The Machine Fired Me

Post by bena » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 5:30 PM UTC

zaarn wrote: post #238

bonyt wrote: post #161

This is literally an episode of Better Off Ted.[1] In it, the titular Ted is inadvertenly deleted from the company system when trying to correct a misspelling of his last name. Eventually, he is forced to interview for his own job as the system had already put out an ad for his replacement. I think the most striking part of it, and of the true story from the post, is the human factor - the idea that the humans involv…

The problem isn't that people refer to a machine as authority but that the process has no abort button. When you design business processes like these, firing, hiring or managing people always keep in mind something can go wrong. Always include an abort button to either stop or roll back the process.

Post by rectang » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 5:33 PM UTC

s73v3r_ wrote: post #494

rectang wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with the letter of your legal analysis, it should not be "the best the company could do" to make the worker whole. It ought to be expected that both parties behave ethically. The worker should not abandon the company during their time of need because of an unfortunate legal SNAFU. The company, in turn, should take it upon themselves to ensure that the worker doesn't suffer economically for having done t…

If they're not being paid, then yes, the worker should abandon the company.

Post by s73v3r_ » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 5:35 PM UTC

rinchik wrote: post #27

realo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is interesting. On the one hand, you have been promoted to a new role, so you have reached a compatible level of expertise. You can put that role on your resume and sell yourself. On the other hand, you never, ever actually performed in that role, with the new responsibilities. How can you list that on your resume ! I am not sure what is the right answer here... but as your new employer I would take your last pr…

I'm not particularly familiar with the system at Google, but at any somewhat decent tech company in order to get a promotion you have to already perform as you would in your "future" role for some time, with higher-level expectations and responsibilities. For example, is someone with level I is up for level II promo, she/he has to match level II criteria long before actual promotion is due.

Post by eezurr » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 5:41 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #431

pc86 wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not racism, that's laziness. Or perhaps just being a bad engineer, if you want to be more cynical about it. It's not that hard to find both conscious and subconscious examples of systemic or individual racism. Engineers taking the easy path with webcam facial recognition is probably not a good one and serves only to give more fuel to those who claim people jump to the racism cry too quickly.

If you ship a product because it only works for white people and that's good enough, that is definitely racism. Just as it would be sexism if you shipped a voice recognition product that only worked for men. Laziness and racism aren't mutually exclusive. Historically in America, white people haven't considered black people as fully human. You can read the various declarations of secession or the 3/5ths compromise for…

Post by fixermark » Wed, Jun 20, 2018, 6:03 PM UTC

lmm wrote: post #276

gaius wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a major misfire in this whole story is that the employee in question was a short-term contractor. A 3-year contract is a long-term contractor... Many permanent employees don't stick around that long.

If it had truly been a 3-year contract they wouldn't've had the renewal issue.