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Get used to it... this is the world we (the tech community) helped, even pushed, to create. I ask myself, would a FAANG company hire someone who doesn't active
by Jupe 7y ago
Get used to it... this is the world we (the tech community) helped, even pushed, to create.
I ask myself, would a FAANG company hire someone who doesn't actively tweet? Somehow, I doubt it.
It is increasingly impossible to live in the modern world without using the internet. Try buying something these days; many of the brick-and-mortar stores are disappearing. Try getting a job without using online services. Try buying a home or even renting an apartment without online services. The cost benefits of leveraging the internet for most operations (help-desk, ordering, even viewing) grossly outweigh the expense of having people perform such duties. The digitization of life is only going to grow, IMO.
We, the people, are being (operationally) forced to use the internet for more and more aspects of post-industrial life.
For now, our Orwellian dystopia persuades us to use the system. As the "free market" pushes us more and more in the direction of online-only services, AI-driven chat bots and the like, we will reach a point where you must be online to get nearly anything done.
Treat every activity you perform on the internet as if it will last forever. Because it will. And people can judge you for it now and forever; even after you've passed on.
Most of us have nothing to hide; but this perspective is based on our past experiences. We have nothing to hide if the old rules apply. But these are new rules. I can laugh at an off-color joke in the closeness of friends. Do the same online (via a like, re-tweet, share, whatever) and it becomes part of the permanent BigBrother data store... discover-able, query-able, judge-able forever.
Scary stuff.
- lonelappde 7y agoFAANG is full of people who don't actively tweet. G+ was famous for Google execs not using it.
- Jupe 7y agoOk, fair enough, but try and extend the pattern. What if the technical candidates don't have a Facebook account, a twitter account, a github account, or any other active online presence? Do you think such resume's will jump to the top of the decision pile? I highly doubt it.
- Balgair 7y agoI mean, you can doubt all you want, but Zuck still has tape over his laptop camera. Negative signals may show up higher. But neither of us has any data to back anything up, just anecdotes.
- sombremesa 7y agoAs someone who doesn't have Facebook, barely uses Twitter (zero tweets, I just use tweetdeck to follow some people), doesn't share his GitHub account with employers (just don't really care to) - my resume still jumps to the top of the pile based solely on the big names I've worked for in the past. So - yes. Sure, you're going to add more qualifiers now, but I'm giving a counterpoint to your original claim.
- ryandrake 7y agoI don't use any of these web sites either, and it has not, to my knowledge, affected my career. Have worked in FAANG and non-FAANG companies, and my non-use of social media has never once been brought up.
- Jupe 7y agoI could easily add more qualifiers, but won't. I see the pattern and support my argument: The original poster is but one example. This company (fama.io) is in the business of performing exactly these types of social media background checks. (Reference: https://craft.co/fama/competitors https://craft.co/fama/competitors) As the masses (and I mean MASSES) of people buy into the social media explosion going on all over the planet, these "low-profile" individuals will A) become rarer, and B) start to look suspicious. Whether the sub-population of computer engineers see it for "what it is" or not; the general population apparently doesn't. Example: I have a friend who, begrudgingly, created a Facebook account and used it rarely. Several months in, he started getting "friend" requests from (presumably) middle-eastern men, often shown with photos of AK-47s. If this is not a clear demonstration of a IS NULL business rule to figure out who might be anti-social, I don't know what it. I stand by my prediction as well: Over time, a lack of an online presence (in a world where online presence is virtually required to live modern daily life) will be deemed "anti-social". The lure (both ease and historical/digital facts) provided by scanning social media history will only grow in popularity.
- techanon 7y agothis is a weird illusion you have going on. it’s very possible to live without tweeting every 5 minutes and remaining inactive on these attention draining social media platforms.
- thecleaner 7y agoWell take a cue from the drug trafficking industry. The drug cartels dont hire people who use the product because those people would be unproductive. Same goes for social media. Only difference here is that the companies dont actively screen the people using the product.
- thebean11 7y ago> I ask myself, would a FAANG company hire someone who doesn't actively tweet? Somehow, I doubt it. Why do you doubt it? Super common.
- cameronbrown 7y agoYou do realise Twitter is a massive bubble right? Actively hiring from that pool only will cause the tech industry to be far more homogeneous in thinking - something it desperately needs to get away from.
- shaoonb 7y ago> would a FAANG company hire someone who doesn't actively tweet? I have friends who work at Google who have never tweeted in their life.
- ayberk 7y ago> I ask myself, would a FAANG company hire someone who doesn't actively tweet? Somehow, I doubt it. Yes, they do. Actually I'll go ahead and claim that majority of SDEs in those companies aren't active social media users.