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So, they spoke with one anonymous staff member, and then sourced, wait for it... Glassdoor. I'm not saying these claims are untrue or that they even seem untrue

So, they spoke with one anonymous staff member, and then sourced, wait for it... Glassdoor. I'm not saying these claims are untrue or that they even seem untrue, but it's still squeezing an article out of... not a whole lot. Glassdoor doesn't have a reputation (in my circles) for "balanced opinions".

sdoering 5y ago
When looking at or using platforms like Glasdoor one always has to take the "selection bias" into account. People posting on a platform selfselect. And it is often when something is wrong, that one tends to feel the need to communicate that. When all is fine there often just is no need to communicate that. So using Glasdoor without taking this into consideration is at least an interesting editorial decision.
- wolframhempel 5y ago
  On average, reviews tend to the extremes, whether on Glassdoor, Amazon, or anywhere else. People with balanced experiences feel less of a need to voice them than people who are elated or furious about a job or product.
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  That's exactly it, a lot of people will only leave a review if they have something negative to say, be it Glassdoor, App Store, webshops, etc. This is why apps prompt you to leave a review (sometimes offering rewards, often encouraging you to leave five stars), because without that prompt, content or happy people wouldn't leave a review.
ksec 5y ago
The "exact" same comment has been circulating since late 2020 before it even appeared on Glassdoor. I mean I even wrote about it on HN [1] twenty days before hand. And my knowledge of it didn't came from Glassdoor. At first I thought it could be some sort of smear / PR campaign. But given the time it took to MSM media this doesn't seems to be the case. And yes work culture is quite different, you are expected long hours in TSMC ( It is well known within Taiwan ), but it is not "that" much different to working in Samsung or Intel Foundry. As deepnotderp pointed out in the current top post. You want to catch up to the world's leading edge TSMC foundry? You work hard! You dont want Intel and Samsung to catch up to TSMC, you work harder. In many cases, I found people often dont appreciate the pathetic small amount of money they paid for something that is at the leading edge of science and engineering. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29583206 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29583206
q1w2 5y ago
This is modern outrage journalism in a nutshell.
eob 5y ago
I just lived in Taiwan for about a year, and it's pretty common feeling there that TSMC is struggling "to get Americans to work hard" in Arizona. I had several folks mention it to me when TSMC came up as a topic. They're worried they'll have to start sending full teams of Taiwanese engineers over to staff the factory (in addition to those required for training & supervision). That doesn't mean it's necessarily true -- folks in any country, in aggregate, tend to talk about themselves as harder working than their neighbors. But I think this general idea/complaint is way more prevalent than a few Glassdoor comments, even if that's where they sourced the article. I don't know anything about semiconductors or manufacturing in general, but I do know a friend at TSMC had to buy a second apartment to sleep in because he works such long hours and didn't want the additional commute back to Taipei at night. It's also worth mentioning that -- like the SF and NYC set who maintain "work" apartments -- this guy is compensated very, very well.

sdoering 5y ago

When looking at or using platforms like Glasdoor one always has to take the "selection bias" into account. People posting on a platform selfselect. And it is often when something is wrong, that one tends to feel the need to communicate that. When all is fine there often just is no need to communicate that. So using Glasdoor without taking this into consideration is at least an interesting editorial decision.

wolframhempel 5y ago
On average, reviews tend to the extremes, whether on Glassdoor, Amazon, or anywhere else. People with balanced experiences feel less of a need to voice them than people who are elated or furious about a job or product.
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
That's exactly it, a lot of people will only leave a review if they have something negative to say, be it Glassdoor, App Store, webshops, etc. This is why apps prompt you to leave a review (sometimes offering rewards, often encouraging you to leave five stars), because without that prompt, content or happy people wouldn't leave a review.

ksec 5y ago

The "exact" same comment has been circulating since late 2020 before it even appeared on Glassdoor. I mean I even wrote about it on HN [1] twenty days before hand. And my knowledge of it didn't came from Glassdoor. At first I thought it could be some sort of smear / PR campaign. But given the time it took to MSM media this doesn't seems to be the case. And yes work culture is quite different, you are expected long hours in TSMC ( It is well known within Taiwan ), but it is not "that" much different to working in Samsung or Intel Foundry. As deepnotderp pointed out in the current top post. You want to catch up to the world's leading edge TSMC foundry? You work hard! You dont want Intel and Samsung to catch up to TSMC, you work harder. In many cases, I found people often dont appreciate the pathetic small amount of money they paid for something that is at the leading edge of science and engineering. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29583206 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29583206

q1w2 5y ago

This is modern outrage journalism in a nutshell.

eob 5y ago

I just lived in Taiwan for about a year, and it's pretty common feeling there that TSMC is struggling "to get Americans to work hard" in Arizona. I had several folks mention it to me when TSMC came up as a topic. They're worried they'll have to start sending full teams of Taiwanese engineers over to staff the factory (in addition to those required for training & supervision). That doesn't mean it's necessarily true -- folks in any country, in aggregate, tend to talk about themselves as harder working than their neighbors. But I think this general idea/complaint is way more prevalent than a few Glassdoor comments, even if that's where they sourced the article. I don't know anything about semiconductors or manufacturing in general, but I do know a friend at TSMC had to buy a second apartment to sleep in because he works such long hours and didn't want the additional commute back to Taipei at night. It's also worth mentioning that -- like the SF and NYC set who maintain "work" apartments -- this guy is compensated very, very well.