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GitLab acquires Gitter, will open-source the code

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Re: GitLab acquires Gitter, will open-source the code

#211

Post by ultimatejs »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #205
ultimatejs wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Um ok. What's actually wrong with the product? Why is it not "well-engineered"? All the things you said could be true, yet their product is amazing. I haven't used it, but I like what I'm seeing. So what if a smart experienced developer (their CTO) is able to get good prices on what he/she wants done through remote work? The point you're making is negativity for no reason without evidence on how it's not working, i.e…

Shouldn't you use the software before calling it amazing? Your reflexive defense isn't any more useful than extreme criticism.

I didn't say it was amazing. Perhaps you are the one being reflexive.

I wrote:

"All the things you said could be true, yet their product [could be] amazing."

Grammatically, it's called "elliptical." I then immediately say: "I haven't used it, but I like what I'm seeing"--so what I meant should be quite obvious.

What value are you adding with your criticism of what--in my case--at least has a question:

"What's actually wrong with the product? Why is it not 'well-engineered'?"

My point was extremely clear--his post needed to have evidence of how their processes results in bad product. And I asked that as a question--perhaps you know? Something tells me you even do (perhaps you're a Gitlab user), yet you're choosing to take an unproductive meta route of criticizing my partial criticism with no actual goal. What do you expect to accomplish with that?

I presume you got stuck on one word ("amazing"), made up your mind and didn't read the rest. My bad, i could have been more clear. However, the essence of what I was saying was straightforward, but you chose to see the forrest instead of the trees. A common reason people take that route is because there is something else you wished to express, but didn't--perhaps you have real experience with gitlab in one way or another that resonates more with the person's viewpoint I replied to. I'm not saying he's wrong--I just would like to hear the full reasoning behind that perspective.

I'd love to hear what that actual perspective is. Gitlab is an interesting product I haven't spent much time reviewing until today. Maybe you can provide the evidence to back up the original poster's point??

Re: GitLab acquires Gitter, will open-source the code

#212

Post by aaron-lebo »

it33 wrote: post #194
aaron-lebo wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you actualy used Gitlab? I can't say they are becoming bloated, because they services are of high quality? Have you tried their CI/CD? Github is stagnatingn. Yeah, they are industry standard, but competition is best thing that can happen to them and users. I have. I've installed Gitlab and Mattermost on my own server. Gitlab is great but I found Slack was a better product (over Mattermost). Have you tried instal…

Hi @aaron-lebo, Mattermost team here, would welcome any feedback on how we could improve. Here's a demo of Mattermost features vs Slack as FYI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKqHWqrAgpk

Hey, thanks.

I had some confusion with the install. It seems the Docker install is favored, but not using a lot of Docker stuff I went with the gitlab-omnibus install on Ubuntu 16.10.

It worked but I didn't feel especially comfortable with it, there were a number of steps. That's vague enough be useless and it could have just been my own ignorance. What is the suggested install if that isn't too basic of a question?

I also had issues with it not liking users sending rather large files but I believe that's an odd use case.

I would use it again but the simplicity of Slack (no setup and no management) won out for now.

Re: GitLab acquires Gitter, will open-source the code

#213

Post by ernstvn »

aldarn wrote: post #185
sashagitlab wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi Matt, I am the recruiter at GL, I've reviewed your case, and I wanted to follow up personally. I'd like to address your concern and explain our process. Since the time of your interview, we have changed the process of discussing compensation within the first 15 minutes of a conversation to the end of a phone call. We understand it's uncomfortable and sometimes awkward to talk pay when you've just met someone. Hope…

I'm not sure this really addresses the issue? Personally I actually would appreciate the upfront salary discussion as it could potentially save a lot of wasted time. It seems to me the issue is more there was a difference in expectations between what the candidate perceived was their situation and what the recruiter believed. This is of course not uncommon, however from the sounds of it the candidate was not given an…

Just to be clear: the calculator takes Level, Experience, and Location into account. If the candidate and recruiter arrive at different numbers while typing into the calculator, then there is apparently miscommunication about one or more of those factors. But being asked to agree to something that is lower than what comes out of the calculator is just not something we do at GitLab. If it came across that way then something got lost in the communication.

Matt, since I deal with the comp calculator every now and then, if you'd like to provide more specifics of your situation, can you please email me on ernst@gitlab.com ?

Re: GitLab acquires Gitter, will open-source the code

#214

Post by leesalminen »

taude wrote: post #203
hamandcheese wrote: post #110

Somewhat off topic, but I was once very interested in working for GitLab. According to their compensation calculator, though, I'd be making less than half what I make now (also working remotely). They ding me for living in a comparatively low cost area. I'm surprised they are able to attract talent to achieve what they have done so far. It makes me worry somewhat about my future prospects in an increasingly globalize…

In reading all these responses about the low GitLab pay calculator, does anyone have any good tips on how to underpay and still hire talent. It's pretty incredible to me.

