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Google’s culture is dominated by arrogance. Management repeatedly tells employees they work on the world’s hardest problems using the world’s biggest computers

by oofbey 4y ago

Google’s culture is dominated by arrogance. Management repeatedly tells employees they work on the world’s hardest problems using the world’s biggest computers and the world’s smartest people. Doing anything less is “ungoogley”. It doesn’t necessarily follow that this would encourage racism. But it sure isn’t surprising.

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
Why would you assume "best" = "racist"? Also - which companies are saying they hire the worst people? I've worked at several companies - every single one of them claimed to hire the best. It's just corporate psychobabble at this point.
- me_me_mu_mu 4y ago
  I’ll bite with anecdotal pov. I think most of the people who are the “best” are advantaged from the beginning. Whether it is attending prep schools (40k a year or more private school for 12 years), having a home (not moving multiple times, sometimes in a year over many years), or honestly having the familial backing to “take risks”. The last point is so wild when I hear it from some VCs or successful CEO. It’s easy to take a risk when your parents and family are loaded, even if you have nothing to your name at the time. It’s easy to say such things when your parents are doctors or entrepreneurs who put you through private school and then you got into Stanford. I’m sure they’re smart, but they bought their way in when you reduce it. Sure they took it from 20-100, but many people can barely get from 1-10 due to socioeconomic circumstances. I respect the people who manage to go from 1-100 way more than someone who was bound to be reasonably successful at worst from birth.
- zach_garwood 4y ago
  Racists tend to be ethno-supremecists, ie they think they belong to the "best" race.
  - onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
    So racists are inclined to think they're "the best". Why are people who think they're "the best" inclined to think it's in part / mostly / solely due to race?
    - afiori 4y ago
      Elitism comes with a lot of rationalizations to justify the beliefs about who is worthy or not. Typically one of them is "sharing these key characteristics with me make you better than those who don't", these characteristics often involve some kind of racial-like features.
- rurp 4y ago
  I once saw a job posting that claimed to only want world class developers. The pay? 40k.
- crawfordcomeaux 4y ago
  Corporate psychobabble and/or normalized supremacist. The idea of "best" is ultimately a lie and it's the same lie that supremacy tells.
- oofbey 4y ago
  When you’re conditioned to think of yourself in a superior class of people, I can easily see how that mindset carries over to nonprofessional circumstances. Also it’s not recruiting or hiring that I think is relevant. Those activities mostly impact non-employees. It’s in this drumbeat from leadership about prioritization of projects which reminds googlers not to waste their time on simple or small problems (or fixing bugs or maintaining a service) that any non-googler could do. It says “Remember that you’re better than they are.”

by oofbey 4y ago

onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago

Why would you assume "best" = "racist"? Also - which companies are saying they hire the worst people? I've worked at several companies - every single one of them claimed to hire the best. It's just corporate psychobabble at this point.

me_me_mu_mu 4y ago
I’ll bite with anecdotal pov. I think most of the people who are the “best” are advantaged from the beginning. Whether it is attending prep schools (40k a year or more private school for 12 years), having a home (not moving multiple times, sometimes in a year over many years), or honestly having the familial backing to “take risks”. The last point is so wild when I hear it from some VCs or successful CEO. It’s easy to take a risk when your parents and family are loaded, even if you have nothing to your name at the time. It’s easy to say such things when your parents are doctors or entrepreneurs who put you through private school and then you got into Stanford. I’m sure they’re smart, but they bought their way in when you reduce it. Sure they took it from 20-100, but many people can barely get from 1-10 due to socioeconomic circumstances. I respect the people who manage to go from 1-100 way more than someone who was bound to be reasonably successful at worst from birth.
zach_garwood 4y ago
Racists tend to be ethno-supremecists, ie they think they belong to the "best" race.
- onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
  So racists are inclined to think they're "the best". Why are people who think they're "the best" inclined to think it's in part / mostly / solely due to race?
  - afiori 4y ago
    Elitism comes with a lot of rationalizations to justify the beliefs about who is worthy or not. Typically one of them is "sharing these key characteristics with me make you better than those who don't", these characteristics often involve some kind of racial-like features.
rurp 4y ago
I once saw a job posting that claimed to only want world class developers. The pay? 40k.
crawfordcomeaux 4y ago
Corporate psychobabble and/or normalized supremacist. The idea of "best" is ultimately a lie and it's the same lie that supremacy tells.
oofbey 4y ago
When you’re conditioned to think of yourself in a superior class of people, I can easily see how that mindset carries over to nonprofessional circumstances. Also it’s not recruiting or hiring that I think is relevant. Those activities mostly impact non-employees. It’s in this drumbeat from leadership about prioritization of projects which reminds googlers not to waste their time on simple or small problems (or fixing bugs or maintaining a service) that any non-googler could do. It says “Remember that you’re better than they are.”