3 ms·
My personal strategy is to avoid flirting with or hitting on anyone from the same industry entirely, but I think it's pretty restrictive. People want to have co
by morgante 9y ago
My personal strategy is to avoid flirting with or hitting on anyone from the same industry entirely, but I think it's pretty restrictive. People want to have common interests with their partners, and both working in tech is a common interest so I can understand why people pursue it.
It's quite clear that hitting on a subordinate is unacceptable, but when you don't work together it's a lot less clear. Would flirting with someone at a conference party be harassment? What if you were from different companies, but at equal levels? What if you're a VC and she's an entrepreneur (but she hasn't mentioned raising money from you)?
- plinkplonk 9y ago"Would flirting with someone at a conference party be harassment? " People have been evicted from conferences and lost their jobs for using 'inappropriate' language that some one passing by happened to hear.So yes, I would think this is a dangerous thing to do, and possibly a violation of the conference's code of conduct if it has one.
- morgante 9y agoI agree it's dangerous, but it also happens literally all the time. Do you think nobody hooks up at SXSW?
- plinkplonk 9y agoI made no comment on whether such things 'happen all the time' or not. They probably do (and remain potentially dangerous for the careers of people who do).
- morgante 9y agoMy point is that saying they're dangerous (and we shouldn't do them) is not really helpful, since humans being humans we'll likely still do it. Instead, I'd like to think of ways to reduce the harm and make the dynamics less problematic. Like, in theory coworkers should never date but in practice that's impossible to enforce. So many companies instead enforce a ban on relationships down the chain of command, which is both workable and addresses the biggest power dynamic.