It's really hard. I haven't found a way to do it successfully yet. I think a lot of it depends on the "coolness" factor. Also interested to hear from anyone who has done it successfully.

Re: GitLab acquires Gitter, will open-source the code

#215

Post by sdesol »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #201

So the race to acquire the next team dev solution heats up. Slack + github + trello equivalent

From what I've read so far, I get the impression, Gitter was purchased solely for marketing value. And in a lot of ways, is quite ingenious. I would suspect, 80% if not more of the discussions that occurs on Gitter, revolves around repos that are hosted on GitHub.

By tapping into those conversations, they'll probably be better able to identify GitHub pain points and provide subtle hints and nudges, for Gitter users to consider GitLab.com

Re: GitLab acquires Gitter, will open-source the code

#216

Post by scrollaway »

chejazi wrote: post #187
sashagitlab wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi Matt, I am the recruiter at GL, I've reviewed your case, and I wanted to follow up personally. I'd like to address your concern and explain our process. Since the time of your interview, we have changed the process of discussing compensation within the first 15 minutes of a conversation to the end of a phone call. We understand it's uncomfortable and sometimes awkward to talk pay when you've just met someone. Hope…

This response is quite in the style of the Yelp/TripAdvisor response to a negative review. A thin veneer of consolation around an attempt to save face.

It looks like a perfectly reasonable response to me. What face is there to save? The fact that this was brought up "within the first five minutes" is far better than "after a plethora of interviews".

I had an interview with Parsely a few years back. Took over 3 weeks of back & forth before they rejected me with a reason that should have been squashed the first hour of the interview.

Re: GitLab acquires Gitter, will open-source the code

#218

Post by sytse »

ernstvn wrote: post #213
aldarn wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure this really addresses the issue? Personally I actually would appreciate the upfront salary discussion as it could potentially save a lot of wasted time. It seems to me the issue is more there was a difference in expectations between what the candidate perceived was their situation and what the recruiter believed. This is of course not uncommon, however from the sounds of it the candidate was not given an…

Just to be clear: the calculator takes Level, Experience, and Location into account. If the candidate and recruiter arrive at different numbers while typing into the calculator, then there is apparently miscommunication about one or more of those factors. But being asked to agree to something that is lower than what comes out of the calculator is just not something we do at GitLab. If it came across that way then som…

I want to second this, we should never ask people to agree to something below the calculator. But of course the applicant and the interviewer might disagree about the appropriate title and experience factor for a candidate.

We have to decline 200 applicants a week at GitLab. We realize that interviewing is very stressful. We send a survey afterwards to get a net promoter score. The current average is 4.2 out of 5 for people that did not sign with us. Most applicants don't fill out the survey, we're not sure how that influences results.

Re: GitLab acquires Gitter, will open-source the code

#219

Post by agibsonccc »

slg wrote: post #22

Does anyone have an insight into the differences between Slack, Mattermost, and Gitter? I have only ever used Slack before but it seems like Gitlab is already heavily invested with Mattermost. That makes me wonder what the future looks like for both Mattermost and Gitter. Are they different enough that they can both coexist without hurting either product or is one of them destined to be folded into the other in hopes…

We chose gitter over slack as an open core company. I close leads, hire engineers, and run our team chat all on one platform. (We supplement this with hangouts) . The idea that all of my activity and communications can happen on one platform is pretty appealing. We also don't need many features (aside from better search please!)

Re: GitLab acquires Gitter, will open-source the code

#220

Post by aaron-lebo »

ultimatejs wrote: post #211
aaron-lebo wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't you use the software before calling it amazing? Your reflexive defense isn't any more useful than extreme criticism.

I didn't say it was amazing. Perhaps you are the one being reflexive. I wrote: "All the things you said could be true, yet their product [could be] amazing." Grammatically, it's called "elliptical." I then immediately say: "I haven't used it, but I like what I'm seeing"--so what I meant should be quite obvious. What value are you adding with your criticism of what--in my case--at least has a question: "What's actuall…

You can find out if their product is amazing by creating an account and using the software. It takes ten minutes, less time than it takes for you to type up that post. The original poster shouldn't have to explain to you how good the software is when you can try it. If you haven't used it his criticisms of the product aren't going to be useful to you anyway.

I haven't used it, but I like what I'm seeing

If you're just talking about what you're seeing, you have the same vantage point as everyone else and the original poster made a number of obvious and valid criticisms - data loss is one, they are selling software and a service.

It probably is trolling on my part, but as harsh as the original poster's words were, he's got some points.

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