> Uber, however, might be a different story... For years before this, they selected for aggressive employees, who wanted to be owners, not renters.
For a company built on the sharing/renting economy, that's... ironic.
What Companies Mean by Culture Fit
111–120 of 233 posts
Re: What Companies Mean by Culture Fit
#112Good culture fit is when we ask an employee to do something and they do it. A bad fit is someone who occasionally says no. A toxic employee occasionally says no and explains why they won't.
I've always thought being meek and obedient was part and parcel of working for someone else. But I think being a good culture fit is a bit more than that.
Being meek and obedient is part of working for someone else when you have no choice. If you can get a comparable job in a short time, then it's the employers who start needing to be more meek
Re: What Companies Mean by Culture Fit
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
The conversations involved me asking them to talk through the details of their interview process and decision-making. I think there were good incentives for companies be honest (given the context of us matching engineers with them). I did the classification into types of screening after, based on my notes.
I'm still unclear why you would think that people would openly discuss their prejudicial biases when discussing their interview processes and decision making. The behaviour isn't socially desirable, has potentially serious consequences for disclosure ("The Triplebyte people won't work with us because I told them my interview process begins by throwing out all resumes with funny sounding names."), and assumes that the…
There's also a fairly high likelihood that people interviewing are unconsciously bringing in "company culture" bias that they aren't aware of.
Re: What Companies Mean by Culture Fit
#114My experience about 'culture fit' was that it was a code word for ageism. Sometimes they'd be even more direct if I pushed back. This wasn't at the end of a 45 minute interview, it was in the first five minutes after I'd already passed the technical review. Might not be true in every instance, but I absolutely cringe when I hear that phrase.
My experience about 'culture fit' was that it was a code word for ageism.
I've experienced people figuring out my age when looking at my resume, then weirdly warping the questions while accusing me of Googling the answers in response. (Based only on hearing me type. I was scripting a Python script to give the answer.)
Re: What Companies Mean by Culture Fit
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or it's weeding out all the people who promptly forgot all the stuff they could just google because they didn't regularly use it in their last job.
If someone is going to be so prompt and complete at forgetting everything, then they may not have a tickling awareness that something might be up when the occasion to apply 1st principles knowledge does arise. Seriously, if the algorithmic complexity of a shuffling algorithm is going to be a challenge, why even have a degree!? If someone is so good with the forgetting that they can't even apply "n choose m," just wha…
> just what are people paying tens of thousands of dollars a year to learn in college?
I know this wasn't your point, but I would argue that college is a pretty bad investment in terms of a job training program.
Re: What Companies Mean by Culture Fit
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
If too many people are in conflict with existing culture, then maybe the culture itself is a problem.
Maybe, but cultures are relative. If a small subset of the population, 'assholes' prefer to work in an environment with other 'assholes' is it a bad thing that some companies nurture an 'asshole' culture? Provided nothing crosses the bounds of a federally protected class ofc.
Assholery is not just a question of preference. Generally, when we talk about assholes we talk about people who act unethically, lie, take advantage of others, steal whenever they get away with it and so on.
Yes it is bad to build next Enron or Theranos. And yes they will cross bounds of federally protected class, because in asshole culture people need to take advantage of others as much as possible - it is not optional. Taking advantage of protected class is easier then of other groups (in general) so they will.
If we are talking about asshole who are only arrogant or rude, then it matters only when you are loosing customers or cant hire and keep employes due to that (I have seen that happen).
Re: What Companies Mean by Culture Fit
#117I'm in agreement with other commenters here that "culture fit" usually feels like a euphemism for something else. I think what it's really about is explained here in the article: "A single toxic employee who is a bad fit for the existing culture can tank the morale and productivity of an entire team. " So, is there really more to "culture fit" than the No Asshole Rule (1)? If not, can we start calling it what it is:…
50 year old programmer in the middle of an open office with 25 year olds bouncing balls around, playing loud music - bad culture fit. Foreign middle aged man who can't speak the language very good in an environment where native language is important - not a good culture fit. Female 25 year old in a group of 50 year old men who mostly wants to relax at work and are a bit awkward around young women - bad culture fit. V…
50 year old programmer in the middle of an open office with 25 year olds bouncing balls around, playing loud music - bad culture fit.
Really? I'm almost 50 and I'm in an office with a bunch of 20-somethings who like to yo-yo. Music is only on headphones, though.
Female 25 year old in a group of 50 year old men who mostly wants to relax at work and are a bit awkward around young women - bad culture fit.
That's very dependent on the particular people involved. I've been in plenty of contexts where 40 and 50-something men could relax with a 25 year old woman. (Traditional music.) In times past, such a circumstance was pretty normal. People have ways of creating temporary spaces, both exclusive and inclusive. Letting this happen in ways that are positive is how larger gatherings and groups of people are supposed to work. It's where we've mucked about with that, albeit sometimes with the best intentions, where dysfunctions have crept in.
Re: What Companies Mean by Culture Fit
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
If someone is going to be so prompt and complete at forgetting everything, then they may not have a tickling awareness that something might be up when the occasion to apply 1st principles knowledge does arise. Seriously, if the algorithmic complexity of a shuffling algorithm is going to be a challenge, why even have a degree!? If someone is so good with the forgetting that they can't even apply "n choose m," just wha…
> just what are people paying tens of thousands of dollars a year to learn in college? I know this wasn't your point, but I would argue that college is a pretty bad investment in terms of a job training program.
I think a lot of younger folks want to turn it into a 4+ year fun/party camp with minimal training and lots of networking.
Re: What Companies Mean by Culture Fit
#119We joke a lot about that after I was hired as a middle aged coder...
during interview
Boss: "so do you think you can fit in this culture?"
Me: "You mean, do I wear skinny jeans and drink kale smoothies? Probably not, but if you want your work done, does culture fit matter when you have a mile long back log?"
Boss: "good point, so... How does your schedule look for next week?"
it was all history from there.
Re: What Companies Mean by Culture Fit
#120My experience about 'culture fit' was that it was a code word for ageism. Sometimes they'd be even more direct if I pushed back. This wasn't at the end of a 45 minute interview, it was in the first five minutes after I'd already passed the technical review. Might not be true in every instance, but I absolutely cringe when I hear that phrase.
Don't forget about race.
It’s really anything that doesn’t match the team’s (or individual interviewer’s) notion of what a good developer looks like. So it could be how you dress, how you talk, even if you are white and male and not over some age threshold.
And I suspect much of that is not conscious, which of course makes it difficult to talk about and address.