I Don't Agree That There Really Is a Tech Worker Shortage • Hacker News Board

Re: I Don't Agree That There Really Is a Tech Worker Shortage

#151

Post by argonaut » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 11:09 AM UTC

dalke wrote: post #13

argonaut wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relatively moderate nit: Using the WhatsApp founders is a very poor example. If you look at their resumes (VP of Eng at Yahoo for Brian, presumably a very senior/architect-level engineering role for Jan), I have no doubt they were interviewing at Facebook for architect/engineering director-level roles. Whether or not you get hired at that level obviously depends on much more than baseline coding competency.

I'll pick some at that nit. In the link, the author contrasts it to the quote from Zuckerberg: "Our policy is literally to hire as many talented engineers as we can find. The whole limit in the system is just that there aren’t enough people who are trained and have these skills today." The example is to point out how this quote is not true, as two such engineers were not hired by Facebook. You point out that it depen…

If you apply for a architect / VP level position, they're not going to reject you and then suggest you work for them as a staff software engineer or something (which many people would find insulting). Zuckerberg's statement about hiring talented engineers is perfectly consistent the norm in hiring at any company.

Re: I Don't Agree That There Really Is a Tech Worker Shortage

#152

Post by argonaut » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 11:10 AM UTC

dalke wrote: post #68

smm2000 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's App founders were not looking for position as engineers - they were looking for position as senior managers. The fact that those two guys can write code is not that relevant. Jan managed 150 people at Yahoo - FB had in total that many engineers at the time.

I have searched, but found nothing which verifies your statement that they were looking for positions as senior managers. Or as software engineers, for that matter. Only that Koum was turned down by Facebook, and Acton by Twitter and Facebook. For what it's worth, FB had 200 engineers at the time, says http://algeri-wong.com/yishan/engineering-management.html . According to the FB IPO prospectus, they had a 81% growt…

You're right by the way. But I believe that my inference, based on their resume, is the correct one. Nobody takes a dip from VP of Engineering at Yahoo to a standard software engineering position.

Re: I Don't Agree That There Really Is a Tech Worker Shortage

#153

Post by dalke » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 10:45 PM UTC

MichaelCrawford wrote: post #150

dalke wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The FB/Yahoo/whoever lawyer would point out that there's no indication of any discrimination. Your only evidence is permissible under the stray remarks doctrine, promulgated by Justice O'Conner in the Supreme Court decision for Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins (1989). You have no evidence of them doing anything illegal. Stray remarks "standing alone" are not sufficient prima facie evidence of age discrimination. Nor is no…

Amazon's HR guy was all over me like a cheap suit until I directed him to my website. About an hour after that I got his "Dear John" mail. At the top of every page of my site is a link to "Living with Schizoaffective Disorder". http://www.warplife.com/mdc/books/schizoaffective-disorder/ That's known as "Voluntary Self-Identification" under the Americans with Disabilities Act. I do not require any accomodation whatsoe…

Right, so now you've completely dropped the Facebook hypothetical that you thought was relevant, and bring the topic to something where I have access to zero information, so you can make the topic be all about you.

Just go ahead and contact the EEOC. Stop boasting about some mythical power you wield, and go ahead and use it. Bring Amazon to their knees. Make them weep.