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Tell HN: Google now requires SWEs to take part in company citizenship activities
This is a throwaway account that I created.
I work as a SWE at Google. The official SWE role expectations were recently amended to include citizenship contributions such as interviewing, recruiting, mentoring, and organizing extracurricular events. It is now mandatory for SWEs at higher levels to make these contributions, however it does not list any specific requirements.
This seems like another major blow to the company culture. I simply can't see how this will result in anything other than a further watering-down of any remaining pockets of good engineering culture within the company, as engineers no longer have the option to simply focus on getting good work done.
HNers, your thoughts?
- tomohawk 7y agoVolunteer to work on a committee to overturn this policy.
- mehhh 7y agoThe actions Google has taken over the last 3 years are far different than in the past. Something is wrong with the organization as a whole. Last week, Google donated to the Salvation Army[1] here in Seattle (a group that fights against LGBTQ+ rights) yet Google claims to adhere to the GSBA Code of Ethics that bans such behaviour[2] Google has also chosen to fund climate change deniers[3] over the last year. 1 - https://mynorthwest.com/1540117/google-gives-1m-for-seattle-salvation-army-homeless-shelter/ https://mynorthwest.com/1540117/google-gives-1m-for-seattle-... 2 - http://www.thegsba.org/membership-sponsorship/standards-of-ethics-conduct http://www.thegsba.org/membership-sponsorship/standards-of-e... 3 - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/11/google-contributions-climate-change-deniers https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/11/google-c...
- tomohawk 7y agoYou could volunteer at Salvation Army, which does a lot of good work, and piss off the cancel culture jerks.
- mehhh 7y agoWhy would I volunteer for an organization that thinks my future husband and I should be arrested and either chemically castrated (like Alan Turing) or committed to an asylum?
- aerostable_slug 7y agoThat doesn't seem consistent with their stated stance on the LGBTQ+ community: https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/the-lgbtq-community-and-the-salvation-army/ https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/the-lgbtq-community-and...
- mehhh 7y agoThat site does not cover the Salvation Army's political activism wrt LGBTQ+ rights. Take a look at: http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3532177.htm http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3532177.htm
- rogerkirkness 7y agoInterviewing, recruiting and mentoring are good work. If you want to be nerd in a corner, stay junior.
- faanghacker 7y agoIt's harder to take pride in that kind of citizenship work when your company keeps making these kinds of top-down decisions.
- rogerkirkness 7y agoI agree, it's harmful, there should be other career paths that don't require it. But from the perspective of the employer, it's way more economically valuable. I think that's when you know it's time to go to a smaller company.
- faanghacker 7y agoI agree that it is time to leave.
- SamReidHughes 7y agoI would expect interviewing and mentoring to be a job responsibility at any large engineering organization.
- faanghacker 7y agoThe mentoring part is specifically for areas outside of your team's work.
- SamReidHughes 7y agoMaybe I’m missing some implication here. What do you mean by areas?
- faanghacker 7y agoFor example, suppose you work on the Search for Android team, under Search. You might work to train others in Search and others in Android as part of the work on Search for Android. Those don't count as citizenship, because they are directly related to your work. You'd have to mentor people outside of that area, such as mentoring new hires in general, not as part of your job role.
- SamReidHughes 7y agoThat sounds like it would improve engineering, not water it down. Information spreading between people like a DAG, rather than a tree. Unless the "mentoring" is bulloney.
- bableka 7y agoDon't you think you have other stuff to offer? Like guidance, developing the skillset of others and learn along the way?