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This feels like more of an effort to create a story than accurate reporting of what life is like inside tech firms right now. 1. Parents lives have been tempor

This feels like more of an effort to create a story than accurate reporting of what life is like inside tech firms right now. 1. Parents lives have been temporarily turned upside down as almost all childcare disappears. Temporary is turning out to be a long time... but still. 2. Most companies are composed of people of all ages and stages of life which means there are lots of parents. Particularly when you consider management tends to be older and more likely to have had kids, it's not too surprising that management in most companies has looked at the outside world and said, "you know, we're all going to just have to do the best we can until this thing is over." 3. Parents naturally feel (1) stressed out and (2) guilty when they are having a hard time maintaining their old workload given the new and vastly different circumstances. 4. Some small minority of tech workers without kids have been unable to empathize with the situation and are publicly complaining about it. Given that saying mean things online is practically America's past-time, and trying to fan the sparks to see if you can make a flame is how news companies make money... it's not really surprising to see a story like this portraying some kind of "backlash."

subsaharancoder 6y ago
> This feels like more of an effort to create a story than accurate reporting of what life is like inside tech firms right now. This is very true. The genesis of the story is that at one of the FAANGs (I work for one of them) someone posted a question that kind of made it sound as "parents vs single employees" issue, the media (the NYTimes got the ball rolling) have jumped on this and are fanning the flames at a time when many people are tense and worked up over so many other things.
- pm90 6y ago
  How is the media fanning the flames if they’re reporting on something that actually happened? Perhaps to you it may not be a big deal, but FAANGs are now a crucial part of the lives of Americans and the Public is naturally interested in what goes on in these companies. To a certain extent, this kind of media attention is an offshoot of the success of the Industry.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - gumbo 6y ago
    Here is the problem of U.S. news. Journalism has turned I to a contest for attention. How is it relevant to report on one (or even few) employees posting something?
shiftpgdn 6y ago
I know of two parents who have been let go during covid. All of the people on their team who had been let go were parents of young children.
- rdtwo 6y ago
  Man that’s shitty, unless I guess that’s your thing. A few posters here would love to be in that environment
  - quadrifoliate 6y ago
    > A few posters here would love to be in that environment I'm sure there are a few spiteful posters, but I think a lot of the posters would love to be in an environment where everyone would be okay with regards to food and healthcare even if they were let go.
- phreeza 6y ago
  At faang size companies?
  - boringg 6y ago
    Second this comment - this sounds more like super small startup then at a the larger sized operations. Also sounds pretty terrible of the employer
getlawgdon 6y ago
Sorry but ageism is not only real, but in silicon valley it's a hiring strategy.
_coveredInBees 6y ago
No one is "creating" a story here. These are all valid points that are having real implications on workers. Just look at the dumpster fire that is the comments here on HN to see how polarizing this issue is when it really shouldn't be so controversial if you had any normal level of empathy for your fellow human beings. And it certainly doesn't come off as a "small minority of tech workers" when you read through these comments. This is a totally meaningful topic to write a story on. To pretend it is a non-issue does a disservice to the problem at hand and how difficult this situation has been for many parents, especially those in companies with toxic work cultures (and there sure are a lot of those around in tech).

subsaharancoder 6y ago

> This feels like more of an effort to create a story than accurate reporting of what life is like inside tech firms right now. This is very true. The genesis of the story is that at one of the FAANGs (I work for one of them) someone posted a question that kind of made it sound as "parents vs single employees" issue, the media (the NYTimes got the ball rolling) have jumped on this and are fanning the flames at a time when many people are tense and worked up over so many other things.

pm90 6y ago
How is the media fanning the flames if they’re reporting on something that actually happened? Perhaps to you it may not be a big deal, but FAANGs are now a crucial part of the lives of Americans and the Public is naturally interested in what goes on in these companies. To a certain extent, this kind of media attention is an offshoot of the success of the Industry.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- gumbo 6y ago
  Here is the problem of U.S. news. Journalism has turned I to a contest for attention. How is it relevant to report on one (or even few) employees posting something?

shiftpgdn 6y ago

I know of two parents who have been let go during covid. All of the people on their team who had been let go were parents of young children.

rdtwo 6y ago
Man that’s shitty, unless I guess that’s your thing. A few posters here would love to be in that environment
- quadrifoliate 6y ago
  > A few posters here would love to be in that environment I'm sure there are a few spiteful posters, but I think a lot of the posters would love to be in an environment where everyone would be okay with regards to food and healthcare even if they were let go.
phreeza 6y ago
At faang size companies?
- boringg 6y ago
  Second this comment - this sounds more like super small startup then at a the larger sized operations. Also sounds pretty terrible of the employer

getlawgdon 6y ago

Sorry but ageism is not only real, but in silicon valley it's a hiring strategy.

_coveredInBees 6y ago

No one is "creating" a story here. These are all valid points that are having real implications on workers. Just look at the dumpster fire that is the comments here on HN to see how polarizing this issue is when it really shouldn't be so controversial if you had any normal level of empathy for your fellow human beings. And it certainly doesn't come off as a "small minority of tech workers" when you read through these comments. This is a totally meaningful topic to write a story on. To pretend it is a non-issue does a disservice to the problem at hand and how difficult this situation has been for many parents, especially those in companies with toxic work cultures (and there sure are a lot of those around in tech).