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Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

#241

Post by nec4b »

komali2 wrote: post #202
memling wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Denying the existence of POC and their oppressed status in America is more than just "not supporting BLM," it's a denial of the foundation of their reason for existing. Acknowledging the personhood of people of color is not synonymous with supporting BLM. One might broadly support the ends of BLM while being uncomfortable with the means.

> One might broadly support the ends of BLM while being uncomfortable with the means. I sense a conflation of the statement "Black Lives Matter" with the movement "Black Lives Matter" with a third, completely unrelated concept, that being lootings and property destruction. Are you insinuating that the people who want the world to know that black lives matter are the same that are looting target? Despite extensive arr…

That is a big lie that BLM is not organized and just some loose coalition of all kind of political groups. There is an interview with one of the founders of BLM on youtube. That person says that she is a trained marxist and a trained organizer. BLM is also very well funded thanks to many corporate sponsors. There is nothing spontaneous about it.

Re: Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

#242

Post by nec4b »

komali2 wrote: post #155
numpad0 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t stop thinking that ideas like GP is explaining is just a modernized racial segregation

This alt-right trope that diversity and inclusion is modern racial segregation should have been DOA but I keep seeing it crop up even here. Frustrating. The ask is to become aware of and fight against your own unconscious biases, nothing more.

Oh the ctrl-left trope we are only fighting unconscious biases. Is fighting the unconscious biases like Don Quixote fighting the wind mills or more like repentance for the original sin your born with?

Re: Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

#243

Post by _8j50 »

punkbit wrote: post #145
o-__-o wrote: post #103

All of these comments and I’m left wondering if I’m the only black person commenting in this thread. I’ve been passed up for promotions, fired, and hired based solely on my color. I keep moving on but y’all it’s been 20 years of this. And it just started getting a little better in the past 3 years but is a total gamble based on where you work. In my current Fortune 500 job, I was hired for my expertise then was moved…

I haven't read the comments but... I'm black and a developer (not just a dev, I'm a full stack, audiovisual generalist, animation, motion graphics, ui/ux, illustrator), started in the end 90s and professionally since 2008?! Got no idea if I ever been put aside because of my skin colour, but my photo and stuff is public for anybody prior to any interview and stuff - so if that happened, great, fuck them, I don't want…

Friend, I truly appreciate your candor.

About the whole "culture" thing, it's b.s. you find anywhere from a small time stret gang to the board room of a multinational. It's easier if you b.s. and act fake like everyone else,but also if you don't and you are original and strategically "real" enough,it can play to your advantage. Worker bees that don't behave like other worker bees either don't get the big picture or get the big picture better than everyone else.

Re: Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

#244

Post by _8j50 »

ibudiallo wrote: post #107

Hey everyone, author here. It seems like this post have been flagged, but I'd like to add a little comment here so it may clarify things. First, a little over a week ago we were having a similar discussion here [1] and I promised I'd post my article about it. This is the article. Second, I want people to understand that this is a complex issue and the solution might/should be as complex. It's not a case of, OK let's…

Really curious what your accent is like.

Also, I think it depends on which megacorp but I seen a multi-billion revenue corp with a rough majority black IT staff. Also goes the other way I guess. All I can say is I hope your bank account looks great,at the end of the day that's what a job is for.

Re: Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

#245

Post by dang »

forgot_user1234 wrote: post #240
dang wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also easy to be dismissive on the internet. Please don't do that here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Disclaimer - english is not my first language Hey dang, I am curious. what could I have done better? if OP said he is suffering "solely" because of his colour and I think, its borderline impossible to pin point a result of large complex system on any one thing? P.S. - do people flag my comments or did you just see it on your own.

People in the GP's situation often encounter responses like "it's easy to pin point a problem on others" or other logical-sounding objections that come across as dismissive of the specific experiences that they're reporting. If you do that in the way you did it, complete with a Twitter link about how to become a 'high-agency' person, other people will interpret you as saying 'that's not happening' and 'you should just try harder', i.e. as telling them that they're wrong in the description of their own experience and ultimately as denying that race has been a factor in it. Do you see how that could come across as dismissive?

It's possible that you were misled by the word 'solely', since your objection seemed to be sort of a technical one based on the literal meaning of that word. Since you say you're a non-native English speaker, I can see how that could happen. It's clear from the GP's reply to you that they didn't mean that word literally. When it comes to an issue as complex and as emotional as this, it's usually best not to react to just one word, but rather to suss out the comment as a whole. That goes for native speakers too.

One thing that might have been better is to ask clarifying questions rather than making objections. If you ask an open-ended question in a heartfelt way, it might invite the other person to expand on his or her experience more, in a way that both helps you understand and makes them feel like someone is listening. It's tricky, though. This topic is so fraught that it's easy for a question to sound like a counterargument, and the discourse has unfortunately been polluted by a lot of questions which are not questions at all, but attempts to undermine. So if you do ask such a question, make it clear (as best you can) that you mean it sincerely.

It makes me wonder if we could build tools to help craft the conversation differently, but that's another topic.

(No one flagged your comment above; I just happened to see it in the thread.)

Re: Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

#246

Post by [deleted] »

forgot_user1234 wrote: post #240
dang wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also easy to be dismissive on the internet. Please don't do that here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Disclaimer - english is not my first language Hey dang, I am curious. what could I have done better? if OP said he is suffering "solely" because of his colour and I think, its borderline impossible to pin point a result of large complex system on any one thing? P.S. - do people flag my comments or did you just see it on your own.

[deleted]

Re: Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

#247

Post by dang »

jeffrallen wrote: post #163

I'd hire either of you, if you kick ass on the take home challenge. Work and teamwork matters. Everything else has no place in the work place.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23671591 since it turned distracting.

Re: Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

#248

Post by neonate »

_8j50 wrote: post #244
ibudiallo wrote: post #107

Hey everyone, author here. It seems like this post have been flagged, but I'd like to add a little comment here so it may clarify things. First, a little over a week ago we were having a similar discussion here [1] and I promised I'd post my article about it. This is the article. Second, I want people to understand that this is a complex issue and the solution might/should be as complex. It's not a case of, OK let's…

Really curious what your accent is like. Also, I think it depends on which megacorp but I seen a multi-billion revenue corp with a rough majority black IT staff. Also goes the other way I guess. All I can say is I hope your bank account looks great,at the end of the day that's what a job is for.

> Really curious what your accent is like.

Why do you say that?

Re: Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

#249

Post by dang »

vatueil wrote: post #215
mkl wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it was flagged, except maybe as a dupe. I ran into it on the BBC site the other day and tried to post it, but someone else already had (it didn't make the front page): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23659251

Currently flagged again: https://web.archive.org/web/20200629012939/https://news.ycom...

Yes, that happened. We turned off the flags.

Re: Viewpoint: 'I feel like I was accidentally hired'

#250

Post by neonate »

bJGVygG7MQVF8c wrote: post #99
nus07 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you . That was a very honest reply . As someone who is brown and worked for over a decade in Oregon - I used to be similar to the first guy in my 20s . I was laidback , felt in touch with the local culture and was easy to work with. All of that was great until I gained experience and did not get promotions and saw my white co-workers keep getting promoted to lead and managerial positions . This was despite me b…

This is useful to see, thanks for sharing. It mirrors my own experience. I came into this profession with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, and an open heart. Then I had a couple of experiences that triggered "The Great Noticing" in me. I haven't really been the same since, though I've tried to keep an open heart/mind and lean against the wariness that's come with experience. But mostly I try to stay away from SF, the PNW…

What is "The Great Noticing"?
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