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Quitting in protest is overrated. It assumes a level of economic stability only available to the very wealthy. If you have a family to provide for and you live

Quitting in protest is overrated. It assumes a level of economic stability only available to the very wealthy. If you have a family to provide for and you live in SF, you ain't quitting nothing. Remember, quitters don't even get unemployment.

ryandrake 8y ago
It’s also ineffective if you think you’re having an economic effect on the company by quitting. For most tech companies big and small, there is a long line of competent people out the door hungry for the opportunity to do whatever you’re quitting over.
chibg10 8y ago
I'm fairly certain most Googlers (as with other FAANGM employees) aren't living paycheck-to-paycheck and, even if they were, you can carry out a job search while you're still employed at Google. I would expect that most Googlers could find employment elsewhere, especially in the current job market. If we were talking about Walmart sales associates, I'd have more sympathy for your points.
rhymenoceros 8y ago
Not to mention, for a lot of these companies that pay well, your position will be replaced by someone who is likely in a worse situation than you who could not afford to quit even if they wanted. Net result, an employee that is less likely to complain or leave when things start going off the rails. Sometimes (not always) it's better to try effecting change from the inside.
coldtea 8y ago
>Quitting in protest is overrated. It assumes a level of economic stability only available to the very wealthy. That would be "quitting in protest without that costing you anything special". As for "quitting in protest" period, well, tons of people have quit in protest and risked their "food on the table" for ethical reasons... Heck, tons of people have risked their lives (and even repercussions against their family), and quit or refused to do things they were ordered to for ethical reasons. It doesn't take financial stability to do so -- just having a spine. And here we're talking about sought after engineers at a major company (that can always get another job), and that already make cool 100,000+ a year and most have some savings in the bank. It should be even easier for them to step down than to some poor guy with 3 kids and hand-to-mouth wages - that might even be blacklisted. And yet many people did the right thing under those circumstances.

ryandrake 8y ago

It’s also ineffective if you think you’re having an economic effect on the company by quitting. For most tech companies big and small, there is a long line of competent people out the door hungry for the opportunity to do whatever you’re quitting over.

chibg10 8y ago

I'm fairly certain most Googlers (as with other FAANGM employees) aren't living paycheck-to-paycheck and, even if they were, you can carry out a job search while you're still employed at Google. I would expect that most Googlers could find employment elsewhere, especially in the current job market. If we were talking about Walmart sales associates, I'd have more sympathy for your points.

rhymenoceros 8y ago

Not to mention, for a lot of these companies that pay well, your position will be replaced by someone who is likely in a worse situation than you who could not afford to quit even if they wanted. Net result, an employee that is less likely to complain or leave when things start going off the rails. Sometimes (not always) it's better to try effecting change from the inside.

coldtea 8y ago

>Quitting in protest is overrated. It assumes a level of economic stability only available to the very wealthy. That would be "quitting in protest without that costing you anything special". As for "quitting in protest" period, well, tons of people have quit in protest and risked their "food on the table" for ethical reasons... Heck, tons of people have risked their lives (and even repercussions against their family), and quit or refused to do things they were ordered to for ethical reasons. It doesn't take financial stability to do so -- just having a spine. And here we're talking about sought after engineers at a major company (that can always get another job), and that already make cool 100,000+ a year and most have some savings in the bank. It should be even easier for them to step down than to some poor guy with 3 kids and hand-to-mouth wages - that might even be blacklisted. And yet many people did the right thing under those circumstances.