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On Resigning from Google

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Re: On Resigning from Google

#201

Post by ameister14 »

notJim wrote: post #173
paxys wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These people aren't seeing the sausage being made — they are the ones making the sausage

Okay, so we're all at the sausage factory one day making sausage. We notice that we're shoving an awful lot of rat shit into the sausages, but the boss says it's more profitable this way. We get together and tell the boss, look we're not gonna keep shoving rat shit into the sausage. To you, this is illegitimate, because we're paying our rent out of profits from the rat shit, after all. So fine, we decide to leave. No…

>We get together and tell the boss, look we're not gonna keep shoving rat shit into the sausage.

No, that's not it at all.

He's saying you get together and tell the boss "Hey, there's some rat shit in this sausage, but I'm gonna go ahead and keep making it."

That's why it's perceived as illegitimate. You're expecting other people to sacrifice but not yourself.

Re: On Resigning from Google

#202

Post by munificent »

the_common_man wrote: post #125
scardycat wrote: post #42

I currently work at Google, but I am a newbie, i.e less than 5 years at Google. I frequently run in to people who are: 1) always been at Google and enjoyed the fruits of its rise or at another similar environment 2) never had to deal with frugality or lack of funding for anything 3) see themselves are superior to everyone else - in terms of how enlightened they are, how they know whats best for everyone 4) feel that…

> Once this is satisfied, they move on to grander things like charity, investing in the well being of others etc This is true for the author as well. He worked at google for 15 years, he is probably a multi-millionaire. It's easy to take a stance once they money has been raked in.

True, but it's still better to rake the money in and take the stance than to rake the money in and not take that stance.

Re: On Resigning from Google

#203

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

privateSFacct wrote: post #92
aaomidi wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're telling me to accept the status quo and be fine with it. That's telling me how to behave. The company is just an entity that needs to follow the set of guidelines set by people living in that society.

Please - quit your overpaid tech job and actually work to change the status quo. No one is saying you have to accept the status quo. But your lectures while driving past the homeless in a $100K tesla on your way to swank vacations are tiresome - particularly as you build that money off the status quo you are so eager to say is terrible.

Unless you're actually doxxing the parent commenter, you're assuming a lot there. I have no doubt that plenty of HN contributors are actively working to change the status quo. As for $100k Teslas, personally I have no intention of ever buying a car again, let alone a $100k one.

Re: On Resigning from Google

#204

Post by johnmarcus »

scardycat wrote: post #42

I currently work at Google, but I am a newbie, i.e less than 5 years at Google. I frequently run in to people who are: 1) always been at Google and enjoyed the fruits of its rise or at another similar environment 2) never had to deal with frugality or lack of funding for anything 3) see themselves are superior to everyone else - in terms of how enlightened they are, how they know whats best for everyone 4) feel that…

I font work at Google, but it was exactly my thought when I read >”I’m not switching to another employer – instead, I hope to spend my time working on justice issues, and on growing and strengthening the nascent tech labor movement."

Basically, Google paid them enough to retire early, and they cashed all those checks and now want to bite the hand that fed them. Must be nice.

Re: On Resigning from Google

#205

Post by adjkant »

shaan1 wrote: post #41

He has made enough money to retire. For engineers still looking for work, GOOGLE is the best place to work. If you don't want to work at google, don't work there. Why do people keep blaming the company. This is not a dictatorship.

> Why do people keep blaming the company.

The socially accepted responsibilities of companies are changing. The more Google goes down this road, the more they transition from being liked to being disliked but having power not to care. Eventually people will remove that power from them by abandoning their services, even if it takes a while.

Companies are groups of people. Those people should be asking what they care about in the world, not what makes the most money that will then be spread to shareholders.

> For engineers still looking for work, GOOGLE is the best place to work

This is a bold claim regardless of ethics and seems to be quite prestige blinded.

Re: On Resigning from Google

#206

Post by fao_ »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #138
baddox wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's true, precisely because the employee with a complaint can potentially increase their leverage significantly by educating and organizing other employees around the cause. Your analysis seems to assume that there's some fixed percentage of employees who think some action from their employer is bad, and if that percentage is high enough, then all those employees could quit, which would either someho…

If everyone who participated in the Google Walkout (20% of their workforce) stayed out until Google addressed their complaints, rather than returning to work after their lunch hour was over, all seven demands would've been met, instead of one. (And they probably would've still got paid!) I have my doubts that tech companies could operate with a sudden loss of 20% of their workforce and talent base. If a company knows…

This sort of action is precisely the reason why we have, in the UK, the ability for working men to vote (Originally, they couldn't, it was won by the Chartists in the 1800s), the ability for women to vote, human rights laws, worker's rights laws, and the NHS.

More recently McDonalds workers went on a mass strike in the UK for a living wage, and got a pay rise:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mcdonalds-w...

Re: On Resigning from Google

#207

Post by paxys »

notJim wrote: post #173
paxys wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These people aren't seeing the sausage being made — they are the ones making the sausage

Okay, so we're all at the sausage factory one day making sausage. We notice that we're shoving an awful lot of rat shit into the sausages, but the boss says it's more profitable this way. We get together and tell the boss, look we're not gonna keep shoving rat shit into the sausage. To you, this is illegitimate, because we're paying our rent out of profits from the rat shit, after all. So fine, we decide to leave. No…

> We get together and tell the boss, look we're not gonna keep shoving rat shit into the sausage

Absolutely no one at Google is doing that. What is happening is that these employees are telling their bosses "we would prefer not to shove rat shit into sausages" and the bosses are saying "no". Then these employees are going home and posting about it on social media and going back to work making the same sausage the next day.

Re: On Resigning from Google

#208

Post by johnmarcus »

vharuck wrote: post #29
tmpz22 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Impact the future of humanity If Google disappeared off the face of the earth, every system, server, and employee, mitigations would be in place by the end of the week - and a year later it would be like nothing ever changed. Let's not overvalue an adserver, free email, etc. These services are important but never life defining outside of the relatively small number of people they have made RICH.

This is like saying the President of the United States has no effect on the country because the person in office is replaced within the span of a day every four or eight years.

It is, and it would also be accurate. Many things Obama did have been undone in less than 3 years, and the same will happen after Trump leaves.

Re: On Resigning from Google

#210

Post by fzeroracer »

I'm curious. If employees are not supposed to hold their employers accountable, then who is?

The free market? Because as we've seen, the free market can easily be distorted through monopolies, lobbying, corruption etc.

The government? Because that's how you get regulations and those seem to be especially hated among those that dislike employees attempting to influence corporate direction.

Ultimately you have to accept someone has to provide a check against uninhibited corporate power and considering how they can rig market economics at scale, that power falls down to either the employees or the government.

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