Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

My Google Internship

goldsborough.me

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 270 posts

Re: My Google Internship

#151

Post by qntty »

thegenius2000 wrote: post #127
onion2k wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why cater to 0.6% of the population, at the expense of convenience for the 99.4%? Do all those 99.4% of people consider it an "expense"? A lot of people are happy to make a small sacrifice if it greatly benefits other people.

Very fair point, but what about the fraction of people who not only consider it an expense, but an affront to moral dignity? For example, Politico did a poll which showed that 46% of Americans believe that everyone should use the bathroom of their birth. Should their comforts be sacrificed for the sake of 0.6% of the population?

This issue is separate from whether bathrooms should be unisex

Re: My Google Internship

#152

Post by Chris2048 »

HelloNurse wrote: post #137
19guid wrote: post #37

> It’s Googley to stand up for diversity and inclusion, such as protesting against binary gendering on toilets So if I support binary gendering on toilets, I'm not welcome at Google? Why has it become necessary to subscribe to a particular set of political beliefs in order to work for Silicon Valley firms?

Supporting "binary gendering" on toilets means deliberately troubling one's transsexual, queer etc. colleagues; not only hurting their feelings with a constant reminder that they are misfits, but concretely allowing obnoxious people to attack them because they are guilty of using the "wrong" restroom. Such an attitude, although less harmful than many more common workplace problems, is so high on the jerk scale that I…

> Such an attitude

But you just made it up? Don't you mean "such an interpretation" - you can fashion a narrative around any belief.

Re: My Google Internship

#154

Post by Chris2048 »

danspencer wrote: post #102
Veelox wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think 19guid has a problem with using a toilet or being an asshole. I think the question is why is dissent from specific political views looked down upon? I have been in Silicon Valley for almost a year now after moving from the Midwest. I have been able to talk freely with my coworkers about some of my conservative views. Yet when I have shared what would count as "traditional values" on internal forums I ha…

You have a good point. A friend of mine works at Yahoo and he regularly gets emails from management encouraging everyone to show up at the Yahoo booth at Gay Pride Parade. Sure, Yahoo wants to be at Gay Pride Parade because they want to be seen as an open and accepting place. If Yahoo does not participate, it looks bad because every other big company (read: Yahoo's competitors) attends Gay Pride Parade too. But now w…

The problem is:

> it looks bad because

where we have these insidious "interpretations" then end up in requiring you to do or say one thing or another to prove your allegiance to some principle other people consider sacred.

Re: My Google Internship

#155

Post by mattlondon »

steven777400 wrote: post #3

I love reading accounts like this. It's fun and well written and I enjoy the photos too. I work in a cube farm of grey cubes on boring LoB applications. I know I'll never be skilled enough (or, more correctly, I'll never be ambitious enough to become skilled enough) to work at Google et al but it's really fun to sample the experience from the outside. :)

Also to chime in with the other Googlers here: apply. Apply. Apply. Apply.

There is a lot of varied work going on internally at Google. As well as the hard-core, intense, "pure" software engineering work that everyone thinks about going on at Google (search, self-driving cars, android, machine learning etc etc), there is also a lot of ... how can I put this nicely? erm ... lets say "less-pure" software engineering going on.

The hiring-bar is understandably high for the pure software engineers, but there are other roles. I am not a "software engineer" at Google (I am in another "less-pure" engineering role in the same office that was in the pictures in the article) but I still spend all day every day coding using the same equipment, tools, technologies and infrastructure as the "pure" engineers and we all get the same perks. The difference is that my work is mostly internal-only and generally wont get used by our end-users. And even if you're not a coder, there are still lots of roles that require technical skills to help our customers sort out their own technical problems.

Pre-emptive answers to potential questions:

* I just applied from the website for a job that sounded like a reasonable fit (not referral, no prior contact). The recruiters took it from there. Prior experience was a few years at IBM and a CompSci degree.

* Perks are good but I still do 8:30 - 5 each day, sometimes I work from home if I am feeling lazy. In my London office some people stay late, but usually just because it is easier to schedule meetings with team members in the US (time overlaps etc)

I want to work with eager, intelligent people so please I really do encourage anyone reading this to go take a look and apply. https://www.google.com/about/careers/

Good luck!

