Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there a variant of Godwin's law/meme that all conversations on HN about politics degenerate to hitting each other over neoliberal economics, the CoC and men's rights?
CoC?
Code of Conduct
Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings
391–400 of 600 posts
Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There is no reason to think Google would be exempt. Except that it did seem to be exempt, for much longer and while becoming much larger than I think most people would have imagined.
Google lost its varnish around the time it sought to fight Facebook with Plus. Around the time they released the Nexus 7. I guess around the time Sundar became ascendant.
Sundar only became ascendant afterwards. When + was around, Vic Gundotra was in charge of that. Nexus 7 was released back when Andy Rubin was still firmly in charge of all things Android. I'd associate Sundar's ascendancy more with the shift from Nexus to Pixel and Android One, with the assistant, etc.
Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings
#393RIP I'm one of those people who go work at Google once every few years. The transformation of culture from about 2013 onwards has been somewhat sad to experience. Interestingly, most people who have been continuously employed there have not felt the very slight gradient. However, the changes in culture, freedom, food quality, etc are fairly obvious when one returns after ..say.. 18 months. Here are some semi-concrete…
which doors you are allowed to enter from is a security protocol...
badging in for meals is for IRS tax purposes...
The two things you facepalmed are absolutely easily explainable.
Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings
#394Earlier quoted context omitted.
You didn't actually address my question, and I made no mention of the state. I'm going to quote you again: you claimed that > When you protest against it publicly in the workplace and shout down others for as little as not vehemently agreeing with you, then we have a problem. I'm asking if you think that's generally true. For example, if you actually believe this, you would presumably make no attempt to silence me if…
1) Surely you can see the difference between topics? Politics are not relevant to work. Office policies are. You can discuss and protest the latter if you want, but not the former. I'm sure you don't discuss porn habits and drug usage with your coworkers, do you? But of course it's fine to discuss working from home or new laptops. There is no paradox here. 2) I would prefer any feedback and protests be in private whe…
> Office policies are
Perfect, so questions of what companies we contract with, how we do hiring and diversity, and what bathrooms people are allowed to use are all office policies and reasonable work discussion topics. Can you give examples of the kinds of things you object to then?
Fwiw, I've known people who discuss their porn and drug habits at work. Hell I've known people who do drugs with their co-workers.
> I would prefer any feedback and protests be in private when are relevant to the company
Of course, it's only as a side effect that this undercuts the effectiveness of any activism.
Are you familiar with the concept of "yes of course you can protest, but not like that" for all values of that? If the only acceptable forms of protest are ones that can be ignored with no consequences, you've just de facto silenced those who have concerns with the status quo. That's a very political decision, totalitarian ist to be specific.
> This is exceedingly clear for the vast majority of people, except the activists who are making the fuss.
If it's so clear, you should have no trouble making it explicit without relying on the word politics. Since you still seem to miss it, my entire premise here is that "politics" is a form of doublespeak and people who use it are generally unwilling to actually go on record with the views they want to censor, instead using it as a sort of "things that make me uncomfortable in the moment" catch-all, but without giving the same courtesy of banning "things that make me uncomfortable" to other people. So far your unwillingness to pin down exactly what you mean by political hasn't done much to dispell that thought.
Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
Over 16 years I've worked at only four companies, but one of them was Google, and it was honestly my least favorite. Creature comforts: I have an actual cubicle with >2x the space. Excellent meals are still provided, but now lines are Engineering culture: No more promo or perf review nonsense. There's none of the internal competition / pressure that I felt every day at Google. The org and leadership has vastly less c…
What "pressure" you feel is entirely up to you. Most managers at Google don't micro manage you.
But are you expected to exceed expectations? :)
Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you know names of those better workplaces, I'm all ears.
Over 16 years I've worked at only four companies, but one of them was Google, and it was honestly my least favorite. Creature comforts: I have an actual cubicle with >2x the space. Excellent meals are still provided, but now lines are Engineering culture: No more promo or perf review nonsense. There's none of the internal competition / pressure that I felt every day at Google. The org and leadership has vastly less c…
I won’t ask what company you’re at, but have you noticed a correlation between size of company and your happiness? Is this new Valhalla a significant smaller organization than Google?
Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's very hard to actually have private, internal dialogues in a 'townhall setting' among an employee group so large. Recordings and videos could get leaked at any time by an employee to the media or on social media, which will further blow it up ( ahem, like with Facebook) or perhaps take things out of context or cause more chaos. Google actually trying to have a serious - and not just PR/HR-bullshit - discussion ab…
> Recordings and videos could get leaked at any time by an employee to the media or on social media, which will further blow it up (ahem, like with Facebook) Worth clarifying a point. The leakers didn't make Zuck say stupid things. I can understand that having scrutiny on every single communication is probably pretty hard, but people often neglect that the best PR scandal avoidance mechanism is to not do stupid thing…
What did Zuckerberg say in the leaked audio that was stupid?
Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google very much courted political activists in it's employee base, and encouraged its employees to participate in 'woke' culture. All seemed great for a while, and then suddenly one day, management found itself the target of the woke cancel culture they fostered.
As a former Googler, I'm curious what you are referring to by this: > encouraged its employees to participate in 'woke' culture.
They know nothing about Google culture. What they know is from HN threads and The Intercept.
Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, that's the price of expecting people to spend their whole life at work. If everybody knocks off at 5 and goes home, they can keep their politics at home. Google feeds 3 meals a day, and if you eat dinner at work, you're expected to return to work afterwards. They have lockers and showers at work. They'd have adult dorms if they could.
I know you're a prolific poster on here, and you often provide valuable contributions, so it's disheartening to see how full of misinformation this comment is. I've worked at many tech companies, and Google has among the best work-life balance I've encountered. Work hours vary by team and by role, but on a whole, it's very reasonable. They serve three meals, but you're not expected to eat all three meals. Some people…
And many companies unlike Google don't let you take food home. Or serve it very late, so you are working late. This is not the case at Google at all. The parent comment is so off the mark. These kind of posters have an image in their head from HN threads and keep propagating it in their comments.
Re: Google cancels TGIF weekly all-hands meetings
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
What "pressure" you feel is entirely up to you. Most managers at Google don't micro manage you.
But are you expected to exceed expectations? :)
You do your best on your projects. No one thinks day to day how their perf will be. What a stupid way to live.