Four Years in Startups • Hacker News Board

Re: Four Years in Startups

#11

Post by staticautomatic » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 12:08 AM UTC

jonahbenton wrote: post #9

A beautifully written piece that brings to mind Alan Kay's statement that a change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points. The world would be much better off if tech could see itself from her vantagepoint. Appearing on HN on a remarkable day in a remarkable era when notable women are forcing historic change with strength, courage, and a different perspective- it is likely this piece will just be a footnote. I hope it b…

Tech can see itself from her vantage point. It just refuses to acknowledge that it's looking at itself.

Re: Four Years in Startups

#12

Post by typpo » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 12:10 AM UTC

nilkanthjp wrote: post #7

The companies, locations, and people referenced in this article are so thinly veiled I don't understand why they'd try to keep them anonymous at all?

To save the rest of you some trouble, the startups are Oyster ("e-books"), Mixpanel ("big data"), and Github ("open source").

Re: Four Years in Startups

#13

Post by MFLoon » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 12:12 AM UTC

nilkanthjp wrote: post #7

The companies, locations, and people referenced in this article are so thinly veiled I don't understand why they'd try to keep them anonymous at all?

I don't think they're claiming to actually anonymize them. Seems like it's just a stylistic choice to not affirmatively identify them.

Re: Four Years in Startups

#14

Post by noobhacker » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 12:23 AM UTC

atomashpolskiy wrote: post #2

TLDR: Founders are arrogant, self-serving assholes, spending other people's money; techies are ass-licking, ignorant avocado munchers. $$$ is being spent and harm is being done, while non-tech people struggle to make a living, but have a real life. Get out of the bubble.

This is an accurate summary of the article.

However, in my personal experience, it is not an accurate summary of the Bay Area. The startup scene may be truly this toxic, but I think such toxicity plagues any small, homogeneous group of people. It is hardly a tech problem. Indeed, mom-and-pop shop in small towns can be very abusive too.

To offer a counter anecdote, my experience with FAANG has been very positive. My workplace is the most meritocratic, efficient, and transparent organization that I've been in. (And I did spend 6 years on the East coast doing things unrelated to tech.)

I'm certain that the author's experience is true. I also want to caution against generalizing these issues to all of tech in the Bay.

Re: Four Years in Startups

#15

Post by undefined3840 » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 12:27 AM UTC

I share a very similar experience to the author, though somehow even a little more extreme, including working in an entry level role for a certain tech mafia, living through maybe half of the events detailed in the new Uber book, working for the family of the president’s son in law, and then working at an absolute dumpster fire of a crypto company.

Should probably write a book about it one day!

Re: Four Years in Startups

#16

Post by undefined3840 » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 12:38 AM UTC

noobhacker wrote: post #14

atomashpolskiy wrote: post #2

TLDR: Founders are arrogant, self-serving assholes, spending other people's money; techies are ass-licking, ignorant avocado munchers. $$$ is being spent and harm is being done, while non-tech people struggle to make a living, but have a real life. Get out of the bubble.

This is an accurate summary of the article. However, in my personal experience, it is not an accurate summary of the Bay Area. The startup scene may be truly this toxic, but I think such toxicity plagues any small, homogeneous group of people. It is hardly a tech problem. Indeed, mom-and-pop shop in small towns can be very abusive too. To offer a counter anecdote, my experience with FAANG has been very positive. My w…

A Facebook engineer just committed suicide last week due (allegedly) to workplace bullying made possible in part by his immigration status. Something like 45 women from Google just came forward claiming they were retaliated against for bringing up sexual harassment claims to HR this week.

You can’t generalize the claim that things are different at FAANGs either.

Re: Four Years in Startups

#17

Post by barry-cotter » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 1:07 AM UTC

undefined3840 wrote: post #16

noobhacker wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an accurate summary of the article. However, in my personal experience, it is not an accurate summary of the Bay Area. The startup scene may be truly this toxic, but I think such toxicity plagues any small, homogeneous group of people. It is hardly a tech problem. Indeed, mom-and-pop shop in small towns can be very abusive too. To offer a counter anecdote, my experience with FAANG has been very positive. My w…

A Facebook engineer just committed suicide last week due (allegedly) to workplace bullying made possible in part by his immigration status. Something like 45 women from Google just came forward claiming they were retaliated against for bringing up sexual harassment claims to HR this week. You can’t generalize the claim that things are different at FAANGs either.

Don’t Facebook and Google each have over 100K employees just in their Bay Area offices? This is like FoxConn[1]. You can be doing substantially better than average and still have constant bad news by virtue of your size alone.

[1] The suicide rate among their employees was below the general population’s.

Re: Four Years in Startups

#18

Post by undefined3840 » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 1:21 AM UTC

barry-cotter wrote: post #17

undefined3840 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Facebook engineer just committed suicide last week due (allegedly) to workplace bullying made possible in part by his immigration status. Something like 45 women from Google just came forward claiming they were retaliated against for bringing up sexual harassment claims to HR this week. You can’t generalize the claim that things are different at FAANGs either.

Don’t Facebook and Google each have over 100K employees just in their Bay Area offices? This is like FoxConn[1]. You can be doing substantially better than average and still have constant bad news by virtue of your size alone. [1] The suicide rate among their employees was below the general population’s.

No...Google has 100k employees worldwide. Facebook is something like 30k worldwide.

Re: Four Years in Startups

#19

Post by wespiser_2018 » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 1:39 AM UTC

Great write up! I really enjoy hearing this perspective. I think it's so easy to get wrapped up a big dream that we lose perspective into what's important. Treating people with respect and doing the right thing for the employees, customer, and owners. A lot of these mistakes can be tied to inexperience, and I wouldn't be surprised if the average age of VC invested founders goes up when money thins out!

Re: Four Years in Startups

#20

Post by foobiekr » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 1:41 AM UTC

rainyMammoth wrote: post #4

atomashpolskiy wrote: post #2

TLDR: Founders are arrogant, self-serving assholes, spending other people's money; techies are ass-licking, ignorant avocado munchers. $$$ is being spent and harm is being done, while non-tech people struggle to make a living, but have a real life. Get out of the bubble.

Don't know why you are being downvoted but you your TLDR is pretty much spot on. I would suggest to any techie who finds this not true to leave the bay area for a couple months then come back. It is amazing how entitled everyone is over here.

When I leave for any length of time, what really strikes me is the entitled impatience. It's always a bit of a shock.