>My boss was fired. So was his boss. And his boss’s boss. And their boss.
At least 5 direct reports between a talented engineer working on a critical feature with huge media attention and the leadership? Seems like a lot.
Twitter engineer: I thought I’d been hacked. It turned out I’d been fired
51–60 of 317 posts
Re: Twitter engineer: I thought I’d been hacked. It turned out I’d been fired
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
A user on HN, kamaal, posted something that many on this site agree with: > Let's be honest this is far from what people call slavery. They are being paid multiples of six digit salaries, RSUs and work in one of the most happening tech ecosystems of the world. > I would love to be a part of something like this. Heck most of us would love to be a part of something like. > I kind of envy those guys working on these pro…
I understand the point being made, but this is fundamentally naive and counter-productive for everyone who wants to be working in this industry as a software engineer. Engineers are going to get exploited: just shrugging and saying "but we get paid well enough" means stuff like this: https://hirecloud.io/hr-and-recruiting-news/the-techtopus-ho... will continue to happen over, and over, and over. So, unfortunately, yo…
Shouldn't people be free to make up their own minds and make their own choices?
If someone likes that work environment - great, let them work very hard on interesting and meaningful projects, these are the kind of people Elon Musk seems to want to leave at twitter. People who don't like this kind of work environment are free to leave for companies more focused on work-life balance.
Re: Twitter engineer: I thought I’d been hacked. It turned out I’d been fired
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Corporate media produces nothing of intellectual value. It merely continues to exist because their business model, advertising, allowed them pivot into being drama generating entertainment machines.
It feels good to say stuff like that but it's not really true. A look over Pulitzer Prize winners from previous years will show deeply researched investigative stories and have had a real impact on public awareness.
I just took a look at the Pulitzer Prize winners for investigative reporting[0] and I havn't heard of any of them from the last ten years. Didn't look any further.
If anything, corporate "news" spam drowns out these deeply researched investigative stories because, as GP said, the market conditions favor drama farming clickbait over an "exposé of highly toxic hazards inside Florida’s only battery recycling plant" which, while clearly important and deeply researched, I have never heard of.
That said, most of these journalists are from "corporate media," so that it "produces nothing of intellectual value" is as you say incorrect.
Re: Twitter engineer: I thought I’d been hacked. It turned out I’d been fired
#54The "hacking" hook is simply that their Macbook went into MDM lockdown mode. That's completely normal for companies at-scale, and I can understand why they'd want to lock the devices before laying people off. If the opposite had happened, they'd be writing an article about how Twitter failed to protect their files and angle it as a "they're running out of staff" article. I still don't really understand what there is…
> don't really understand what there is worth talking about here. Elon Musk, previously adored by many for futurist technology advocacy and largely forgiven for quirky-billionaire-behavior is now on the "bad guy list". This is "public opinion", from my perspective. It is now common to hear people saying: "He didn't really build that" "His family had money" "His family had a mine" "He's a fascist" "He's a racist becau…
I guess I can buy that some of the criticism is objectively gratuitous but, humans hating everything another human does, if that human is hated themselves, isn't really anything new.
I guess the real question is, why should anyone expect Elon to have exemption from the hate game that everyone else is apart of?
Re: Twitter engineer: I thought I’d been hacked. It turned out I’d been fired
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not just that, but every employee who wants to work nights and weekends puts pressures on those who don't to catch up or be cut. It's a race to the bottom that leads to people who do have things they need to do scheduling emails to go out late at night, changing the times on their commits, etc to look like they are as "committed" as the rest of the team. It's harmful and damaging and I'm not at all surprised that peo…
Did Steph Curry or Kobe Bryant harm basketball because they plain worked harder than everyone else? Prince in the recording studio? Did they cause a race to the bottom?
Steph Curry injured his ankle in the 2010 preseason. He failed to recover properly, leading to surgeries and an ankle that keeps failing.
We can speculate whether overwork is related to Prince's drug addiction and eventual death.
So yeah, failing to rest properly does have bad consequences.
