only incidentally. It's allegiance is to itself as an institution, not to doctors, and it will further its own interests over doctors' every time the two collide.

As one example listed upthread, they advocate increasing the supply of physicians to lower physician salaries, which is directly against doctors' interests but in line with their own. Similarly, their stranglehold over CPT codes undeniably harms physicians and places them under even more control of payers' interests, but because it provides the AMA with a monopoly stream of revenue, the AMA clutches to it.

> I think what you're likely getting at is how heterogenous physician interests are considering each specialty.

I wasn't, but incidentally, that's the exact problem that unions do have. The leadership has the incentive to throw minority group interests under the bus in order to appease the majority of its membership. Closed shops (the AMA would not be one) are the most ruthless, because the only alternative their members have is to find employment in another industry altogether.

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

#808

Post by monodeldiablo »

jacques_chester wrote: post #386
blhack wrote: post #277

Earlier 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)…

Alcohol increases confidence in one's abilities. Everyone has some skill they insist they are "better at" when drunk.

From what I understand, there's a substantial body of research indicating that a slight suppression of the prefrontal cortex can reduce the sorts of inhibitive filters that constrain creative thought. Too much, obviously, and you impair your cognitive ability. Too little, and self-doubt and over-analysis rules.

Anecdotally, I've noticed that I'm significantly more fluent in my third language when I've had a drink or two. I get many, many more compliments. When I'm totally sober, I tend to trip up more and overthink the grammar.

There are lots of ways to reduce a hyperactive prefrontal cortex, including training (practicing art, meditating, etc.), but alcohol is by far the cheapest, quickest, and easiest.

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

#809

Post by otikik »

zigzigzag wrote: post #789
BinaryIdiot wrote: post #139

I may have experienced a little bit of sexual harassment in my youth when working at a local McDonald's but, being a guy, it was the only time and I was able to put a stop to be rather quickly. However, being in software engineering for the past 12 years, I have seen the sexual harassment of several women all of which never saw a proper resolution. For instance I worked at a small company that was later bought by a l…

No offence intended, and I realise the detail at the end about picking up the photo seals it for you, but you do realise that sometimes women lie, right? Unless there was written evidence or some other mitigating detail that was unmentioned, it sounds like you wanted the boss to be automatically fired based on nothing more than an accusation from a woman. I've been in your bosses position, though not in a sex-related…

You might have missed this part:

> I made sure to cite it along with his frequent trips to our area where, when she wasn't there, would pick up her photo of her and her boyfriend and just stare at it along with his fraudulent billing of clients

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

#810

Post by mysticmarvel »

wz1000 wrote: post #788
knucklesandwich wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech workers (across all disciplines) need to unionize to combat this kind of thing. As has been pointed out below, HR that is staffed and incentivized by the company management only serves the interests of the management. A union is the only structure that can actually win demands for workers by organizing workers to withhold their labor. It's not a panacea, and there are several historical examples of union leaders…

> It's not a panacea, and there are several historical examples of union leadership betraying the trust of workers and neglecting the demands of the most marginalized members (such as the UAW in 1941), but a union correctly structured and rooted in worker solidarity is the only proven way to fight management on these kinds of issues. Thats why the IWW exists, and they desperately need members. They refuse to cooperat…

Good god... I just Google'd the IWW. Their website looks, at a glance, like a militant extreme left group. From the hard white-and-red on black colour scheme through to a photo of two people in fatigues carrying AK-style weapons next to an advert for a highly politically charged event.

If they want more members, they might want to tone down the "militant" imagery. I'm uncomfortable being associated with that.

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