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My Time at Snap

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41–50 of 264 posts

Re: My Time at Snap

#41
Great read ... but the one thing that stood out to me is a LOT of remote time that doesn't seem to have been agreed upon in advance, such as in the hiring contract.

At first I just read that time was needed "around the holidays", then that somehow was 5 WEEKS of remote time, then there was Easter time in Florida, then there was additional "weeks" during the annual summer trip to Florida, then there was an anniversary trip ... etc

Unless this is specified in the contract I can't see justifying what there alone amounts to ~11 (?) weeks of remote work.

I'm only saying this as someone who has been through many on-site jobs with remote-allowed, and is currently working as a fully remote senior engineer.

Re: My Time at Snap

#42

Tangent. How is it logical to deprive people from access to a booth just because people in a wheelchair can't access it? That's like banning computer screens because blind people can't see them.

You don't see a problem with part of the workforce not given equal tools and opportunity to be able to do their job as well as others?

Re: My Time at Snap

#43
Sadly we have all worked with John. In my first job, 15 years ago, I was preparing for a test for masters program. The test was on a Saturday at 8am in a town 4 hours away. My manager thought Friday night 7pm is a good time to schedule a meeting about what we are going to deliver in next 6 months. Meeting went on for 2 hours!

Re: My Time at Snap

#44
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because when asked nicely to design accessible buildings very little was done, it required legislation that seems counterintuitive at first, however, if you design for all from the outset, then this is a non-issue. The internet needs to learn this too.

Yes but if there's an accessible alternative then where's the issue? In this case the offices had conference rooms that were wheelchair-accessible. Sure this means able-bodied people had twice as much access to something but hasn't that always been the case? Like, if you can walk, you can take either the stairs or the ramp to get into a building.

Literally in the next line he says that the conference rooms were always booked and not really an alternative (which is pretty standard in any office)

Re: My Time at Snap

#45
post #23

Tangent. How is it logical to deprive people from access to a booth just because people in a wheelchair can't access it? That's like banning computer screens because blind people can't see them.

I'm making a website that gives free kittens and Bitcoins to anyone who has a HN username starting with a letter in the second half of the alphabet. You can't use it, which is a shame, but it would be wrong to deprive half of HN free kittens and Bitcoins, right? I mean, fairness is all well and good, but everyone likes a free kitten. I'm really sorry I can't make a website that everyone can access, but that would cos…

I think I can guess the point you're trying to make, but you did a pretty bad job making it. There's literally nothing wrong with your example.

Re: My Time at Snap

#46
post #25
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. Spend 5 minutes flattering the king, and benefit from the outsized rewards from it.

Spend 5 minutes flattering the king, and benefit from the outsized rewards from it. Sure. The first time. But the king isn't stupid. He'll make you more and more subservient until eventually you'll be flattering him for bread and lentils else you'll be put in prison. People in power do that a lot.

In this story it sounds like the king was kind of stupid. And if the deal is no longer good, just walk away, but now with more options than OP.

Re: My Time at Snap

#47
We have all worked for a "John" in the industry. The big systematic problem is that after being fired from Snap (probably after already collecting massive paychecks and a hefty chunk of equity), he will go to another big tech company and impress them with his resume and bullshitting skills. They will hire him and deal with his antics for a few years, while he ruins more people's careers, then he will move on. Rinse and repeat.

Also a 10/20/30/40 vesting schedule immediately stands out as a red flag for me. 25%/year vested quarterly (with a 1 year cliff) has been standard in the industry for a very long time. I would't trust a company to have my best interests at heart when it is massively beneficial for them if employees quit after 1-2 years (which is already about the average tenure at most companies of that size).

Re: My Time at Snap

#48
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but if there's an accessible alternative then where's the issue? In this case the offices had conference rooms that were wheelchair-accessible. Sure this means able-bodied people had twice as much access to something but hasn't that always been the case? Like, if you can walk, you can take either the stairs or the ramp to get into a building.

Literally in the next line he says that the conference rooms were always booked and not really an alternative (which is pretty standard in any office)

That's a different issue now isn't it? Access is provided but not guaranteed. You don't see cities with bike lanes forcing those lanes to be clear.

Re: My Time at Snap

#49

Tangent. How is it logical to deprive people from access to a booth just because people in a wheelchair can't access it? That's like banning computer screens because blind people can't see them.

Berkeley had a bunch of great online computer science courses that got taken down because some opportunistic ADA lawyer sued them because the free content wasn't "accessible enough" (and the university couldn't justify the enormous expense of making it accessible given that they earned nothing from it).

You've missed out quite a lot.

The ADA was passed in 1990, so it was in place a full 17 years before Berkeley started adding video to the web.

The university strongly agreed with disability accessibility law. They put policies in place to make sure content was accessible. They offered free support to professors to make content accessible, and they required professors to sign documents saying "I have made this accessible". People lied by signing these forms when they had not made the material accessible.

If they hadn't lied, and had made use of the free support when creating content, the material would have been accessible from the beginning, and the university would not have been dumped into the massively unlawful position they were.

This wasn't some "opportunistic ADA lawyer", it was the inevitable result when hundreds of employees lied about accessibility.

Pages 3 and 4 https://news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-08...

Here's the list of statements that people said they'd done that they mostly had not done:

1.I have reviewed and implemented edX’s “ Guidelines for Creating Accessible Content.”

2.All PDFs attached to my course follow the University of California Office of the President recommendations.

3.I have reviewed and implemented applicable guidelines into my course from the Web Accessibility team’s resource “Top 10 Tips for Making your Website Accessible.”

4.All mp3 and mp4 files in my course have been submitted for transcripts for SubRip Text (SRT) files.

5.All video and audio in my course have accurate captioning available to users through the edX HTML5 player

Re: My Time at Snap

#50
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm making a website that gives free kittens and Bitcoins to anyone who has a HN username starting with a letter in the second half of the alphabet. You can't use it, which is a shame, but it would be wrong to deprive half of HN free kittens and Bitcoins, right? I mean, fairness is all well and good, but everyone likes a free kitten. I'm really sorry I can't make a website that everyone can access, but that would cos…

I think I can guess the point you're trying to make, but you did a pretty bad job making it. There's literally nothing wrong with your example.

There's literally nothing wrong with your example.

You may believe there's nothing wrong with arbitrary discrimination but I don't.

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