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What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

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Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#201

Post by DoreenMichele »

cgh wrote: post #194
DoreenMichele wrote: post #101

In many ways, the piece is basically a story about someone young and naive becoming an adult, so to speak. That process gets conflated with "working for Microsoft." I'm a former military wife. The military does a lot of moving around. Affairs are common when spouses are separated. Etc. So that kind of thing is hardly something peculiar to Microsoft. It also sounds like she is European and speaks English as a second l…

No offence, but if you’ve never worked in the particular cult-like pressure cooker that is Big Tech, then you can’t relate. The article was not about culture shock.

I worked at a Fortune 200 company for a time. It wasn't big tech. It was a very famous insurance company. It also had a cult-like atmosphere and many people there felt it was the biggest thing that had ever happened to them.

I'm a former military wife. So I was involved in protecting national security while changing diapers and generally being viewed by the planet as a big fat nothing homemaker. "Loose lips sink ships."

So I viewed my corporate job as merely a day job of no special importance, thus I was not sucked into the cult-like atmosphere of the place. I imagine I would be equally resistant to the cult-like atmosphere at a tech company.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#202

Post by pixelrevision »

watwut wrote: post #173
neilv wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shortchanging non-work life for several years is not specific to "tech". The ~30yo dating pool in Boston was a wealth of people who'd been focused on grad school, med school/residency, and making partner in a law firm. Many people consider career focus a good investment, in those fields. (Though many manage to do both, and some others try but fail to do both.)

The difference is that in tech you have a choice and in medicine you don't.

Medicine also tends to have more clear career tracks. Tech will run you into the ground and discard you if you are not careful and creative about where you go and how you go about it.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#203

Post by pixelrevision »

I think the hardest part for me to think about when I read these articles is that this is an industry with a purpose of making quality of life better for people. If the people involved in designing these products can’t figure out how to make a 40 hour work week work or be compassionate to their coworkers what kind of expectations are going to start slipping into their products?

I do get that right now that a modern tech company is competing under “winner take all” scenarios so this stuff is hard to avoid. But it really does seem like we need to stop and reflect a bit on what the importance is of the things we are building.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#204

Post by lame88 »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #101

In many ways, the piece is basically a story about someone young and naive becoming an adult, so to speak. That process gets conflated with "working for Microsoft." I'm a former military wife. The military does a lot of moving around. Affairs are common when spouses are separated. Etc. So that kind of thing is hardly something peculiar to Microsoft. It also sounds like she is European and speaks English as a second l…

I wrote a longer response to this, but forget it. Suffice to say, you're conflating your experience with hers, you're generalizing away the problem, and you're making conjectures with little basis. This is typical material for top ranked HN comments, which irresponsibly go beyond skepticism to just blanket dismiss concerns when Big Co's reputation is on the line. This argument boils down to "that's how it is".

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#205

Post by simondedalus »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #201
cgh wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offence, but if you’ve never worked in the particular cult-like pressure cooker that is Big Tech, then you can’t relate. The article was not about culture shock.

I worked at a Fortune 200 company for a time. It wasn't big tech. It was a very famous insurance company. It also had a cult-like atmosphere and many people there felt it was the biggest thing that had ever happened to them. I'm a former military wife. So I was involved in protecting national security while changing diapers and generally being viewed by the planet as a big fat nothing homemaker. "Loose lips sink ship…

Maybe your experience is “another interesting perspective worth writing about or considering” and not a refutation of the author’s experience and her conclusions about what it meant.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#206

Post by dreamcompiler »

phs318u wrote: post #168
hamburglar wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a huge difference between a luxury and something that indicates you have achieved a lavish and impressive lifestyle. A cup of coffee at starbucks is a luxury.

Off topic warning. > A cup of coffee are starbucks is a luxury. In Melbourne, Australia a coffee at Starbucks is considered: 1. A sign that you’re a tourist. 2. A sign that you’re a masochist. 3. A cry for help. 4. All of the above. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself :)

In Seattle, the corporate home of Starbucks, it's exactly the same :-)

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#207

Post by throwmeaway1235 »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #201
cgh wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offence, but if you’ve never worked in the particular cult-like pressure cooker that is Big Tech, then you can’t relate. The article was not about culture shock.

