Ask HN: Looking for advice on my situation at work?

It's definitely cultural but I think you are overstating things a bit. That is commonly how 1:1s are approached in the US but still many places will be different.

Yeah I think this is probably true. Rightly or wrongly they don't see him as a team player, but were required to keep him on because of his technical prowess.

It sounds like they're managing him out and he'll soon be on a PIP.

Yes, this. Learn a few new things, then start looking for a remote job on the first company's dime. When you get the new job, prioritize the new job until the old job decides to fire you. But, not before soaking up some sick and vacation time while increasing your savings.

If you end up leaving (whether of your own volition or because they terminate your employment) and they ever call you back to ask a few questions or do any work, you should definitely quote them an absurdly high hourly rate.

> As to whether it's the standard Canadian culture, I'd say from personal experience and what I've seen with friends/family it is more common in the crown corps and tech oligopolies (i.e., Bell, Telus). So when you say Top 5, I'm not surprised the manager did this and got away with it.

I'm not sure I would label a state company or a telecom operator a "top" tech company. At least, here in the Valley it wouldn't get that label.

> That, and I know I'll be accused of Québec bashing, but when a company in Montreal is franco-dominated, there is a tendency to be, let's call it nepotistic, so that a member of the "family" calls the shots for the "outsiders", regardless of ability, understanding or basic competence. It's not always been my experience and the top companies don't do it but, it definitely happens more than it should.

We acquired a small company in Montreal a few years ago, and it's something the founders touched-on: they placed much a larger emphasis on French language skills when hiring than we initially assumed they would. In retrospect, the decision made sense; the founders and early employees were all native French speakers, so all the internal communications were in French. Ultimately it didn't matter in the long run: most of the key employees relocated to the Bay Area.

Post-acquisition we had to let go an employee for a weird attitude problem regarding language. One of the frequent arguments he had with everyone was that he insisted he didn't need to learn French to live in Montreal and was somehow hostile to the language. I honestly questioned why he immigrated there in the first place when there's 50 states and 9 other provinces he could go to and live exclusively in English? I get he probably couldn't pass the higher bar for US immigration but that still leaves 2/3rd of Canada to go to.

> Especially those doing work for the provincial government or directly with schools/healthcare facilities.

My understanding is that these contracts often have a clause that deliverables must be shipped in French. Especially for stuff that's customer-facing (like education or healthcare!).

Someone told me that, when dealing with the federal government for contracts, speaking French helps a lot. Since it's so much harder to offshore positions where French is required, you almost always get to speak with a real government employee and not a contractor. On a project he worked on only the manager 2 levels up was an actual government employee, because it was legally required for the contact point with contractors to be bilingual. Needless to say, he used his high school French to bypass two levels of IST time zoned "Project Solution Architect" and "Senior Project Analysts"...