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What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

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Re: What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

#91

Post by bigthymer »

bigtones wrote: post #18

I worked for a California based American tech company while living in Perth, Australia for the last two years. All of what the OP says rings true, but I can tell that he is living on the East Coast of Australia because living in Perth we have literally no common business hours with the US West Coast which is brutal. I had to start work at midnight and work through the night for Zoom meetings and customer interactions…

> and Australian culture has become a LOT more like the US over the past decade

How? What little changes have you noticed?

Re: What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

#92

Post by kasey_junk »

WatchDog wrote: post #58
kasey_junk wrote: post #17

I had a, kind of, opposite experience. I worked for an Australian company as an American in the US. My experience with the culture was the opposite. The Oz folks tended to be boastful with a chip on their shoulder. This was annoying as an employee but caused real problems when dealing with regulators and other companies. A big successful aus company just can’t throw its weight around in the US like at home. That said…

What sector was the company in? I’m an Australian that has worked a lot with US companies. The most boastful Australian companies I have worked with have also been the least effective. Consultancies tend to be very boastful, but they have to be constantly selling themselves. The other boastful culture I worked in was a big bank. They had some of the worst over-complicated software, and a horrible culture, it seemed l…

It was Computershare. Now dominant in their industry. But when I worked for them they had just entered the US market.

I don’t know if that’s an argument for or against the culture then or if it has any relation to their culture now.

And frankly I doubt that this national attribution of corporate culture is likely real. I’ve only worked for the one Australian company, I’ve worked for many American ones and the culture around self promotion has been widely different across them.

Re: What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

#93

Post by selimthegrim »

FabHK wrote: post #23
kurthr wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the parent's experience has as much to do with being remote and at a satellite office as anything else. You're not going to hear a lot of bitch/moan on conference calls or even on Slack (which everyone knows in monitored). Granted I work in Silivalley, but I'd say that above a certain level/age, if you don't show a certain base of cynicism in private you're not taken seriously. I mean, if you've seen the dotc…

> The tension on the bubble appears to have exceeded safe parameters. Mit dem Angriff AI wird das alles in Ordnung kommen.

KI?

Re: What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

#94

Post by liontwist »

> Americans tend to be enthusiastic about their company mission - in the extreme, believing that they’re saving the world

I would explain this as commitment signaling. I don’t know if they really believe it, but they want to show they are part of the team and the talking points.

Adults use language in a less literal way than introverted engineers may be comfortable with.

Re: What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

#95

Post by liontwist »

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #67
RustyRussell wrote: post #57

Worked for American companies for 25 years. Generally Americans come across as more confident, and yet conform to hierarchy in a way I've never seen en-masse in Australian culture. It always seemed to be that only the most weirdo Americans are blind to relative status, whereas for many Australians it's the norm? Employment-at-will takes some cultural adjustment, too. But for tech folks tends to be a net win. You just…

I'd say thats due to: (a) Australian culture being quite egalitarian, ie people there see other people just as people rather how much money or power they have, etc and (b) American management being more of the power tripping variety, so they're more likely to wield their power in a threatening and retaliatory fashion, and so underlings tend to be more deferential, including the at-will employment, as you say.

> American management being more of the power tripping variety

That’s not an explanation. That’s just restating it. Why would Australians be less tempted by power?

Could it be that Americans are more exposed to management and hierarchy in their youth?

Re: What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

#96

Post by zvorygin »

kurthr wrote: post #11
jongjong wrote: post #6

These days, you need to fake optimism in order to get or keep a job. Reality of this industry is that if you hit any hurdle at all during your career... Whether it is your own fault or someone else's, it may trigger a kind of avalanche effect because you won't display quite the same level of extreme optimism that they want to see... Successful people in tech tend to conflate naivety with optimism and see it as a sign…

I think the parent's experience has as much to do with being remote and at a satellite office as anything else. You're not going to hear a lot of bitch/moan on conference calls or even on Slack (which everyone knows in monitored). Granted I work in Silivalley, but I'd say that above a certain level/age, if you don't show a certain base of cynicism in private you're not taken seriously. I mean, if you've seen the dotc…

What does “whether it’s worth it right now” mean? As in, whether companies are really worth as much as they’re valued?

Re: What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

#97

Post by antonvs »

liontwist wrote: post #94

> Americans tend to be enthusiastic about their company mission - in the extreme, believing that they’re saving the world I would explain this as commitment signaling. I don’t know if they really believe it, but they want to show they are part of the team and the talking points. Adults use language in a less literal way than introverted engineers may be comfortable with.

> Americans tend to be enthusiastic about their company mission - in the extreme, believing that they’re saving the world

This is more of a Silicon Valley thing, isn't it? I've worked for or interacted with plenty of non-tech large enterprises where that's certainly not true.

Re: What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

#98

Post by AnotherGoodName »

liontwist wrote: post #94

> Americans tend to be enthusiastic about their company mission - in the extreme, believing that they’re saving the world I would explain this as commitment signaling. I don’t know if they really believe it, but they want to show they are part of the team and the talking points. Adults use language in a less literal way than introverted engineers may be comfortable with.

I will say there are specifically some things my fellow Australians do have do in the USA that we would not in our home country.

To my fellow Australians; when you go for the big tech job interview you often have to memorize the company mission statement and values. Yes it's a complete wank. You'll never use it internally. But i have seriously been asked about the companies mission statement for Meta, Google, Amazon in those respective interviews.

Utterly insane from an Australian point of view - you'd get pass and a mark for directness for saying "i don't bloody well know".

I have heard of mission statements being asked by international companies operating in Australia but again you'd pass if the interviewer themselves was Australian since it's 100% seen as bullshit by every level of Australians from management to employees on the ground.

eg. Wtf is a mission statement and why am i being asked thread on the Australia subreddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/australian/comments/1f7srnw/what_is...

Re: What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

#99

Post by antonvs »

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #98
liontwist wrote: post #94

> Americans tend to be enthusiastic about their company mission - in the extreme, believing that they’re saving the world I would explain this as commitment signaling. I don’t know if they really believe it, but they want to show they are part of the team and the talking points. Adults use language in a less literal way than introverted engineers may be comfortable with.

I will say there are specifically some things my fellow Australians do have do in the USA that we would not in our home country. To my fellow Australians; when you go for the big tech job interview you often have to memorize the company mission statement and values. Yes it's a complete wank. You'll never use it internally. But i have seriously been asked about the companies mission statement for Meta, Google, Amazon…

Meta, Google, and Amazon are outliers, though. Part of their schtick originally was that they're trying to build a cult, although my sense is that may have relaxed a bit as they've grown. IBM used to do a similar thing back in the day.

I've worked in tech in the US as an immigrant for over 40 years, and never been quizzed on a mission statement.

Re: What it's like working for American companies as an Australian

#100

Post by adrianh »

liontwist wrote: post #94

> Americans tend to be enthusiastic about their company mission - in the extreme, believing that they’re saving the world I would explain this as commitment signaling. I don’t know if they really believe it, but they want to show they are part of the team and the talking points. Adults use language in a less literal way than introverted engineers may be comfortable with.

I'd call this a California thing — or, more broadly, a behavior by people who want to align themselves culturally with Silicon Valley.

Work with some Chicagoans (or Midwesterners in general) and you'll get a lot less BS.

Obviously this is painting with broad strokes, as different types of people live everywhere.

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