Re: Twitter engineer: I thought I’d been hacked. It turned out I’d been fired
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
A user on HN, kamaal, posted something that many on this site agree with: > Let's be honest this is far from what people call slavery. They are being paid multiples of six digit salaries, RSUs and work in one of the most happening tech ecosystems of the world. > I would love to be a part of something like this. Heck most of us would love to be a part of something like. > I kind of envy those guys working on these pro…
I understand the point being made, but this is fundamentally naive and counter-productive for everyone who wants to be working in this industry as a software engineer. Engineers are going to get exploited: just shrugging and saying "but we get paid well enough" means stuff like this: https://hirecloud.io/hr-and-recruiting-news/the-techtopus-ho... will continue to happen over, and over, and over. So, unfortunately, yo…
Fighting over scraps isn't the best way to see it, IMO. If I'm busting my ass at a job, it's because I share the vision (if not the capital) of the people I'm working for, want to see that vision executed, and want to take an active part in executing it well.
If that is not the case, it doesn't matter how much I'm being paid, I'm not going to be happy ("self-actualized") for long. Likewise, whether I work 40 or 60 hours a week has no bearing on this. I imagine quite a few people joined Twitter because they believed in the company's stated mission and the vision of its founder. The mission and vision have now changed, so it's appropriate for some of those people to move on, voluntarily or otherwise. Framing it as some kind of Marxist class struggle sheds no light on the issue, and isn't helpful in the least.
Re: Twitter engineer: I thought I’d been hacked. It turned out I’d been fired
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not just that, but every employee who wants to work nights and weekends puts pressures on those who don't to catch up or be cut. It's a race to the bottom that leads to people who do have things they need to do scheduling emails to go out late at night, changing the times on their commits, etc to look like they are as "committed" as the rest of the team. It's harmful and damaging and I'm not at all surprised that peo…
Did Steph Curry or Kobe Bryant harm basketball because they plain worked harder than everyone else? Prince in the recording studio? Did they cause a race to the bottom?
Prince recorded his first album by himself and played all 21 instruments, so he's not the perfect example for this.
Michael Jordan might be a great example though, he worked harder then anyone else, and ALSO raised the standard of how hard people needed to work on the team beyond the normal limits.
They all did benefit from the Championships that followed, but it was certainly also a strain of the mental health of players like Dennis Rodman.
Re: Twitter engineer: I thought I’d been hacked. It turned out I’d been fired
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
> don't really understand what there is worth talking about here. Elon Musk, previously adored by many for futurist technology advocacy and largely forgiven for quirky-billionaire-behavior is now on the "bad guy list". This is "public opinion", from my perspective. It is now common to hear people saying: "He didn't really build that" "His family had money" "His family had a mine" "He's a fascist" "He's a racist becau…
I guess I can buy that some of the criticism is objectively gratuitous but, humans hating everything another human does, if that human is hated themselves, isn't really anything new. I guess the real question is, why should anyone expect Elon to have exemption from the hate game that everyone else is apart of?
Well, no one wants him to have exemption. But every discriminator tool that always answers positive, is a useless discriminator tool. Anyone can use or not use that tool. Personally, I think participating in the whole hate fest diminishes one's self so I don't. But to each their own.
Re: Twitter engineer: I thought I’d been hacked. It turned out I’d been fired
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I totally agree. Here's my hypothesis as to why people are so glib about throwing away their lives for their employer: People depend on their employer for their entire livelyhood. This day and age, without a pay check, you can't have any basic needs: Shelter, food or water and you'd be out on the street or worse: the average homeless person (it's shocking) lives 30 years less than a housed one. So, it's no surprise t…
Can you apply your brilliant logic to Elon Musk who works 100 hours per week? or Warren Buffett who still goes to work? Many people enjoy work.
Gladly.
Everyone, even billionaires undergo social conditioning from an early age. Some people have a need to be successful in order to feel good about themselves. they feel they need to "be" someone. And for some, their work becomes a part of their identity.
Becoming a billionaire doesn't free you from all the stuff that's been conditioned into you.
Re: Twitter engineer: I thought I’d been hacked. It turned out I’d been fired
#60>My boss was fired. So was his boss. And his boss’s boss. And their boss. At least 5 direct reports between a talented engineer working on a critical feature with huge media attention and the leadership? Seems like a lot.
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