Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

venturebeat.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 202 posts

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#91

Post by marcovaldo »

tobtoh wrote: post #37

What a ridiculous statement from a CEO. I sympathise with the issue he's trying to draw attention to, but his hysterical over the top utterance doesn't reflect positively on him as a CEO. The last thing I want in my CEO is someone who seeks to vilify those who had nothing to do with bad decisions, or judges people in such black and white terms. This reeks of publicity seeking - which reflects even more poorly on the…

It's not only his statement that is ridiculous. Have you see his photo? Admittedly, it is unlikely he had any control over the choice of snap that went with this story, but who approved such a insincere photo on behalf of his company?

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#92

Post by jamesaguilar »

harlanlewis wrote: post #84
guimarin wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be done. Look at the US. Ever had to fill out, 'Not a member of the Nazi Party between 1933-1945? The US Citizenship test in no way makes the US look like a 'serious jerkwad.'

Nice, pretty solid bit of Godwin's Law trolling. I'm not interested in debating this to the level of detail that will spare me being called a nazi by someone on the internet, so suffice it to say that _any_ blacklist based on generalized attributes and affiliations will unfairly target innocents. Companies have lots of tactics to shorten applicant stacks ("wrote a personalized cover letter", "minimum 12yrs experience…

I think the Godwin-ing of the thread happened in the original post, which referred to Stalin. Responding with Nazi stuff is not an escalation at that point.

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#93

Post by larrys »

potatolicious wrote: post #35
brown9-2 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But there is a difference between punishing the company management that made the decision and employees that had nothing to do with the decision.

If my employer suddenly got into the business of mulching orphans for fertilizer, I'd consider it my personal responsibility to quit/move on as soon as possible. Yahoo employees should get no blame for decisions they didn't make, but they do have to bear the responsibility for tacitly condoning this behavior. Considering the current job market for software engineers in the Bay Area, the whole "but I need to pay rent"…

"Considering the current job market for software engineers in the Bay Area, the whole "but I need to pay rent" argument doesn't even hold water."

The whole world (and Yahoo offices) doesn't revolve around the Bay area. And those Bay Area startups? How many will be around in 2 years and how "hot" will the market be then?

Did you go through what happened in the 90's? I don't think you did after looking at your resume.

They have multiple offices in the US as well as around the world. I'm sure also they have plenty of engineers working remotely as well.

http://ibrandstudio.com/inspiration/a-showcase-of-amazing-go...

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#94

Post by joe2000 »

eta_carinae wrote: post #17

If you only decide to stop hiring Yahoo engineers now, you're a bit too late to the game. Anyone who's still at Yahoo1 today is probably someone who hasn't been able to find a job elsewhere. I have interviewed a lot of Yahoo! engineers these past years and it's been an unmitigated (as in 100% rejection) disaster.

I think you have a bad sample set. As an ex-Yahoo! I can tell you there are still a ton of really smart engineers at the company. The YUI team, Hadoop team, and the research group are a few places where you'll find particularly high concentrations, but there's talent throughout the company.

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#95

Post by [deleted] »

prodigal_erik wrote: post #45
brnstz wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CEO of Yammer is free to hire whomever he wants, but saying you're either soulless or incompetent is a false dichotomy. Just because your employer's use of patents isn't the most important factor in your life doesn't make you soulless. There are much more controversial topics on which reasonable people disagree.

There are few other topics which can threaten the very independence of our profession. That said, patent trolls don't really need engineers—any sociopath who can afford a patent agent can trick the beleaguered USPTO examiners into rubber-stamping an absurdly overbroad patent that claims an entire problem. I'm a little surprised Yahoo didn't assign their patents to some troll who can't be counter-sued.

[deleted]

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#96

Post by paul »

shingen wrote: post #33

While it's a perfectly fine choice to ostracize Yahoo for their actions, Yammer's CEO is going to end up looking like little more than a hypocrite at the least, and maybe a dipshit, if he doesn't apply the same rules to all companies equally based on behavior. The odds the CEO will apply the same rule to all other companies acting with patent belligerence? Approximately zero. They'd need a substantial piece of tracki…

Leaving Yahoo is a lot easier than leaving the USSR.

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#97

Post by chalst »

larrys wrote: post #63
potatolicious wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If my employer suddenly got into the business of mulching orphans for fertilizer, I'd consider it my personal responsibility to quit/move on as soon as possible. Yahoo employees should get no blame for decisions they didn't make, but they do have to bear the responsibility for tacitly condoning this behavior. Considering the current job market for software engineers in the Bay Area, the whole "but I need to pay rent"…

"If my employer suddenly got into the business of mulching orphans for fertilizer, I'd consider it my personal responsibility to quit/move on as soon as possible." You mean you wouldn't leave the same day? What's the point of using an example like that?

> You mean you wouldn't leave the same day?

I dare say the perimeter security at such a company might be quite formidable.

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#98

Post by bandy »

zackattack wrote: post #61
bandy wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any talented engineer under the age of 30, yes. (Corollary: any engineer over the age of 30 has no talent in the eyes of the Valley)

This is stupid, untrue and counter productive. I'll put my money where my mouth is. Know a talented engineer over the age of 30? Or 40? Or 50? I know several prestigious firms that would be eager to hire her. Contact me and I'll share my referral bounty with you.

There have been a number of studies that come to this basic conclusion. Please see Prof. Norm Matloff's pages (UC Davis) http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/pub/Immigration/ImmigAndComput..., http://www.tbp.org/pages/publications/Bent/Features/Su09Brow... which tacitly touches on the subject, many articles in the San Jose Murky News about engineers who can't find work (and who just so happen to be "older"), a Congressional report finding that the one of the industry's associations that goes about lamenting the engineer shortage misrepresented their data: http://www.gao.gov/corresp/he98159r.pdf and let's finish with a tidbit from the IEEE: http://www.ieeeusa.org/careers/employment/age.html

Oh darn it, you said "her", which would be an EEOC win for said corporation (if they had been feeling legal pressure), although women in the profession suffer age discrimination as well - being less numerous, you don't hear about it nearly as much.

Re: Yammer CEO won't hire anyone from Yahoo who doesn't quit in next 60 days

#99

Post by pron »

Oh, please! I like Yammer (especially Coda Hale's technical abilities), but this is ridiculous. I'm against software patents as much as the next hacker, but treating it like a mortal sin is preposterous. Corporations do far worse things to people and to society than sue other corporations for IP infringement. Drawing the line here, of all places, just shows Yammer's CEO's ethical cluelessness. But I guess he was just pissed and couldn't control himself. It happens.
Post reply on HN