Show HN: Key Values – Find engineering teams that share your values

If you think developers are overpaid, then just say that.

1. Most people feel strongly that some subset of the "values" listed on Key Values don't belong there.

I interpret this as a success!

I've read hundreds of careers pages and countless job descriptions working on Key Values. You know what they all say? "Make an impact, learn a lot, and have fun doing it." I've also talked to and interviewed 100+ engineers to learn what they look for when changing jobs. You know what they always said? "I want to have real impact on the product, learn a lot in the process, and have fun at work."

When everyone checks all of the boxes, we don't get anywhere. I wanted to choose values that were general enough to appeal to multiple teams/people but divisive enough to only be selected by a few. Different values resonate with different people, and that's the whole point. (For the record: I will certainly add values that I've missed over time, but I doubt I will remove many.)

2. Many of us have strong opinions about what certain values signal about a team/company/organization.

These opinions say a lot about our previous experiences. Let me use myself as an example. When I first dropped out of grad school and joined a startup, I genuinely believed that "work/life balance" was a pseudonym for a lack of passion. "If you truly love what you're doing, you don't even call it work." A few years later, I was burned out and swung the other way. I wanted to establish a clear separation between work and personal, so I never worked weekends, never worked late, and never attended company happy hours. Now, I kind of crave that fast-paced, work with urgency kind of environment again. Right now, in this particular chapter in my life, I'd be a little sad if everyone went home at 5pm and I was working by myself until 8pm.

To piggy back on the work/life separation: I am a female in tech who no longer drinks alcohol but I still appreciate teams that do so professionally. My personal experiences with drinking at the workplace happen to all be goods ones. Sometimes introverted, socially-awkward people need a beer to loosen up and I really like connecting with my colleagues on a personal level. I don't feel left out or uncomfortable at events where everyone is drinking except for me, and I know that while this is true for me, it isn't for everyone else.

Sorry to compare looking for a job to dating again, but it works here too. We specifically look for things we didn't get enough of in our previous job/relationship when looking for new ones, and we specifically avoid things that we've made negative associations with in our past (we call them "red flags"). Everyone has their own set of personal experiences to draw from and use to navigate the world.

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful feedback and insightful discussions!

So you're saying let's use a site to find like-minded people... in the name of diversity?

What?

Is this just an elaborate joke or is there something I'm missing? (I'll be the first to admit leftist-diversity logic often eludes me)

We who? There's a real lack of "we" among white males. White males don't generally look around, see a bunch of white males and think, "I feel my views are being represented here!"

It's usually more specific at least. Damore clearly didn't feel represented by the white male leadership at Google, for example.

Instead I offer my congratulations - you've shipped a product, on your own, that is both useful and interesting to a wide audience. That's something that I've tried to do in the past and repeatedly failed to achieve.

Keep up the good work :)