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Fired by Google for creating the Google workspace CLI

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Re: Fired by Google for creating the Google workspace CLI

#392

Interesting that people here seem so sympathetic to the fired guy. Wouldn’t you kind of expect to be fired if you release a project under your employers name that’s not even associated with them and hasn’t been cleared? Working for them actually makes it worse because people could look up your name and would see that you actually work for google. It’s kind of obvious that this is a bad idea, right?

>Wouldn’t you kind of expect to be fired if you release a project under your employers name that’s not even associated with them and hasn’t been cleared?

It seems to be something other people do as well and not out of the ordinary, so no.

Re: Fired by Google for creating the Google workspace CLI

#393
post #389
post #40

Yikes. The lack of judgement involved in personally releasing something that could be confused for an official release (I was confused) by your employer is someone who has huge wildcard risk in the future. I would expect significant disciplinary action if they didn't follow procedure, and termination if they were directly warned at any point.

In any reasonable company (with common sense leadership), someone would not be fired for doing something (with good intentions) that does not harm company very much. Releasing something like this did not really harm the company (the project is still on GitHub). Any smart executive could have spun the release of this CLI into a win. Even if some other team complained that this was encroaching on their work, a smart ex…

What if they were told not to do it and they still did?

Re: Fired by Google for creating the Google workspace CLI

#395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Former Googler here, and one that has open-sourced projects while working in Cloud. This is certainly not the case in other product areas and for specifically for something that uses the Google name. If I was expected to go through a full IARC committee in order to get my little Discord bot open sourced under my own account, something that uses the Google name would likely have to get IARC + Legal approvals, along wi…

It's weird that he even had the ability to create public repos inside the official Google Workspace org then. That said, I agree that some information seems to be missing. Like, why not instead fire the guy who announced the project on X and who I presume is his manager? Confusing.

The manager, Addy Osmani, also reportedly left Google, which is interesting.

Also more interesting is the fact the repository is still alive and kicking.

I can see Google firing the dev but HR/Legal giving a bogus reason, as is regular practice.

Re: Fired by Google for creating the Google workspace CLI

#396

In the README > This is not an officially supported Google product. Why was this project published under an account named "Google Workspace"? Google seems to want to have their cake and eat it too, same with the cli creator. If you want to publish a project under open source and you are the sole creator/owner -> do it in your own time, under your OWN individual github account. Nothing good has ever come from ceeding…

Xoogler here who also published things within Google repositories. This is a standard phrase that you should have in the README to get an approval to publish your repository to GitHub, even if it is totally related to the Google business (as mine were).

My guess is that it's similar to the regular "no warranty" clause in the licenses, just explicitly opting out this code from any possible agreements Google might have with its customers.

Google's process to publish to open source is well documented and this documentation is public. [1] is the document that requires this disclaimer.

[1]: https://opensource.google/documentation/reference/releasing/...

Re: Fired by Google for creating the Google workspace CLI

#397
post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure that the agreement that Google employees sign (a "contract") when hired reflects exactly that. At least at did when I joined (I left > 3 years ago, speaking here only for myself...)

Is it legal (or moral) for an employer to keep you from being a board member of a dog rescue or a glove repair company without review?

In California, no. Under Labor Code section 96(k), you generally cannot be disciplined or fired for engaging in legal outside of work activities. If they do, you can sue for lost wages.

Re: Fired by Google for creating the Google workspace CLI

#398
post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People said the same thing about non-compete agreements. Sorry, not buying that’s for anyone’s good.

I don't understand your point. What I'm saying is that it might be "obvious" that it's ok to volunteer for a dog rescue group. Is it equally as ok to volunteer to raise money for a dog rescue group operating in Gaza? What about other charities operating in Gaza? What about in Israeli occupied territories?

That's political speech, and specifically protected in California outside of work. If you fire your employee for political activities outside of work, you still have to pay them, because they're going to sue you for lost wages, and win.

Re: Fired by Google for creating the Google workspace CLI

#399
post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand your point. What I'm saying is that it might be "obvious" that it's ok to volunteer for a dog rescue group. Is it equally as ok to volunteer to raise money for a dog rescue group operating in Gaza? What about other charities operating in Gaza? What about in Israeli occupied territories?

> I don't understand your point. Then you don’t know the history of the non-compete agreement in the tech industry. For decades, people were wringing their hands and holding themselves back from living well because they couldn’t possibly work for another software company after Google, Microsoft, whomever - because the contract stated they couldn’t work for competitors. Well, then States showed up and said “that’s not…

California has had a ban on noncompetes since the gold rush.

Re: Fired by Google for creating the Google workspace CLI

#400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The truth is that in decent workplaces we've figured out attacking people doesn't generally get what you want, unless what you want is to have a tantrum. Calling an idea nonsense is fine, calling it not profitable is great, and saying its a waste of time is a Monday. Attacking someone as a fucking moron is pointless, just fire them, deprioritize them, or move on.

It's a reframe for > you can get punished at google (up to and including termination) for raising your voice in a meeting. That makes it sound like Google is really weird for firing people for merely "raising your voice in a meeting", but the reality is that toxic assholes who can't control their emotions and yell racist slurs at people do get fired, but, uh, shouldn't they?

how did you get from "raising your voice in a meeting" to "toxic assholes" and "racist slurs". Those are very different.
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