Re: My Google Internship

#156

Post by Chris2048 »

rincebrain wrote: post #139
danspencer wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a good point. A friend of mine works at Yahoo and he regularly gets emails from management encouraging everyone to show up at the Yahoo booth at Gay Pride Parade. Sure, Yahoo wants to be at Gay Pride Parade because they want to be seen as an open and accepting place. If Yahoo does not participate, it looks bad because every other big company (read: Yahoo's competitors) attends Gay Pride Parade too. But now w…

There are several things to unpack here, but I'm going to stick to one. The primary difference, in practice, between something like Gay Pride and something like "Straight Pride", would be the power dynamic between the two. Historically, and even to some extent currently, the people with more power have been those who would be in the latter parade. "Punching up" is what it's called when you are challenging a group mor…

This is the usual story, but power is more complicated than that. "up" and "down" assume a linear dimension.

> Historically, and even to some extent currently

Surely only the current situation matters? Why should the people now care about the power dynamic of the past?

Re: My Google Internship

#157

Post by Chris2048 »

Aeolun wrote: post #108
danspencer wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a good point. A friend of mine works at Yahoo and he regularly gets emails from management encouraging everyone to show up at the Yahoo booth at Gay Pride Parade. Sure, Yahoo wants to be at Gay Pride Parade because they want to be seen as an open and accepting place. If Yahoo does not participate, it looks bad because every other big company (read: Yahoo's competitors) attends Gay Pride Parade too. But now w…

I think it promotes those opinions that are healthy for the business and the world in general. I mean, you could theoretically accept any viewpoint, but you don't really want nazis in your company to be an accepted thing.

don't accept non-binary gendering == Nazi

nice..

Re: My Google Internship

#158

Post by Chris2048 »

HelloNurse wrote: post #137
19guid wrote: post #37

> It’s Googley to stand up for diversity and inclusion, such as protesting against binary gendering on toilets So if I support binary gendering on toilets, I'm not welcome at Google? Why has it become necessary to subscribe to a particular set of political beliefs in order to work for Silicon Valley firms?

Supporting "binary gendering" on toilets means deliberately troubling one's transsexual, queer etc. colleagues; not only hurting their feelings with a constant reminder that they are misfits, but concretely allowing obnoxious people to attack them because they are guilty of using the "wrong" restroom. Such an attitude, although less harmful than many more common workplace problems, is so high on the jerk scale that I…

I'll add another thing; Policy needn't automatically be inferred/interpreted to a philosophy, or vice-versa.

For example, I don't believe there is a fixed age where a person magically develops the facilities to make sexual choices. However, I do support a fixed, explicit age of consent - A legal parameter only needs to be practical.

Re: My Google Internship

#159

Post by Chris2048 »

gefh wrote: post #95
19guid wrote: post #37

> It’s Googley to stand up for diversity and inclusion, such as protesting against binary gendering on toilets So if I support binary gendering on toilets, I'm not welcome at Google? Why has it become necessary to subscribe to a particular set of political beliefs in order to work for Silicon Valley firms?

My goog office has many trans engineers. They're very good at their jobs. I guess they might not want to work in an office designed by you, either now or at some stage in their transition. You'd be missing out on their talent.

trans engineers who refuse to work at a place with binary toilets?

If a population of conservative engineers existed who refused to work at a place with non-binary toilets, would you make the same statement? Or would they not be good at their jobs?

Re: My Google Internship

#160

Post by Chris2048 »

lostboys67 wrote: post #111
19guid wrote: post #37

> It’s Googley to stand up for diversity and inclusion, such as protesting against binary gendering on toilets So if I support binary gendering on toilets, I'm not welcome at Google? Why has it become necessary to subscribe to a particular set of political beliefs in order to work for Silicon Valley firms?

Because its a dog whistle its like saying oh its just a childs toy when referring to a Goliwog.

What is it a dog whistle for?
Post reply on HN