Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission • Hacker News Board

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#481

Post by cft » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 4:44 PM UTC

eddof13 wrote: post #472

subsubzero wrote: post #465

I may want to apply to coinbase. I am really fed up with 'activist' employees and the toxic environment they bring. All I want is to just focus on engineering and ship features/improvements. Bringing politics to the office(thanks Google!) has been one of the worst things to happen in the 21st century for tech companies. Interestingly enough google has been going through absolute hell with these cancerous employees an…

I concur, I suspect the influx of applicants to coinbase based on this will be larger than the potential loss of people taking the severance

Certainly. If I was looking for a job, I would rank it very high because of this.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#482

Post by SavageBeast » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 4:44 PM UTC

monoideism wrote: post #142

nemo44x wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s generally a small but vocal group. And I wouldn’t call it politics so much as activism. A sort of religious zeal has made its way into our institutions like schools and universities. Some people have taken to it like a missionary would religion and believe it’s their duty to spread the word everywhere at all times. The Inquisition was no different in this regard. You just have to read what the activism says. It…

> It’s far beyond politics and more a religion than anything. I believe this is a result of the fact that Americans have turned away from organized religion in recent years (note: I'm not religious myself). There seems to be something deep inside of most people that requires a shared spiritual experience. Wokism has emerged to fill that need.

Thats a frightening and original idea Id never considered. Your observation makes lot of sense the more I think about it.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#483

Post by Barrin92 » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 4:44 PM UTC

subsubzero wrote: post #465

I may want to apply to coinbase. I am really fed up with 'activist' employees and the toxic environment they bring. All I want is to just focus on engineering and ship features/improvements. Bringing politics to the office(thanks Google!) has been one of the worst things to happen in the 21st century for tech companies. Interestingly enough google has been going through absolute hell with these cancerous employees an…

>All I want is to just focus on engineering and ship features/improvements.

Yeah if there wasn't the pesky world around all the engineering and we could all just stare at our stock options while we sit in our gentrified neighbourhoods and pretend the world doesn't exist.

You can ignore politics but politics doesn't ignore you. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil is an unworthy attitude for a democratic citizen. The etymology for the word 'idiot' comes from 'idios', meaning 'one's own', in ancient Greece signifying a person who is only concerned with their private interest, rather than living an active life and participating in civic affairs. To be an idiot was to be withdrawn, isolated and selfish, to not participate in the public, political life of the state.

Given how much people nowadays love to invoke the Greeks and our ancient Western traditions, maybe it's time to remind everyone of the meaning of that word again.

http://faculty.washington.edu/rsoder/EDUC305/305parkeridiocy...

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#484

Post by renewiltord » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 4:44 PM UTC

Dirlewanger wrote: post #393

echelon wrote: post #300

It would be so ironic if every Coinbase employee took this exit. It's not like there isn't more work out there. The longer I work, the less I put up with dehumanizing actions from the top. You only live for so long. Why be told to your face that you're just a resource .

Please show me a modern tech company that treats its employees fairly, pays decent wages, whose mission to actually bring about good change in society, is profitable and won't go under next year, and doesn't say they support X social movement on Twitter for cheap PR points.

There are so many startups like this. If you're plugged into the ecosystem you know that this is a luxury for those who have found overwhelming product market fit. Not even just ones who've found a market. Overwhelming fit. Because then you make so much money you have time for this stuff.

Lots of successful companies who've found current fit and are chugging along.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#485

Post by skinkestek » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 4:44 PM UTC

nrmitchi wrote: post #390

I know that this will greatly help a few who are legitimately disturbed by the recent post and feel they either can't work at, or aren't excited by, Coinbase any more. But at the level of severance discussed in the post (4 (or 6) months, 7-year exercise window), it feels like most employees who know they could soft-land into another position would be silly not to take this offer. Some people may still enjoy working a…

At this point in my life this is a message that would make me want to stay.

Not having to deal with activism at work sounds like a nice perk!

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#486

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 4:45 PM UTC

koheripbal wrote: post #346

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #3

I agreed with what Brian Armstrong said in his blog post and thought it was admirable to publicly take that position, but now I have even more respect for his dedication. I don't know if the severance package is good or not, but it seems generous and it gives employees who aren't aligned with the company an easy way out.

There is a lot of value in removing political activists from your company, and so it's worth paying them to leave. Aside from the combative toxic environment they generate, they are also often the source of disgruntled rogue employees that will generally behave improperly, misrepresent coworkers, leak documents, raise alarms about operations they don't understand, and generally draw the company into litigation. In a…

[deleted]

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#487

Post by hackerfromthefu » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 4:45 PM UTC

albedoa wrote: post #336

disposekinetics wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This all makes Coinbase more attractive to me. I probably won’t be deplatformed no matter my ideology which is a desireable trait.

If Coinbase are more attractive to people who are worried about being "deplatformed" for their ideology, then they are selecting for that group. You write "no matter my ideology" when you mean "despite my ideology".

Personally I find it attractive to get away from the ridiculous bullys who attack other people in the name of pc .. I'm not debating those issues .. especially not with hothead radicals who bully those with nuanced perspectives with personal attacks

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#488

Post by artursapek » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 4:45 PM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #478

artursapek wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, the conformists are the ones he's trying to oust.

a conformist is someone who conforms to a norm, there is no such thing as a conformist minority by definition. Are you thinking half of the employees are activists and he wants to kick them all out?

The majority of people in Silicon Valley are liberals. The loud, troublesome activist liberals are who he is ousting. Just look at Google.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#489

Post by disposekinetics » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 4:45 PM UTC

albedoa wrote: post #336

disposekinetics wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This all makes Coinbase more attractive to me. I probably won’t be deplatformed no matter my ideology which is a desireable trait.

If Coinbase are more attractive to people who are worried about being "deplatformed" for their ideology, then they are selecting for that group. You write "no matter my ideology" when you mean "despite my ideology".

As a supporter of radically free speech, I'm selecting for the widest possible grouping. That's tolerance.

Re: Coinbase offers exit package for employees not comfortable with its mission

#490

Post by paul7986 » Wed, Sep 30, 2020, 4:46 PM UTC

Any & all politics at work is unacceptable period..you are there to do the job you accepted and agreed to do. Nothing more! Go create your own company that embraces and hires only activists with various views...I wonder how successful such a company would be?

I was taught politics isn't polite to talk about it.... illogical (what politics are to me ...a pissing match driven by billionaires on each side fueling fires for their side and their sheep almost mindlessly following along ) views aren't a welcoming or warm human experience that fosters teamwork.

All companies should follow with this stance ..letting all know discussing politics at XYZ company is frowned upon and if troubles arise from it (other employees feeling harassed and or uncomfortable by it; report it) then XYZ company isn't the place for you!