My Google job was tedious and pointless • Hacker News Board

Re: My Google job was tedious and pointless

#111

Post by pc86 » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 6:06 PM UTC

bogomipz wrote: post #91

EasyTiger_ wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-American I'm so glad I don't work in an country where politics seems to create such hysteria in the workplace. I know Trump was a big unexpected shock to many but come on... crying executives, I mean what the hell

>"As a non-American I'm so glad I don't work in an country where politics seems to create such hysteria in the workplace." Your America bashing is completely uncalled for and unwarranted. It's pretty sad that you don't realize that executives getting on stage and crying in front of employees the day after an election is a complete aberration. This was was not and is not commonplace.

I'm an American and I can say without hesitation that in most of the companies I've worked for, executive leadership has been uncomfortably political on both sides of the aisle. Even from the non-partisan side, I worked for a company where the owner decided it was now required that you vote. He didn't care what party you were registered or who you voted for, but if you didn't vote it would be brought up in a review.

And as someone who quite frequently rolls his eyes at the inevitable "As a European.." comments on every American politics or healthcare article posted on HN, I didn't see the GP as America bashing at all.

Re: My Google job was tedious and pointless

#112

Post by untog » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 6:06 PM UTC

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #77

untog wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This post is being downvoted and I wish it wasn't, because it's a great example of the exact issue at hand. You might say that it is overly emotional, or too reactionary, or that the tone isn't appropriate, but think - really think! - what it would be like to wake up one morning to the unexpected shock that a President has been elected on the very possible platform of kicking you out of the country and ruining the li…

> think - really think! - what it would be like to wake up one morning to the unexpected shock that a President has been elected on the very possible platform of kicking you out of the country and ruining the life you built for yourself. Immigration is a political issue that hasn't been properly addressed in decades. H1B visas are good in theory, but companies exploit the system to import cheap foreign labor, hurting…

I don't think anyone is going to dispute the argument you've laid out there, but if you were to do as I suggested and put yourself in the position where your livelihood, home and life are on the line, would you really sit back and think "well, immigration is a political issue that hasn't been properly addressed in decades. H1B visas are good in theory, but..."

Of course you wouldn't! It's silly to expect or demand that of a person. Especially in the 24 hours since their life was turned upside down.

Re: My Google job was tedious and pointless

#113

Post by whipoodle » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 6:06 PM UTC

cromwellian wrote: post #16

ogre_magi wrote: post #12

I worked at Google in a more technical role but I sympathize with this guy. The culture was awful and empty. It was sugar-coated candies and colors and happy, happy, happy like it was meant for a kindergartener. The politics were thick and covered everything. Executives got on stage at a company meeting and cried about the election. It was a cult, and not in the good way that a startup can sometimes be, but in a stal…

To be fair, a lot of people were upset over the election, and given what's happened over the last ten months, those feelings seem to have been justified. But yeah, god damn a company for having a culture where people don't go around acting like jerks towards one another. God forbid we grow out of Kindergarten and get back to the real world where people are unhappy and take out their frustrations by raking their cowor…

Ugh. Please.

Re: My Google job was tedious and pointless

#114

Post by georgiedown » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 6:06 PM UTC

CalChris wrote: post #99

georgiedown wrote: post #23

Why the Damore video without any kind of context? It's like they're trying to push a narrative here.

Just as this HR underling's life is a soulless tedium of selecting stock phrases, that video was chosen automatically (which is to say, even less soullessly) by a context matching algorithm. Now if you think that a narrative is being pushed here then I have a Rorschach test I'd like you to take.

Or maybe it's fucking stupid to have an automatic system picking related videos and inserting them in posts in a way that makes them look like they're the main video of the post.

Re: My Google job was tedious and pointless

#115

Post by cromwellian » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 6:07 PM UTC

maxxxxx wrote: post #32

mulletbum wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? When the election is making their company have a difficult time becoming a more successful work place? I think it's a company, people can say what they like, if Google doesn't like it as a whole, they can fire said employee.

They have all the tools to make their company a better place no matter who is elected. Complaining is just a cheap way to excuse not doing anything.

The purpose is Google's company wide meetings with the executives is not for the Executives to complain, but for the employees to complain and the executives to respond with a plan of action.

