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Why I left Google

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Re: Why I left Google

#41

Post by aliasxneo »

ggm wrote: post #2

A management training course I took 20 years ago said when your personal values were out of step with the company then you had to leave for your own mental health. I've thought about that a lot since.

I had to learn this the hard way, unfortunately. After years of my worldview being spat on and openly mocked I got to the point where my mental health plummeted. What made it strange was that management really liked me due to my status as an SME and having global impact. But the daily company culture was completely at odds with me.

So I had to make the decision to leave. Turns out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made so far my in career.

Re: Why I left Google

#44

Post by cbeach »

sva_ wrote: post #19

[flagged]

The author declares to the audience that he works in "AI" and thus becomes the symbol of their fascination, when in fact he's merely a technical writer.

He seems to relish the attention. The whole article feels pretentious and performative.

Re: Why I left Google

#45

Post by Aeolun »

tomlockwood wrote: post #33
sva_ wrote: post #19

[flagged]

If I can just repeat this back to you: A guy went to a performance he hadn't read anything about, run by a self-described clown, and your takeaway is that it was a "performative self-help group"? A clown.

Clowns to to hospitals to cheer up children, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for adults.

Re: Why I left Google

#46

Post by khazhoux »

Narhem wrote: post #6

[flagged]

Hard to take this comment seriously since you won't even give a hint of what they did to you that was so bad. All you're telling us is you decided to stop working but still continue to collect a (presumably very very high) paycheck, as some well-deserved retribution.

Re: Why I left Google

#47

Post by OJFord »

ggm wrote: post #2

A management training course I took 20 years ago said when your personal values were out of step with the company then you had to leave for your own mental health. I've thought about that a lot since.

I think surely the implied bit is 'enough out of step', and then the whole 'draw the rest of the owl' thing is figuring out where that line is (and what constitutes 'values') and if it's been crossed?

There's so much I would do/have done differently if I had carte blanche, but it's not my startup, and no reason to think I would have done as well nevermind better, it's easy to judge from the position of not being bothered to go out on my own.

I'm certainly not going to be giving any seminars on mental health, but I don't think mine would have benefited from just abandoning anything I didn't completely agree with.

Not to suggest the actual advice you got and the way you mean it was as lacking nuance as that.

Re: Why I left Google

#49

Post by tetrisgm »

I mean good for the author if they find peace through this.

In practice, it looks like they went to a meditation / mindfulness kind of event, felt like their AI work is evil, were very impacted, and left.

It comes across as a bit of drama. The view that AI is evil is very common, and it's not like Google's AI efforts are particularly more leaning towards evil than any other AI effort.

I suspect the same would have been said about "tech" in general a couple of years ago and the same article could have been written.

Re: Why I left Google

#50

Post by Narhem »

lopkeny12ko wrote: post #36
Narhem wrote: post #6

[flagged]

What exactly is this point of this? Is it some form of virtue signaling or protest to deliberately waste both your and your employer's time? I don't think 1 person's temper tantrum, out of tens of thousands of engineers, "robs" Google of anything material.

[flagged]
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