4 ms·

I work in California but we have a good sized team (~100) in the former Yugoslavia. The lead person in CA is Bosnian, most of the people we work with are in Ser

by smugma 4y ago

I work in California but we have a good sized team (~100) in the former Yugoslavia. The lead person in CA is Bosnian, most of the people we work with are in Serbia, but one team is in North Macedonia. The way the head Bosnian guy explains it to me is that it’s all about money. People want to be able to eat, buy a car, take a vacation. If they paid well, everyone gets along, there’s no politics involved. This was really surprising for me to hear. My best friend growing up was Serbian, one of my best friends in college was Croatian. It seemed all they did was talk politics. The Serbian would claim they were being bullied by the world for pushing unity, the Croatian about atrocities. Here, in Silicon Valley, an actual refugee from the minority group, was looking above it all. I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it in the daily interactions of these different ethnic groups. It’s strange but also amazing. My colleague should figure out how to apply his work hard, get paid friendly attitude to create world peace.

throwaytheignor 4y ago
What is he going to say to you? That the Serb committed mass genocide etc. The guy is here and has to make a living and not create enemies above his pay grade. Saying as someone who has met many Bosnians with severe PTSD who were there at that time.
- smugma 4y ago
  Ya, he could say that. Or he could just not talk about it. He could also not go on trips and recruit Serbians to work for him. Before I got to know him, I assumed that he was the same ethnicity/religion as the huge teams he was overseeing, but that wasn't the case. We have talked about how hard it was for him as a refugee to come to the US when he was a child, and now he's explaining to his 9 year old the Ukrainian refugees remind him of his own experience growing up. It seems like he genuinely doesn't care for identity politics and is looking for good people to work with. Most likely he's in the minority and maybe left at a young enough age where he didn't see and experience some of the things that the Bosnians with PTSD did.

by smugma 4y ago

throwaytheignor 4y ago

What is he going to say to you? That the Serb committed mass genocide etc. The guy is here and has to make a living and not create enemies above his pay grade. Saying as someone who has met many Bosnians with severe PTSD who were there at that time.

smugma 4y ago
Ya, he could say that. Or he could just not talk about it. He could also not go on trips and recruit Serbians to work for him. Before I got to know him, I assumed that he was the same ethnicity/religion as the huge teams he was overseeing, but that wasn't the case. We have talked about how hard it was for him as a refugee to come to the US when he was a child, and now he's explaining to his 9 year old the Ukrainian refugees remind him of his own experience growing up. It seems like he genuinely doesn't care for identity politics and is looking for good people to work with. Most likely he's in the minority and maybe left at a young enough age where he didn't see and experience some of the things that the Bosnians with PTSD did.