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Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

where.coraline.codes

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Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#31

Post by DannyBee »

sethrin wrote: post #6

Am I reading this correctly? Fired for lack of empathetic communication? Is that really a thing?

Yes. I had to have a manager fire a person because they repeatedly yelled at others on video conferences, etc.

I've seen others performance planned for being complete jerks to others on a repeated basis.

Please remember that no amount of genius should make up for being an asshole. Some companies don't take this to heart, for sure, but those that actually want a good culture, do.

So yeah, regardless of this case (i don't have enough facts), but i've definitely seen people fired/etc for not being able to communicate empathetically.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#32

Post by draw_down »

Many people have seen the Netflix document on company culture. My favorite part is where it points out that company values are not what the founders list in an email, or what gets painted on a wall or put on a plaque. It's what happens every single day, what gets done now and what gets deferred.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#33

Post by Diamons »

I'm surprised she lasted as long as she did and wasn't fired earlier. We even have a diagnosis that she has mental health issues. I'm glad Github fired her. Now the question is, why was this article posted? Why are we giving her her 2 minutes of fame?

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#34

Post by ivraatiems »

tyingq wrote: post #8

I've seen this a few times. People with a naturally terse way of communicating eventually end up offending someone with the power to retaliate.

The question of "is this person terse, or are they an asshole?" can be very difficult to answer. I think it's interesting how in this thread alone, we can see that people with different views on the core issue are answering it differently. I tend to fall on the author's side on social justice stuff, and I lean "no." Others, who don't (or seem not to), clearly lean "yes." I wonder, if the circumstances were reversed, what I and they would think.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#35

Post by tedivm »

giggles_giggles wrote: post #18

"I was well aware of GitHub's very problematic past, from its promotion of meritocracy in place of a management system" This person mentions multiple times that meritocracy is a bad idea, that promotion or reward based on merit should be done away with in order to promote diversity, e.g., racial/gender-based quotas. This is a person who does not view competence as the primary trait to select for within a market, and…

I strongly disagree with your assessment that this person doesn't value competency, at least based off of her dislike of meritocracy.

Meritocracy is not a replacement for proper management, and without proper management the idea of "meritocracy" reverts back to just being a popularity contest. If you don't have a good management system in place then identifying who "merits" promotion is extremely difficult and is often based not on how someone performs but how much they are liked by the decision makers of the company.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#38

Post by thsowers »

ivraatiems wrote: post #30
thsowers wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just think it's worth mentioning that she doesn't seem to present evidence that the data scientist was "transphobic". She seems to discount the possibility the data scientist was unaware of how to properly ask that question on surveys (as am I). Perhaps she had more personal experience with the data scientist in question to justify this claim, but that should of been included here.

> Just think it's worth mentioning that she doesn't seem to present evidence that the data scientist was "transphobic". She doesn't say they were. She says the question as phrased was. That's a big difference.

You are correct, thank you for pointing that out. However, she is still assuming that the question was phrased in a "Transphobic" way. Perhaps she reads it like that, but I doubt that was the authors (or questions) intention. Perhaps i'm wrong

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#39

Post by Herald_MJ »

giggles_giggles wrote: post #18

"I was well aware of GitHub's very problematic past, from its promotion of meritocracy in place of a management system" This person mentions multiple times that meritocracy is a bad idea, that promotion or reward based on merit should be done away with in order to promote diversity, e.g., racial/gender-based quotas. This is a person who does not view competence as the primary trait to select for within a market, and…

> Uh oh! The data scientist isn't up to date on the trends in gender studies and critical theory, better send her off to sensitivity training!

The problem here wasn't that the data scientist was asking the wrong questions, it's that they were upset by someone stepping and offering an improved set of questions, and felt the need to complain to a manager instead of responding.

The Github management's decision of asking the author _never to communicate with this person again_ is even more bewildering.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#40

Post by dangerlibrary »

ivraatiems wrote: post #28
giggles_giggles wrote: post #18

"I was well aware of GitHub's very problematic past, from its promotion of meritocracy in place of a management system" This person mentions multiple times that meritocracy is a bad idea, that promotion or reward based on merit should be done away with in order to promote diversity, e.g., racial/gender-based quotas. This is a person who does not view competence as the primary trait to select for within a market, and…

> This person mentions multiple times that meritocracy is a bad idea, that promotion or reward based on merit should be done away with in order to promote diversity, e.g., racial/gender-based quotas. She wasn't fired for that. > This is a person who does not view competence as the primary trait to select for within a market, and is insisting here that competence be downplayed to make room for people with the correct…

> Better get offended and make her apologize. Oh wait, that's exactly what the author does, like the bully she is.

I suspect the GP agrees, yes.

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