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Ask HN: Ex-Employer gossiping I “hacked” their platform – what to do?

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Re: Ask HN: Ex-Employer gossiping I “hacked” their platform – what to do?

#41

Post by laumars »

Juliate wrote: post #38
throwaway743 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when looking for employment, when relevant, I explicitly mentioned this experience and what came with it, and what I was then looking for in a new company/position/team, so that I was the first to pitch what did happen and how I reacted to it. It's always said not to mention negative situations with past employers. I've been through some shit along these lines in the past, but at times wish to be honest about what…

Well, shit happens, there's no denying about that, whatever HR/recruiting wizards can say. * Don't put your negative experiences on the fore front. * But don't hide them either, because: 1. if you do hide them, they might always bite you in the neck later (personally, or professionally); 2. there's a lot to learn here as well, and that's what you need to take the focus on: what you learned from it. If you can show th…

Great advice there.

As a hiring manager myself I really hate it when candidates slag off their current/former employeer. It's a real put off. However if you can turn a negative experience into a positive then it shows that you're not just bitter and/or a bad team player but rather that you use all experiences to help enhance your capabilities as a productive employee.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-Employer gossiping I “hacked” their platform – what to do?

#42

Post by ghaff »

FDSGSG wrote: post #37
tyingq wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Varies by state, but legal in most places. Big companies have automated reference checking. Via truework or theworknumber, or similar. Which can also verify salary...urgh. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/employee-...

>Which can also verify salary...urgh. This seems so vulnerable to data entry mistakes that such data might just be completely useless. What happens when stated salary doesn't match salary verifier numbers? Do you just not hire that person?

Salary means a lot of different things anyway. If someone asks me (and I need to provide something), I'm going to put down some rough total comp number that's at the high end of what I earn in a typical year. It's not going to match whatever is in the system as my nominal "salary" which really isn't all that relevant.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-Employer gossiping I “hacked” their platform – what to do?

#43

Post by _u844 »

Op here, Thanks for all the advice, its honestly be helpfull and eye opening.

To clear up a few things.

- The comments from the ceo were via text and more "I would of called you if i thought you did something" and "ill talk to them but I dont know what more I can do". TBH I was angry and not exactly cordial in my communication.

- From what I understand the "hack" wasn't my credentials but someone logging in near where I live with the CEO's credentials and changing some settings in the admin. This honestly is what scares me the most... everything in the admin is (or at least was while I was there) soft delete only with 5 minute interval database backups. The action has a potential to rune my life but the actual impact is basically a mild annoyance to the company... at this point I get concerned about sabotage.

- In terms of defamation apparently certain individuals though it be funny to take where I live and put it up on one of the system monitoring screens for the whole company to see. Currently I am seeking counsel to both protect my self and see if this action is something that is worth responding to.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-Employer gossiping I “hacked” their platform – what to do?

#46

Post by tyingq »

ghaff wrote: post #42
FDSGSG wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Which can also verify salary...urgh. This seems so vulnerable to data entry mistakes that such data might just be completely useless. What happens when stated salary doesn't match salary verifier numbers? Do you just not hire that person?

Salary means a lot of different things anyway. If someone asks me (and I need to provide something), I'm going to put down some rough total comp number that's at the high end of what I earn in a typical year. It's not going to match whatever is in the system as my nominal "salary" which really isn't all that relevant.

It is still irritating, because current salary shouldn't drive anything about proposed salary. Employers should have to provide low/median/high for employees of the same title in exchange :)

Re: Ask HN: Ex-Employer gossiping I “hacked” their platform – what to do?

#47

Post by zer00eyz »

davismwfl wrote: post #17

I never had an old employer accuse me, but I did have a consulting client do almost exactly the same thing. It boiled down to a few people at the company that didn't like that we pointed out a lot of security issues on things which were not our direct work but was theirs. Basically we found a few major holes in a couple of their systems we had to do some integration work with and we documented the holes and gave it t…

OP this is what you do... Lawyer up and get them to throw paper.

This is outrageous, and they are going to respond with "we took care of it" and that letter is now GOLD.

I also want to back up what the above poster said about being a consultant and folks badmouthing you. It is much less meaningful than you suspect or think, and in some cases it can be a good thing.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-Employer gossiping I “hacked” their platform – what to do?

#48

Post by germs12 »

Juliate wrote: post #16

Been there myself and seen it in other places too. It can actually be a good filter, prospect-wise: a company that does gossip about/blame an ex-employee for some of their failures is advertising their own lack of agency. If they were smart, they wouldn't gossip, and not even let the gossip go. That's very bad strategy, both internally and externally. If they're not, well, I can't tell you what to do. What happened t…

This is exactly what happened to me. I went from being a model "A-player" to "He was a C-player who needed to go". Don't think for 1 second the business will ever compromise itself for you.

#3 is really important. Do not shy away from sharing your stories with your potential new employer. It helps them better understand who you are. If they care about you and the investment they are making in you, then they will want to hire someone who is strong enough to stand up for something they believe.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-Employer gossiping I “hacked” their platform – what to do?

#49

Post by dman »

germs12 wrote: post #48
Juliate wrote: post #16

Been there myself and seen it in other places too. It can actually be a good filter, prospect-wise: a company that does gossip about/blame an ex-employee for some of their failures is advertising their own lack of agency. If they were smart, they wouldn't gossip, and not even let the gossip go. That's very bad strategy, both internally and externally. If they're not, well, I can't tell you what to do. What happened t…

This is exactly what happened to me. I went from being a model "A-player" to "He was a C-player who needed to go". Don't think for 1 second the business will ever compromise itself for you. #3 is really important. Do not shy away from sharing your stories with your potential new employer. It helps them better understand who you are. If they care about you and the investment they are making in you, then they will want…

#3 can also backfire badly. Personally I would avoid it.

Re: Ask HN: Ex-Employer gossiping I “hacked” their platform – what to do?

#50

Post by gdy »

laumars wrote: post #41
Juliate wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, shit happens, there's no denying about that, whatever HR/recruiting wizards can say. * Don't put your negative experiences on the fore front. * But don't hide them either, because: 1. if you do hide them, they might always bite you in the neck later (personally, or professionally); 2. there's a lot to learn here as well, and that's what you need to take the focus on: what you learned from it. If you can show th…

Great advice there. As a hiring manager myself I really hate it when candidates slag off their current/former employeer. It's a real put off. However if you can turn a negative experience into a positive then it shows that you're not just bitter and/or a bad team player but rather that you use all experiences to help enhance your capabilities as a productive employee.

"As a hiring manager myself I really hate it when candidates slag off their current/former employeer. It's a real put off. However if you can turn a negative experience into a positive then it shows that you're not just bitter and/or a bad team player but rather that you use all experiences to help enhance your capabilities as a productive employee."

What's wrong with being bitter when you are wronged by your manager or employer?

"and/or bad team player"

Sounds like blaming a victim to me.

Seriously, imagine you got robbed, beaten and humiliated how would you feel listening to someone telling you that being bitter about that is bad and it's your own fault?

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