The Fall of Travis Kalanick • Hacker News Board

Re: The Fall of Travis Kalanick

#41

Post by ajiang » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 4:54 PM UTC

mercutio2 wrote: post #33

uberemployee wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who is miserable has already left in 2017. Many long time employees are waiting for SoftBank deal to close before leaving which makes sense. They deserve to be enriched for their hard work. But they are only a couple of hundred employees at most. We have 15,000+ employees and 3,000 engineers. I’m extremely proud of the work I’ve done at Uber. I have no worries about finding my next job. I have a laundry list o…

You think bias against someone living in a particular city is comparable to bias against someone voluntarily working for a company with an unprecedented reputation for unethical behavior top to bottom stretching back years and years? My cohort of friends, many of whom are hiring managers, won’t even patronize Uber, much less hire someone who voluntarily worked there without demonstrably showing signs of serious soul…

Seriously? That sounds like quite an exaggeration. Do you believe, in earnest, that all 15,000 people that work at Uber are not worth hiring?

Re: The Fall of Travis Kalanick

#42

Post by fpoijasw » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 4:57 PM UTC

derwiki wrote: post #3

> “Until 2017, you could go into Uber on any given day and half the T-shirts were Uber T-shirts,” says one executive. “They disappeared overnight. People didn’t want to wear Uber stuff.”

Also from the end of 2016 the company encouraged not wearing Uber swag. We had few employees, in I think the middle East, attacked by taxi drivers. They were wearing Uber swag.

Re: The Fall of Travis Kalanick

#43

Post by decacorn » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 4:57 PM UTC

zwily wrote: post #2

If you’ve followed the Kalanick story till now, there’s nothing new in this article. However, it’s interesting to see it all put together. Anyone know what it’s like inside Uber today?

For all the uber employees on here reading and defending their stake in the company, the company culture is absolute garbage, it's truly crap. I was interviewed in 2017 and treated like shit, and by that I mean the worst professional experience in my life. I work at a reputable tech company with very reputable people, and I have never experienced the kind of devious, malicious behavior EVER. I can't wait to out the names of the two uber atg employees responsible. Time's up, dickheads.

Re: The Fall of Travis Kalanick

#44

Post by mieseratte » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 4:59 PM UTC

matte_black wrote: post #23

dawhizkid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking for myself, I worked at Uber in 2015/2016 and did not wear Uber swag in public because I was afraid of awkward encounters with Uber drivers, which happened on several occasions sitting in the car when it somehow became known I was an Uber employee.

Don't companies usually hand out t-shirt swag with their company names on it? Most of the time that I see someone with a company logo on their shirt I do not readily assume they work at that company.

I would never assume someone walking around with a North Face t-shirt works for North Face but tech companies are obscure, especially outside of the big tech cities. If I see someone wearing a t-shirt for a tech company in my city, they more likely than not work for that company. If I saw someone with an Uber shirt I would assume they work for them, and probably as corporate. I can't say I've ever seen a driver wearing Uber swag.

Personally, most company swag I've worn once or twice and then throw in the Goodwill bag. So it's possible there's some random folks wearing a $NoNameCo shirt, but I'd wager they're just as likely recycled into something else.

Re: The Fall of Travis Kalanick

#45

Post by fpoijasw » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:02 PM UTC

decacorn wrote: post #43

zwily wrote: post #2

If you’ve followed the Kalanick story till now, there’s nothing new in this article. However, it’s interesting to see it all put together. Anyone know what it’s like inside Uber today?

For all the uber employees on here reading and defending their stake in the company, the company culture is absolute garbage, it's truly crap. I was interviewed in 2017 and treated like shit, and by that I mean the worst professional experience in my life. I work at a reputable tech company with very reputable people, and I have never experienced the kind of devious, malicious behavior EVER. I can't wait to out the n…

I'm sorry to hear this. Can you describe what happened?

Re: The Fall of Travis Kalanick

#46

Post by walshemj » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:04 PM UTC

mercutio2 wrote: post #33

uberemployee wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who is miserable has already left in 2017. Many long time employees are waiting for SoftBank deal to close before leaving which makes sense. They deserve to be enriched for their hard work. But they are only a couple of hundred employees at most. We have 15,000+ employees and 3,000 engineers. I’m extremely proud of the work I’ve done at Uber. I have no worries about finding my next job. I have a laundry list o…

You think bias against someone living in a particular city is comparable to bias against someone voluntarily working for a company with an unprecedented reputation for unethical behavior top to bottom stretching back years and years? My cohort of friends, many of whom are hiring managers, won’t even patronize Uber, much less hire someone who voluntarily worked there without demonstrably showing signs of serious soul…

Really I have heard reports of much worse about MCI.

Re: The Fall of Travis Kalanick

#47

Post by gwern » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:05 PM UTC

> After Uber’s lawyers insisted the company wouldn’t pay Kamel to clean up Kalanick’s personal scandal, Kalanick agreed to pay Kamel $200,000 out of his own pocket, according to a person familiar with the matter. “The meeting ended on a positive note, and Travis appreciated Mr. Kamel’s openness and forgiveness,” a spokesperson for Kalanick said in a statement.

For $200k for being lectured for a minute, I'd have a lot of openness (of my wallet) and forgiveness too.

Re: The Fall of Travis Kalanick

#48

Post by uberemployee » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:06 PM UTC

decacorn wrote: post #43

zwily wrote: post #2

If you’ve followed the Kalanick story till now, there’s nothing new in this article. However, it’s interesting to see it all put together. Anyone know what it’s like inside Uber today?

For all the uber employees on here reading and defending their stake in the company, the company culture is absolute garbage, it's truly crap. I was interviewed in 2017 and treated like shit, and by that I mean the worst professional experience in my life. I work at a reputable tech company with very reputable people, and I have never experienced the kind of devious, malicious behavior EVER. I can't wait to out the n…

I’m sorry you had a terrible interview experience. In 2017 we hired Gayle Laakmann McDowell (CTCI author) to train engineers on how to interview better and how to design better interview questions that weren’t biased. She held many sessions so hopefully our interviewing experience improves but it’s a skill that needs constant training.

Re: The Fall of Travis Kalanick

#49

Post by decacorn » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:07 PM UTC

fpoijasw wrote: post #45

decacorn wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For all the uber employees on here reading and defending their stake in the company, the company culture is absolute garbage, it's truly crap. I was interviewed in 2017 and treated like shit, and by that I mean the worst professional experience in my life. I work at a reputable tech company with very reputable people, and I have never experienced the kind of devious, malicious behavior EVER. I can't wait to out the n…

I'm sorry to hear this. Can you describe what happened?

No, not at this time. I'm going to make sure the two tech bros get what they deserve, extreme public shaming.

Re: The Fall of Travis Kalanick

#50

Post by mattnewton » Thu, Jan 18, 2018, 5:10 PM UTC

decacorn wrote: post #43

zwily wrote: post #2

If you’ve followed the Kalanick story till now, there’s nothing new in this article. However, it’s interesting to see it all put together. Anyone know what it’s like inside Uber today?

For all the uber employees on here reading and defending their stake in the company, the company culture is absolute garbage, it's truly crap. I was interviewed in 2017 and treated like shit, and by that I mean the worst professional experience in my life. I work at a reputable tech company with very reputable people, and I have never experienced the kind of devious, malicious behavior EVER. I can't wait to out the n…

My only experience with the company was a mutual strong no after the rudest phone screen of my life. I was trying to describe how a toy function like the prompt I had just written would be perfect for property checking (a la quickcheck) and the phone screener stopped me partway and berated me for not “getting” unit tests.