Live data from Hacker News

At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

wsj.com

151–160 of 335 posts

Re: At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

#151

“Be­ing part of Net­flix is like be­ing part of an Olympic team,” the com­pany said in a writ­ten statement Oh please. Get over yourselves.

Netflix is a fracking online video store for F^%k's sake - not Bell labs

Well, it's not like Olympic athletes are doing anything new and innovative. They are just the best at doing what millions of other people also do. That seems like a decent analogy for Netflix whose basic task isn't groundbreaking, but who has to manage doing it at a scale that rivals anyone else in the industry.

Re: At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

#152

Mr. Hast­ings had re­cently fired his chief com­mu­ni­ca­tions of­fi­cer for say­ing the “N-word” in full form. The ex­ec­u­tive, who is white... The race of the speaker shouldn’t matter. Either make the word forbidden (a silly concept to begin with) or don’t.

Our language doesn't work without context.

Re: At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (Netflix employees, why do you accept this?) Let me take a stab at this: money is good.

>> (Netflix employees, why do you accept this?) > Let me take a stab at this: money is good. Better than everywhere else, including other FAANGs, where you don't have to tolerate such policies?

If you want cash it is. Netflix salaries are generally $350k+. They only hire seniors, but that can mean 4-5 years of experience. Not even Google pays that kind of comp in salary.

Re: At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

#154
post #45
post #11

Wow. I can literally feel my neck and shoulders bunching up just _reading_ this. If I wanted to live in a fear-based culture every day, I'd join the armed forces--at least that way I could shoot back.

Also, I don't think after you get KIA in the armed forces, they hold a special funeral where your commanding officer tells your entire battalion that you were a coward and a poor soldier so justifiably you got shot.

Pretty sure you don't die when you get fired from Netflix. You go work for a different FANG for a lower base salary. Little bit much with that analogy.

Re: At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

#155
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very common. Senior Software Engineers are commonly at 400+ up to 7-800. Director level for Software, Data Eng, Data Science are very rarely under 600+. VP in the same areas rarely (never?) under 800+.

That looks very high for senior devs and very low for directors/VPs.

It's not that high for Seniors. $400k is pretty standard for a Senior at most FANG companies. With Netflix you get it all in cash and that's the major selling point.

Re: At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

#156

“Be­ing part of Net­flix is like be­ing part of an Olympic team,” the com­pany said in a writ­ten statement Oh please. Get over yourselves.

Netflix is a fracking online video store for F^%k's sake - not Bell labs

And athletes are just playing games. So what?

They are trying to make a parallel for the expectations and rigor involved in maintaining peak performance.

Re: At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All we need now is for generally disliked to become a protected class .

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that called “right to work”?

As far as I can tell, "right to work" means "you can quit any time for no reason, and we can fire you any time for no reason, and we're going to pretend that this is an equal trade."

Re: At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

#158
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Netflix pays 360k a year plus benefits. It’s a shit place to work if you don’t fit the exact culture though, which is pretty brash and confrontational

You can get similar comp at Google and Facebook, to name just two examples. Why should I choose Netflix if I can get the same pay there, minus the BS? Also, I won't have to live in Los Gatos.

Huh, immediately then someone will complain Google is evil as it working with Chinese government and FB is evil because it is working Russians who meddled with US elections.

Infact I wouldn't know of many companies who can't be branded evil or full of BS for some or other reason.

Re: At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

#159

> Richard Siklos, a Netflix spokesman, said the company only fires employees for performance reasons, not because managers don’t like them From what I've seen, managers give poor performance reviews or "metrics" when they don't like people. This feels like a distinction without a difference.

Yes, I think it lacks an understanding of human nature to think that a manager wouldn't give someone bad reviews just because they don't like them. Though, I bet a lot of times managers do this unconsciously, especially as one tends to see more faults with people they don't like.

Re: At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks

#160
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The CEO ... believed that regularly letting people go was a way of eliminating bad apples and forcing people to work harder and smarter. Microsoft called it Stack Ranking.

Presumably it wasn't structured like MS's stack ranking, it was arbitrary. It's a weird feeling to come in regularly and be uncertain if you'd still be employed by the end of week, but not for anything you specifically did. Now that I think about it, it was a bizarrely nepotistic environment. An engineering manager would hire their friends, many speculated as at least partial insurance against being fired. But once t…

> when your field is in high demand

Well, when everywhere is pretty much the same...

Post reply on HN