Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub • Hacker News Board

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#51

Post by ivraatiems » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 5:30 PM UTC

dangerlibrary wrote: post #40

ivraatiems wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Fair. I guess I'm trying to understand why, other than that she conveys positions he disagrees with in a terse fashion.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#52

Post by emodendroket » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 5:30 PM UTC

tedivm wrote: post #35

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 oft…

It is indeed pretty easy for meritocracy to turn into the most popular people congratulating themselves for being so meritorious.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#53

Post by sergiotapia » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 5:30 PM UTC

sethrin wrote: post #6

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

I know it would be a thing for any company I worked for. You can't just be an ass to your coworkers for long and expect to stay around. Your team deserves cordiality, you're on the same team. And if not that, at the very least respect.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#54

Post by ivraatiems » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 5:31 PM UTC

Dirlewanger wrote: post #45

ivraatiems wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think this person is unusual in her communication style? She posted the complete text of the "problem" comment. If you got that message from a colleague, would you consider it unacceptable? Why or why not? If yes, what could she have said that would have made it OK? How would you answer her core question of whether or not the comment she made is appropriate?

I'm disgusted at her reflection that the question was transphobic, not that she commented on the difference. Whether the data scientist overreacted or not is irrelevant.

It's not irrelevant because it's the reason she was fired, and hence the reason the post exists. The fact that you disagree with her assertion about the question seems to be the irrelevant thing to me.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#55

Post by _m8fo » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 5:31 PM UTC

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…

It's very difficult for me to agree with your assessment. Virtually everything you've said, from her supposed discounting of meritocracy to sensitivity training for the data scientist, is either blatantly false or a very uncharitable interpretation of this post.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#56

Post by dang » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 5:31 PM UTC

sergiotapia wrote: post #36

[trimmed] She sounds like a really toxic person to work with. I would say she sounds "problematic" to work with.

Personal attacks are not ok on HN, regardless of whether the person is in the room or how wrong they are about things.

We all know how vengeful the culture of online shaming has become, so let's all keep that viciousness away from here.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#57

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 5:32 PM UTC

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…

[deleted]

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#58

Post by thehardsphere » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 5:33 PM UTC

sethrin wrote: post #6

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

You can be fired for just about any reason in the United States.

Now, if you're asking whether or not "lack of empathetic communication" is a real thing worth firing somebody over, that depends. Certainly interpersonal abuse is something that can happen and can rise to the level where it becomes a good reason to fire somebody.

In this case, we largely do not see most of the communication that took place. We really only have her word to take that it wasn't that bad or not worth being fired over. We also don't see much in this story about how her behavior affected the people around her. So, I wouldn't draw a conclusion on whether or not the firing over "empathetic communication" is appropriate.

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#59

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 5:33 PM UTC

thsowers wrote: post #38

ivraatiems wrote: post #30

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 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

[deleted]

Re: Antisocial Coding: My Year at GitHub

#60

Post by DanBC » Wed, Jul 05, 2017, 5:33 PM UTC

nunobrito wrote: post #19

The person in question was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and considers herself as a social justice warrior. Worse is the antipathy she directs to "white males", which destroys the goal of an inclusive environment. Every story has two sides, would certainly wait for hearing what her team mates would have to say, but I suspect they will say nothing out of fear from the repercussion by SJW when expressing how it was…

> was diagnosed with bi-polar

Nice bit of stigma there.