This is the most shocking part
> “the only way to deal with all the heads of the medusa is to no-platform all of them.”
Shouldn't it rather be the heads of the hydra ?
Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
141–150 of 245 posts
Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
puts on international hat Actually, all of you Westerners[1] are rich entitled whiners. You have consistent access to clean water that comes straight to your house, you even have a house, with insulation and carpets no less. You have a cornucopia of diverse and nutritious foods, and your social institutions will even feed you if you're poor! Not only do you have all these necessities, even your poor people have opule…
A $2000 rusty car, a $40 used tv, and any cellphone made in the last 10 years do not equal opulent expensive toys in my eyes. There are homeless people with these three things. The 'welfare queen' of your conservative fantasies does not actually exist.
That's exactly the point. Even homeless Westerners have access to expensive toys. And opulent wealth is taken for granted so much that Westerners don't even see owning a rusty car, used tv, and cellphone as noteworthy.
Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
#143I find it somewhat hypocritical that this article describes Google as a safe haven of dissent and open discussion, while it is pretty unanimous that expressing even slightly right-of-center opinions at Google will have you ostracized and possibly fired.
Google circa 2010 and Google circa 2019 are very different companies.
The article did a good job of explaining the events that led to that. Basically just a bunch of internal controversies involving shit-slinging, leaks, and basically what has become the standard for internet discussion in the past few years have combined to erode the trust and protections employees had to openly discuss even their far-right/left beliefs without retaliation.
Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
My inside-FAAMNG experience has been that most employees seem to be not interested in the politics and are primarily focused on doing good work (people in their 20s), or on putting in their 8 hours and going home to their families (people >30 mostly, of course they also want to do good work, just have additional new priorities in a young family). Then there is a vocal minority who leverage that no individual's perfor…
That majority of people can afford to focus on work or put in their 8 hours and go back to their families thanks to a "vocal minority" which was able to convince others in the past to fight for new rights and for what's right. Obviously some people think there's more to life than cashing a large paycheck and writing code. "Not interested in politics" is an euphemism for clueless and easy to manipulate by those that a…
> "Not interested in politics" is an euphemism for clueless and easy to manipulate by those that are.
Or a polite way of saying "I fundamentally disagree with you but don't feel like getting into a debate at work, please leave me alone."
That there exists a vocal minority does not mean they are right. There exists vocal minorities calling for the dissolution of most of your most fundamental rights.
Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
My inside-FAAMNG experience has been that most employees seem to be not interested in the politics and are primarily focused on doing good work (people in their 20s), or on putting in their 8 hours and going home to their families (people >30 mostly, of course they also want to do good work, just have additional new priorities in a young family). Then there is a vocal minority who leverage that no individual's perfor…
That majority of people can afford to focus on work or put in their 8 hours and go back to their families thanks to a "vocal minority" which was able to convince others in the past to fight for new rights and for what's right. Obviously some people think there's more to life than cashing a large paycheck and writing code. "Not interested in politics" is an euphemism for clueless and easy to manipulate by those that a…
"Not interested in politics" is an euphemism for clueless and easy to manipulate by those that are.
Conversely, there are also those who are "too political" and want to bring their politics into every aspect of their lives and the lives of those around them. People like this can be as toxic as those they are speaking out against.
Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
#146Everyone here seems to think that if you have a good job you shouldn't be involved in labor organizing, because everyone else has it worse? Isn't the point that everyone should be organizing because working conditions everywhere are much worse than they could be, and the organizing at Google is a case study for how organizing works at one particularly unusual company?
Furthermore, those who have a good job are the most empowered to organize because they don't have to worry about how they will put bread on the table.
Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
#147I sense there are certain parallels between this article and the one recently on HN about the challenges at Yale. As an "outsider" to both Yale and Google, I admit the problems in both cases seem over-wrought, but I can't deny that the people involved feel very emotionally invested so I am still curious to see what can be learned.
Both articles present insider perspectives lamenting how internal conflicts within highly exclusive organizations were pushed into the public sphere through leaking and protesting. Both organizations are experiencing disconnects between people in various roles (admins vs students, execs vs employees) and a sense of loss of culture.
So my thoughts are:
- is this a generational culture shift? Less trust in internal systems and better access to outside publishing means young people aren't making a real effort to stay within the system to discuss?
- is "internal transparency" an impossible thing at scale in the modern era? Keeping things internally private doesn't work because you only need one bad actor out of thousands to leak everything?
- are the culture of Yale and Google really that special, or were they just really well marketed? Why are people so personally and emotionally invested in these organisations? Are all big orgs like this now, or were the cultures at these particular spots just well evolved for loyal following?
Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where do you see significantly better salaries? You might be ignoring the stock compensation which is basically like cash for an established stable company like Google
This is actually a common complaint on Blind (anonymous social networking site). Google seems to consistently low ball relative to other companies (Facebook, Apple, uber, etc.) Obviously depends on the team/role but seems like google is trying to leverage its “prestigious brand” to pay less
exactly this.
Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
#149Do Google employees understand that most people hate their jobs and you work because you have to?
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in action.
I never know how seriously to take Maslow. It resonates intuitively for some people I guess. But he just made the theory up. There's not a lot of scientific evidence to support it.
"In their extensive review of research based on Maslow's theory, Wahba and Bridwell found little evidence for the ranking of needs that Maslow described or for the existence of a definite hierarchy at all"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs#Cr...
Re: Three Years of Misery Inside Google, the Happiest Company in Tech
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
That majority of people can afford to focus on work or put in their 8 hours and go back to their families thanks to a "vocal minority" which was able to convince others in the past to fight for new rights and for what's right. Obviously some people think there's more to life than cashing a large paycheck and writing code. "Not interested in politics" is an euphemism for clueless and easy to manipulate by those that a…
>That majority of people can afford to focus on work or put in their 8 hours and go back to their families thanks to a "vocal minority" which was able to convince others in the past to fight for new rights and for what's right. That it is due to a vocal minority doesn't mean it is due to this vocal minority. Not all vocal minorities are equal, and nor should all vocal minorities be treated alike. Freedom of speech is…
>That it is due to a vocal minority doesn't mean it is due to this vocal minority. Not all vocal minorities are equal, and nor should all vocal minorities be treated alike.
This is obvious and should go without saying. The parent comment gave an example of a positive consequence of an instance of this so-called "vocal minority", since the grandparent comment left no room for any positive angle on this.
I'm seriously confused how this translates into treating all "vocal-minorities" equally or that they all result in a positive.