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The equivalent in our industry is when somebody gets locked out of a Google/Apple/etc. multi-service account, has no backup or rescue access, but is put in touc

The equivalent in our industry is when somebody gets locked out of a Google/Apple/etc. multi-service account, has no backup or rescue access, but is put in touch with a friend of a friend who happens to work at the vendor. It's systemic favoritism.

AlexandrB 6y ago
I wish people would keep these kinds of situations in mind when discussing whether or not a certain industry is a "meritocracy".
- refurb 6y ago
  The issue people have with “meritocracy” is because they can only think in black and white, no grays. Society is made up of humans and humans do unfair things. That doesn’t mean that tech companies aren’t generally meritocracies.
- aaron695 6y ago
  I have no idea what you are saying? Having friends in an industry is hard work, so it a meritocracy, it is well earned to have made contacts that will help you. In this article it's perhaps family, but a family that supports their childrens career in a blue collar job like policing, in a meritocracy, also deserve the reward. In policing perhaps it's illegal or should be illegal. But it's still a meritocracy.
Minor49er 6y ago
I don't think this is systemic at all. If companies found out that this was going on in their organizations, most of them would shut the practice down pretty quickly and almost certainly fire anyone involved. Otherwise, those companies could face some pretty heavy lawsuits and fines.
- jmull 6y ago
  Systemic doesn’t necessarily mean official. But semantics aside, I think this often works without violating company policies. It’s more about having a connection to get the attention of someone who has authority to override or initiate a friendly appeal of some prior judgement call.
  - Minor49er 6y ago
    I never said that "systemic" means "official". Those are very different things. What I'm saying is that it could be systemic if companies commonly granted certain groups of people special access that others couldn't obtain. This simply isn't the case and is widely condemned.
    - luckylion 6y ago
      Why "certain groups"? It's not about groups, it's about personal relationships. If you get dog piled on Twitter and you know somebody on the security team, your problem goes away and the people annoying you get their accounts suspended or banned. If you don't, your problem will most likely remain as it does for most people. It's not a conspiracy where all members of group x get a direct line to Jack Dorsey to take care of things, it's you knowing somebody who knows somebody and that somebody wants to help an innocent person out. The problem is that Twitter is a private enterprise, and it's okay if they choose to run their system that way. The police aren't, and they're not supposed to favor anyone, no matter who they are. There's a saying in Germany, Dienst ist Dienst und Schnapps ist Schnapps (literally "Duty is duty and liquor is liquor") that articulates that. You might drink with somebody, but you must not let that influence your judgement while on duty. In a private company, that's somewhat different, you can't damage the company, obviously, but you're not bound by law, and company policies are -at best- rough guidelines.
mattlondon 6y ago
This is not the same. Knowing someone at Google/Apple who can help you out with a totally legal tech support issue is nothing at all like police corruption.
- angry_octet 6y ago
  It isn't corruption, but an example of the systematic advangages some of have because we have connections. People we know from school, university, work, sports clubs, the goddamn Masons. The Chinese call it guānxi and accept it as the way of things. I think it sucks.

AlexandrB 6y ago

I wish people would keep these kinds of situations in mind when discussing whether or not a certain industry is a "meritocracy".

refurb 6y ago
The issue people have with “meritocracy” is because they can only think in black and white, no grays. Society is made up of humans and humans do unfair things. That doesn’t mean that tech companies aren’t generally meritocracies.
aaron695 6y ago
I have no idea what you are saying? Having friends in an industry is hard work, so it a meritocracy, it is well earned to have made contacts that will help you. In this article it's perhaps family, but a family that supports their childrens career in a blue collar job like policing, in a meritocracy, also deserve the reward. In policing perhaps it's illegal or should be illegal. But it's still a meritocracy.

Minor49er 6y ago

I don't think this is systemic at all. If companies found out that this was going on in their organizations, most of them would shut the practice down pretty quickly and almost certainly fire anyone involved. Otherwise, those companies could face some pretty heavy lawsuits and fines.

jmull 6y ago
Systemic doesn’t necessarily mean official. But semantics aside, I think this often works without violating company policies. It’s more about having a connection to get the attention of someone who has authority to override or initiate a friendly appeal of some prior judgement call.
- Minor49er 6y ago
  I never said that "systemic" means "official". Those are very different things. What I'm saying is that it could be systemic if companies commonly granted certain groups of people special access that others couldn't obtain. This simply isn't the case and is widely condemned.
  - luckylion 6y ago
    Why "certain groups"? It's not about groups, it's about personal relationships. If you get dog piled on Twitter and you know somebody on the security team, your problem goes away and the people annoying you get their accounts suspended or banned. If you don't, your problem will most likely remain as it does for most people. It's not a conspiracy where all members of group x get a direct line to Jack Dorsey to take care of things, it's you knowing somebody who knows somebody and that somebody wants to help an innocent person out. The problem is that Twitter is a private enterprise, and it's okay if they choose to run their system that way. The police aren't, and they're not supposed to favor anyone, no matter who they are. There's a saying in Germany, Dienst ist Dienst und Schnapps ist Schnapps (literally "Duty is duty and liquor is liquor") that articulates that. You might drink with somebody, but you must not let that influence your judgement while on duty. In a private company, that's somewhat different, you can't damage the company, obviously, but you're not bound by law, and company policies are -at best- rough guidelines.

mattlondon 6y ago

This is not the same. Knowing someone at Google/Apple who can help you out with a totally legal tech support issue is nothing at all like police corruption.

angry_octet 6y ago
It isn't corruption, but an example of the systematic advangages some of have because we have connections. People we know from school, university, work, sports clubs, the goddamn Masons. The Chinese call it guānxi and accept it as the way of things. I think it sucks.