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A Difficult Situation

blog.sendgrid.com

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Re: A Difficult Situation

#31

Post by jlgreco »

jerrya wrote: post #14

The situation wasn't that difficult, and Sendgrid's response was inappropriate. Welcome to the Corporate State where every problematic statement you make as an errorful human being prone to making mistakes will be used against you to preserve the corporate bottom line. An actual appropriate response from SendGrid and Play Haven would have been recognition that its employees are human's first, and all of us are subjec…

I am curious what you make of this portion of the response in particular:

"A SendGrid developer evangelist’s responsibility is to build and strengthen our Developer Community across the globe. In light of the events over the last 48+ hours, it has become obvious that her actions have strongly divided the same community she was supposed to unite. As a result, she can no longer be effective in her role at SendGrid."

Re: A Difficult Situation

#32

Post by shock-value »

It'll be interesting to see if the relevant party here is going to seek legal action against SendGrid for the firing. Without commenting about whether there is any legal basis (I have no idea), it seems like doing so would seriously hinder any efforts to find another job in the tech field in the future.

Yet it wouldn't surprise me to see it happen, given this individual's seemingly extreme reactions to perceived slights (themselves minuscule compared to actually being fired, justified or not).

Re: A Difficult Situation

#33

Post by chimeracoder »

gallerytungsten wrote: post #6
rdl wrote: post #3

This is the most reasonable statement I've seen so far in this whole fiasco. It's a shame he took so long to post it; it should have been the first SendGrid comment this morning.

While I agree it's eminently reasonable, it can sometimes take a day or two to work through a thorny issue, regain a sense of calm, and write something reasonable.

In the past, I've tended to follow a '48-hour rule' when it comes to responding to emotionally-heated emails.

Yes, 48 hours can seem like an eternity in the tech world, but it prevents accidentally exacerbating the situation by acting with good intentions yet without a clear head.

This isn't even taking into account how long it takes to check with HR, legal, etc. All of which were probably necessary here.

Re: A Difficult Situation

#34

Post by jdileo »

rdl wrote: post #3

This is the most reasonable statement I've seen so far in this whole fiasco. It's a shame he took so long to post it; it should have been the first SendGrid comment this morning.

completely agree

Re: A Difficult Situation

#35

Post by obviouslygreen »

jerrya wrote: post #14

The situation wasn't that difficult, and Sendgrid's response was inappropriate. Welcome to the Corporate State where every problematic statement you make as an errorful human being prone to making mistakes will be used against you to preserve the corporate bottom line. An actual appropriate response from SendGrid and Play Haven would have been recognition that its employees are human's first, and all of us are subjec…

I can't agree with this. It's not a question of speech, it's a question of responsibility: She was present in a professional capacity and, as stated in the post, behaved in a way that subverted the goal of her position.

That's pretty open and shut. She said what she believed, and did exactly what she wanted to... unfortunately, she did not do so in line with the best interests of the community or her employer, and that's who she was supposed to be representing during this series of events.

You don't have to disagree with freedom of speech to find some speech harmful to your business, and there is no unconditional right to employment without regard to personal conduct.

Re: A Difficult Situation

#36

Post by hanleybrand »

It's kind of a shame that two people got fired - but I did think it was weird when the person having a private convo was fired but not the person who used their corporate position to launch a public attack on the former was not.

But for the record I'd have preferred that no one lose their job.

Re: A Difficult Situation

#37

Post by minimax »

Just think of all the things you could be doing with your time that don't involve following this stupid Internet drama. Now go do one of those things. Seriously this is such a waste of time.

Re: A Difficult Situation

#39

Post by MetaCosm »

jerrya wrote: post #14

The situation wasn't that difficult, and Sendgrid's response was inappropriate. Welcome to the Corporate State where every problematic statement you make as an errorful human being prone to making mistakes will be used against you to preserve the corporate bottom line. An actual appropriate response from SendGrid and Play Haven would have been recognition that its employees are human's first, and all of us are subjec…

She acted as a developer evangelist, there is absolutely no way she could do her job. I would go so far as to say no company will EVER employ her for a job with that title ever again.

Re: A Difficult Situation

#40

Post by niggler »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #19

I have little to no knowledge of laws in this area. However my gut tells me that Sendgrid is opening themselves up to a hell of a lawsuit. Can anyone who actually does know about such matters comment?

With most firms, when you join you are required to sign an agreement. In that agreement, usually it is stated that you agree to comply to a certain employee handbook or standards of conduct.

If she violated the standards of conduct, since employment is conditional on compliance, they can fire her and will most likely win any lawsuit on the matter unless a court deems that the standards themselves are illegal.

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