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GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

forbes.com

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Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#31

Post by Wowfunhappy »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #8
bszupnick wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if that tactic actually retains people for longer. I just closed the tab after the first couple of paragraphs, googled his name, and found the information I wanted that way. It seems to be intuitive that if one makes X harder to get via their platform, the user will work harder to get X, but that solution rarely seems to be true.

I hate it almost as much as the ‘soft lede’, where the author decides to spend a few paragraphs describing the weather and kind of jacket the subject of their article is wearing before they get to the point. Maybe it’s SEO, but it just gives me the impression that the author had a failed career as a novelist, and wants to waste my time as an outlet for their creative writing impulses.

I like that style, when it's done well! I agree it has a novel-esque feel, but that's not a bad thing IMO.

I can see how it would be annoying if you're looking for something specific, but not all articles are written to be consumed in the same way.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#32

Post by dmurray »

bennyelv wrote: post #22
disko wrote: post #14

Jeez, his surname is spelled differently 3x in the first couple of paragraphs (Sijbrandij / Sijbrandiij / Sijbrandi). Proof-reading, anyone?

I suspect this could be an SEO trick for people who mis-spell the name when searching.

I doubt it. Google is smart enough to fix the misspellings at search time, and the Forbes editorial quality doesn't look great all round.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#33

Post by dudul »

systemtest wrote: post #25
trilila wrote: post #19

Would be interesting to know if they discriminate pay, according to where the person works from. Edit: Further down the page I saw: "Why they pay based on where team members live". That's petty.

That is similar to paying an employee more because they have children and need it more.

I've never heard of a company doing that.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#34

Post by fsiefken »

bszupnick wrote: post #7
nakodari wrote: post #5

The first half of the article doesn't even name the business. The name of the business, GitLab, is hidden in the second half of the article. This is an example of a publication optimizing blindly for Google Search Optimization where they want to improve "Time on site" and other data by keeping the readers on the page as long as possible. It's frustrating. Google's algorithm needs to be updated to make it smarter othe…

I wonder if that tactic actually retains people for longer. I just closed the tab after the first couple of paragraphs, googled his name, and found the information I wanted that way. It seems to be intuitive that if one makes X harder to get via their platform, the user will work harder to get X, but that solution rarely seems to be true.

I like it that way, it reads like a story and it IS a good story. Not everything in tech or HN has to be to the point and a collection of facts, some narrativity is ok

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#36

Post by dx034 »

dudul wrote: post #33
systemtest wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is similar to paying an employee more because they have children and need it more.

I've never heard of a company doing that.

And yet, a lot of remote companies pay differently based on location. I'm also not quite sure why the choice of location should be factored in but family planning not.

Paying the same, regardless of location, would maybe motivate some people to move away from crowded areas, one of the big chances remote work offers.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#37

Post by zufallsheld »

trilila wrote: post #19

Would be interesting to know if they discriminate pay, according to where the person works from. Edit: Further down the page I saw: "Why they pay based on where team members live". That's petty.

You can check your compensation here: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-operations/global-c...

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#38

Post by ThePadawan »

trilila wrote: post #19

Would be interesting to know if they discriminate pay, according to where the person works from. Edit: Further down the page I saw: "Why they pay based on where team members live". That's petty.

FYI Gitlab quite readily publicize their salary calculator at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-operations/global-c... .

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#39

Post by mattferderer »

SenHeng wrote: post #21
carlsborg wrote: post #4

"After starting and selling app store Appappeal, Sid turned open-source software GitLab into a fast-growing venture that is on its way to an IPO in 2020. He took the proceeds from his previous venture, doubled it in bitcoin, and began bootstrapping GitLab.com. Sid got the first few hundred signups through an article posted on Hacker News. Then together with his cofounder applied and got into Y Combinator. The race to…

> Ashton Kutcher The actor? Did he start becoming involved in the tech scene after working on the Jobs movie?

His work with his company Thorn is really worth checking out. It's a great mission that he's done a ton for.

Re: GitLab – A $1B business where all employees work remotely

#40

Post by jcheng »

superasn wrote: post #12
nakodari wrote: post #5

The first half of the article doesn't even name the business. The name of the business, GitLab, is hidden in the second half of the article. This is an example of a publication optimizing blindly for Google Search Optimization where they want to improve "Time on site" and other data by keeping the readers on the page as long as possible. It's frustrating. Google's algorithm needs to be updated to make it smarter othe…

Thanks for explaining why they are doing it. I too was confused why a publication like Forbes used such bad style of writing, it's because they are optimising for Googlebot not us. I was thinking of looking up his name on Wikipedia even to see which business is this.

Does "a publication like Forbes" even mean anything anymore? It's just a blogging platform these days, at least if you see the word "contributor". According to this there aren't even editors:

https://www.joshsteimle.com/writing/how-being-a-forbes-contr...

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