I worked at a Fortune 200 company for a time. It wasn't big tech. It was a very famous insurance company. It also had a cult-like atmosphere and many people there felt it was the biggest thing that had ever happened to them. I'm a former military wife. So I was involved in protecting national security while changing diapers and generally being viewed by the planet as a big fat nothing homemaker. "Loose lips sink ship…

> So I was involved in protecting national security

How. By bombing some random people in the desert who never did anything to you or your family? All you Americans should get a grip. Build a wall and stay behind it. "We found weapons of mass destruction" my ass.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#208

Post by DoreenMichele »

simondedalus wrote: post #205
DoreenMichele wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at a Fortune 200 company for a time. It wasn't big tech. It was a very famous insurance company. It also had a cult-like atmosphere and many people there felt it was the biggest thing that had ever happened to them. I'm a former military wife. So I was involved in protecting national security while changing diapers and generally being viewed by the planet as a big fat nothing homemaker. "Loose lips sink ship…

Maybe your experience is “another interesting perspective worth writing about or considering” and not a refutation of the author’s experience and her conclusions about what it meant.

My original comment wasn't intended as refutation of anything. It was intended to offer a broader perspective on her piece.

She waited 18 months to say publicly what she thought about it. She's still quite young and 18 months is not a lot of time in the grand scheme of things.

I'm 53. I had an affair in my twenties. I then read as much research as I could get my hands on.

Some common themes:

People frequently are unfaithful while physically separated from their spouse. It's a common feeling that it somehow doesn't count if you are far apart. In fact, some people use that stance as justification to have an ongoing long distance affair.

Affairs are common in stressful situations. When things are overwhelming, humans have a weird habit of reaching for a smidgen of distraction and comfort amid the chaos.

Although popular opinion is that affairs ruin relationships, cause and effect almost always runs the other direction: Affairs don't kill relationships. Instead, relationships in their death throes foster affairs.

I generally consider 18 months to not be a whole lot of time to gain perspective on international and cross cultural experiences. Cultures and nation's tend to be far older than the individuals in them and it can take quite a long time to digest the intersection where two such things meet in one person's life and, unfortunately, all too often grind on that specific individual.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#209

Post by DoreenMichele »

lame88 wrote: post #204
DoreenMichele wrote: post #101

In many ways, the piece is basically a story about someone young and naive becoming an adult, so to speak. That process gets conflated with "working for Microsoft." I'm a former military wife. The military does a lot of moving around. Affairs are common when spouses are separated. Etc. So that kind of thing is hardly something peculiar to Microsoft. It also sounds like she is European and speaks English as a second l…

I wrote a longer response to this, but forget it. Suffice to say, you're conflating your experience with hers, you're generalizing away the problem, and you're making conjectures with little basis. This is typical material for top ranked HN comments, which irresponsibly go beyond skepticism to just blanket dismiss concerns when Big Co's reputation is on the line. This argument boils down to "that's how it is".

I am not blanket dismissing her concerns, nor am I making the argument that "that's how it is."

I'm quite surprised this has gotten so many upvotes. I generally do not feel I am responsible for how other people react to my comments. I certainly don't run around trying to figure out how to be the top comment.

I'm a demographic outlier here. I try to give my point of view as best I can, knowing that it will often be neither respected nor appreciated.

If people want to talk about BigCo, they are free to do so. But understanding how much of her story can be reasonably attributed to the company and how much to other things is the best way to criticize a company, if that is your desire. If you blame them for everything, people stop listening and won't take even legitimate criticisms seriously.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#210

Post by aerovistae »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #209
lame88 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wrote a longer response to this, but forget it. Suffice to say, you're conflating your experience with hers, you're generalizing away the problem, and you're making conjectures with little basis. This is typical material for top ranked HN comments, which irresponsibly go beyond skepticism to just blanket dismiss concerns when Big Co's reputation is on the line. This argument boils down to "that's how it is".

I am not blanket dismissing her concerns, nor am I making the argument that "that's how it is." I'm quite surprised this has gotten so many upvotes. I generally do not feel I am responsible for how other people react to my comments. I certainly don't run around trying to figure out how to be the top comment. I'm a demographic outlier here. I try to give my point of view as best I can, knowing that it will often be ne…

Do keep in mind that probably hundreds or thousands of people have read your comment here without reacting; these few negative replies are an extreme minority of the total population your words have reached.
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