In the meeting in question, employees were asking Google how they're going to help stranded employees, how Google is going to protect them, how they can still travel outside the US if their job requires it (e.g. You're a British/Iranian citizen)

Google executives did not get up on stage and given an anti-Trump rant. In fact, as far as I recall, they've never directly insulted Trump the way you can see in major news media, because who wants to make an enemy of the US government and what use would it be to give a political speech? What they did is respond to the concerns of employees, and some of them are immigrants, and got a little choked up with emotion in their voice, because they were shocked too.

My extended family has a lot of first generation immigrants. None of them understand American racism and xenophobia like a native, and they thought it was just focused on Mexicans. The travel bans were the first hammer, the attacks on legal immigration (greencards and bringing family members), Bannon's "There's too many Asian CEOS" hail back to the attitudes of the Chinese exclusion act, and finally Charlottesville, all show the danger of playing around with xenophobia. It doesn't stay contained the way you think, and many educated, elite immigrants were suddenly shocked that they might be affected too.

Re: My Google job was tedious and pointless

#116

Post by otxohcyfycj » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 6:07 PM UTC

FeepingCreature wrote: post #92

untog wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This post is being downvoted and I wish it wasn't, because it's a great example of the exact issue at hand. You might say that it is overly emotional, or too reactionary, or that the tone isn't appropriate, but think - really think! - what it would be like to wake up one morning to the unexpected shock that a President has been elected on the very possible platform of kicking you out of the country and ruining the li…

Sure you can. If you can't be professional in the workplace, take a damn day off. If you can't be professional in front of a crowd , then don't take the stage. Crying is for funerals. And national politics is for soapboxes, not for corporate presentations.

You might need a little emotional maturity. Crying isn't there end of the world, an idiot with nukes is.

Re: My Google job was tedious and pointless

#117

Post by bkeroack » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 6:07 PM UTC

cromwellian wrote: post #79

greggarious wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But yeah, god damn a company for having a culture where people don't go around acting like jerks towards one another. God forbid we grow out of Kindergarten and get back to the real world where people are unhappy and take out their frustrations by raking their coworkers verbally over the coals. The idea that as long as you aren't yelling, swearing, or actively insulting someone you are not treating them poorly is on…

Google has lots of polite disagreement internally, just look at Steve Yegge's memos.

Counter-example: Michael Church (who was also aggressively banned from HN, not coincidentally)

Re: My Google job was tedious and pointless

#118

Post by throwawaymaroon » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 6:07 PM UTC

jrs95 wrote: post #72

s73ver_ wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a HUGE difference between "a president you don't like" and "a president who's entire platform was removing people like you from the country".

I didn't realize Google employed illegal immigrants.

It's funny watching you lot struggle with the realization that your unpopularity is deserved.

Re: My Google job was tedious and pointless

#119

Post by asdfaefasdf » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 6:07 PM UTC

Apocryphon wrote: post #20

cromwellian wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, a lot of people were upset over the election, and given what's happened over the last ten months, those feelings seem to have been justified. But yeah, god damn a company for having a culture where people don't go around acting like jerks towards one another. God forbid we grow out of Kindergarten and get back to the real world where people are unhappy and take out their frustrations by raking their cowor…

You can probably create a positive company culture with a cheerful atmosphere without primary school aesthetics.

I'm genuinely amazed that some people can have such strong feelings about something so trivial as what color a bikeshed is.

Re: My Google job was tedious and pointless

#120

Post by whipoodle » Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 6:07 PM UTC

hsod wrote: post #105

ogre_magi wrote: post #12

I worked at Google in a more technical role but I sympathize with this guy. The culture was awful and empty. It was sugar-coated candies and colors and happy, happy, happy like it was meant for a kindergartener. The politics were thick and covered everything. Executives got on stage at a company meeting and cried about the election. It was a cult, and not in the good way that a startup can sometimes be, but in a stal…

I've noticed a TON of conversation on HN lately about how emotional/hysterical anti-Trump people are. Aside from the obvious fallacy (being emotional doesn't make you wrong), I think it's part of the anti-anti-Trump phenomenon: most people can't bring themselves to actually defend Trump but they are so annoyed by liberals that they devote their political energy to mocking and minimizing his critics. My take: bad thin…

Well said