"My employment at Google was terminated abruptly"

https://twitter.com/amrutabuge/status/1456349516102344705

by jatins • 5 years ago

37 43 5 years ago

andygrd2• 5 years ago

In fairness, we're only hearing one side of the argument here. It's easy enough for anyone to say they're hard-working diligent team players, but we don't know if they're getting the work done! Don't get me wrong, Google are notoriously nasty when you get on the wrong side of management, but to start claiming discrimination is a bit fresh.

andygrd2• 5 years ago

Also, publicly naming the manager is pretty bad karma. It's like they're anticipating or expecting some Twitter pile on.

blip543213• 5 years ago

Yeah. That was a bad call.

Having been a manager, about 1/10th of employees had... issues. Those employees took up an inordinate amount of management time and especially energy.

I don't know whether she or her manager were the problem; in most cases, it's 50/50. If I know a potential hire had issues before, it raises the risk of a hire a lot. I want to avoid that kind of employee.

If they act unprofessionally after leaving, that goes up to 95/5. Perhaps her boss had issues, but she definitely did as well. Posting a list of management emails? Naming her boss publicly? That goes to a serious red flag.

When I was managing, I would never have hired someone who did this. The risk goes in several directions too. Since then, I've picked up a harassing stalker. Having an employee do this sort of thing went from psychologically draining to potentially devastating to my safety.

Privacy is kind of important.

evgen• 5 years ago

Naming their manager in twitter complaint and then asking people to spam every node in the org chart from their manager up to Sundar. Yeah, that is going to get the results you want...

pg_12342• 5 years ago

Not at all, ALWAYS name the bad managers ... it's the only way they will face repercussions, and the only way to deter others from following in their footsteps.

rStar8• 5 years ago

name and shame. only way to change

WesolyKubeczek5• 5 years ago

Truth be told, there’s this giant argument in support of this side: the person is on H1B work visa. Which makes one think twice before slacking off on the job or whatever they were accused of. Compared to residents, the price for not keeping the job is way too high, so I’d rather assume they really worked their arse off.

webmobdev3• 5 years ago

A friend from India is a recent immigrant (arrived on H1-B) and is now a US citizen. He is working for a company that also has a lot of fellow indians on H1-B visa. His salary is rougly 50% higher (for the same profile), and he gets to go home by 6 PM while they still slog with all the extra work they are expected to do.

rStar8• 5 years ago

in fairness, it’s easy to continue to be naive when you give the biggest corporation on earth, more or less, every possible benefit of the doubt

hentrep• 5 years ago

Assuming this one-sided story to be true, let this serve as yet another reminder that Human Resources is designed to protect the employer - not the employee. The cynic in me would go so far as to say one should generally avoid reporting anything to HR at all costs. It almost never works out the way one would hope.

webmobdev3• 5 years ago

I agree completely that HR mostly exists to protect the management and company, but I wouldn't go as far to say that you should always avoid them - a paper trail with HR often helps with any lawsuit.

blip543213• 5 years ago

HR should be managed. Situations are complex. HR exists to protect the company, but the company isn't necessarily your boss or your direct management. If the CEO is sexually harassing women, and acting racist, HR will probably protect them. Anyone below that? It depends.

Anyone who raises issues is a potential liability risk, so HR is naturally inclined to work people who frivolously raise issues out of the company. Same thing for raising issues in inappropriate ways (e.g. a twitter thread).

At the same time, if someone above you is a /real/ risk, many HR departments do want to know about that. If your boss is sexually harassing women and acting racist, they're a liability to their boss and the company as a whole. Taking bribes? There are ways to manage that through most HR departments.

Most companies have trainings about the types of issues which ought to be raised, the contexts, and how. This is not a general rule, but for my current employer, I think the training is spot-on for what's expected of employees here:

* Raising issues appropriately is exactly the expected thing to do.

* Following up, and expecting they get acted on is not.

HR expects to be able to conduct a discrete investigation. If there isn't evidence, one should expect that nothing will happen except for a paper record. If you were sexually harassed by a manager, but it's a he-said-she-said, that's where it ends. Once a few employees claim they were sexually harassed by the same manager though, that person will be gone.

That's my current employer. I've seen this all over the map. My previous employer, I'd recommend /never/ going to HR.

smorgusofborg• 5 years ago

And has to be weighted against HR knowing this game better than you and beginning steps to establish the narrative that you are incompetent. If you think you need to sue a company you should probably ask your own lawyer before sending anything to HR.

rStar8• 5 years ago

hr is like the police. they are the servants of the upperclass, and their job is to do whatever the board wants, while keeping it legal and keeping the company immune from lawsuits as much as possible

sage76• 5 years ago

So either the 50 algo round interviews did not succeed at eliminating false positives or Google has some shit managers.

kordlessagain• 5 years ago

I always say “congratulations” to people who have been fired or let go from a job. While the process itself can be painful, the act of letting go of one part of our lives and moving on to the next can be an opportunity to grow and find lasting joy. Hanging on will just bring suffering and delay the joy that is possible!

0xy2• 5 years ago

Choose a path, oh fired one.

Path A) Publicly call out your manager by name and encourage people to spam senior leaders who had literally nothing to do with it and didn't know you existed.

Path B) Leetcode and have 10 interviews lined up by next week, since you're obviously competent enough to get hired at Google.

Path A is the wrong answer, and really self destructive. The worship of Google and other FAANG companies needs to stop. It's pathetic frankly.

Google isn't even in the top tier in terms of compensation anymore. You can earn 20-50% more at equivalent levels at tier 2 companies just below FAANGs.

l33tc0de• 5 years ago

1. If she was the one who initiated HR complaint against her manager, she should have started keeping proofs on a separate device (other than her work laptop). It's a mistake if she didn't do so.

2. Naming names on twitter reflects very badly for her for future opportunities. But, she is ex google and should not have trouble finding a new job

GauntletWizard• 5 years ago

I spoke recently about.my experience being fired by Google, and how Google is better than most, but you can still be managed out with relative ease if your manager doesn't like you - An unfavorable review cycle makes it impossible for you to find another team, and makes it easy for them to give you low impact work, which makes it easy for them to give you a negative review. Being managed out isn't hard, anywhere.

"My employment at Google was terminated abruptly"

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