The correct response here isn't to air your grievances in public, it's to talk to a lawyer.
I want to emphasize that I don't really care for the money. It's the ethical implications of their decisions that I want to highlight.
I'm a former Miso engineer and the founders screwed me out of 10k
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Re: I'm a former Miso engineer and the founders screwed me out of 10k
#32Thank you for posting this. As a community of entrepreneurs and hackers it helps all of us know what happens behind the scenes. Some people may view it as airing their dirty laundry but I see it as a way to keep people honest.
The fact that you dropped the production database sucks. However you stayed around and fixed it. I can't really say anything more. My bet is we all handle lots of sensitive data around here. Our worst nightmare is to drop that data by accident. Stuff happens...fix it and move on.
I understand we are a litigious society but if your knee jerk reaction is to bring in lawyers something is wrong. My hope is this post will make it around to Somrat and Tim (I've never met either of them) and you two will resolve it amicably. Maybe I am delusional but good character still counts for something.
Re: I'm a former Miso engineer and the founders screwed me out of 10k
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
To my coworkers defense the service was very new and we had plans to put in a backup system. Bad timing I guess.
You don't have to defend people who made a bad mistake worse. It's nothing personal, competent systems people are in short supply these days.
Do you claim of never having made any mistake?
Last I checked, humans do mistake all the time. Not related to systems, or anything really. It's all about being prepared for those and attempting to make as few as possible.
Re: I'm a former Miso engineer and the founders screwed me out of 10k
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I dont agree. 99% of this time this type of stuff stays private because the employee is fearful of repercussions and as a result, new employees never get warned about the mess they are walking into. Thats why I upvoted this- It takes balls to air this publicly and thats the only thing you can do to stop shit behavior like this from happening and scare other companys into treating people right. So long as companys thi…
I think it's worthwhile taking stuff like this public but threatening beforehand is a big no-no.
If your threat is to tell your side of the story I don't see a problem with it. Ivehad customers do that with me and it's usually because their experience with my company sucked.
Re: I'm a former Miso engineer and the founders screwed me out of 10k
#35Honestly, the answers that the Miso founders gave seemed very professional and I think am a bit on their side in this one.
If OP had asked for the bonus while still being at Miso, it seems like he would simply have gotten it. Seeing as a non-contractual bonus is an investment in the employee that the company does in addition to the usual compensation, and seeing as OP quit on his own and doesn't have a compensation anymore, I can see that this would seem like a strange investment.
These informal bonuses shouldn't be seen as something you're entitled to, but rather as a nice extra that might disappear any second. If you really want something, it should be in the contract. If it isn't in the contract, you apparently can also live without it.
edit: Oh, downvotes. I really should stop posting my opinion if it might be controversial.
Re: I'm a former Miso engineer and the founders screwed me out of 10k
#36The correct response here isn't to air your grievances in public, it's to talk to a lawyer.
For $10,000? Lawyers aren't cheap and, honestly, typically aren't worth it for amounts under $25k, especially if the other side can lawyer up faster and better than you can. Take it to small claims and get as much as you can.
You can certainly talk to a lawyer for much less than $10k. The lawyer will either (a) tell you to forget about it (b) tell you that it's not worth using a lawyer, but that you might be able to pursue it in small claims court or (c) send a letter, which is probably all this would take, if he has any standing at all.
Re: I'm a former Miso engineer and the founders screwed me out of 10k
#37You may want to consider putting the $10K towards a good cause (if Miso eventually steps up), to show it was never about the money.
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like Miso may have made a business decision, and you are reminding them of the cost side of that equation.
Re: I'm a former Miso engineer and the founders screwed me out of 10k
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
They also don't have any systems people who know to run backups.
To my coworkers defense the service was very new and we had plans to put in a backup system. Bad timing I guess.
Don't feel bad about this. The decision to launch without backups was a legitimate business gamble. Blaming an engineer for the outcome of a business decision is plain bad management.
Re: I'm a former Miso engineer and the founders screwed me out of 10k
#39Honestly, the answers that the Miso founders gave seemed very professional and I think am a bit on their side in this one. If OP had asked for the bonus while still being at Miso, it seems like he would simply have gotten it. Seeing as a non-contractual bonus is an investment in the employee that the company does in addition to the usual compensation, and seeing as OP quit on his own and doesn't have a compensation a…
That's not really how it works. If it's in an e-mail, it's a contract.
Me: "Hey, if you do X I'll give you $10k."
You: [Does X.] "Can I have my $10k?"
Me: "Nah, the moment's passed. I'm not really feeling it anymore."
Nope. That's sleazy behavior.
Re: I'm a former Miso engineer and the founders screwed me out of 10k
#40While this is unfortunate and it sounds like you deserve better (I'd like to hear the other side of the story first), I would discourage against taking this public. This is an issue between you and the founders, and no one else. "Warning" your former Miso coworkers should happen privately -- this post brings them the wrong kind of attention, but they did nothing to deserve it. Future employers who read this post will…
I wish companies thought beyond this "unprofessional" thing - is it not unprofessional for them to withhold the money that rightfully belongs to him (assuming the story is factually correct)? Sadly, so many times people don't come forward for fear of losing future opportunities, and bad employers take advantage of it.