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> I work in a FAANG office where a lot of people can speak Mandarin, but I'm not one of them. About half of my immediate team can, though. What is the official

by bArray 4y ago

> I work in a FAANG office where a lot of people can speak Mandarin, but I'm not one of them. About half of my immediate team can, though. What is the official language of the company? If it's English, there are grounds to enforce it. The company should _not_ be hiring people on teams who cannot communicate in the common language - that is their failing. > My manager is remote and has no idea any of this is happening. I don't want to be the asshole to ask people to speak in English, or make my manager be that guy either. There are several problems here: 1. You can't manage an IRL team remotely. You can manage a remote team remotely, but not an IRL team. Important conversations are happening all the time and managers at least need to be aware they are happening. This manager should either come into the office or be moved aside for somebody who can. 2. The manager needs to be aware of problems as they happen. They cannot manage what they are not aware of. 3. You are not being an asshole for wanting to communicate with your colleagues. It is _them_ who are deliberately excluding you. 4. (Speaking carefully) Chinese culture specifically can be quite nationalist and diversity of thought and people is not an ideology that is typically shared. If you lost your job and was replaced with another Chinese person, this would be ideal for them.

clolege 4y ago
> What is the official language of the company? It's English. I know that this could be enforced by my manager or HR, but would prefer to handle it in a more direct/personal manner. > You can't manage an IRL team remotely. We are a "hybrid" team split between multiple US offices with a few fully remote members. So, kind of IRL but also kind of remote. Honestly though, there are a host of issues I've seen crop up across my org that I suspect are products of a weak engineering culture caused by our partially-distributed setup. I don't think we're ever going to switch to being completely co-located, but I do wonder if I would have a better experience working in either a completely IRL or completely remote team. > If you lost your job and was replaced with another Chinese person, this would be ideal for them. Hadn't thought of this. I think they like me? But I guess both can be true.
- bArray 4y ago
  > It's English. I know that this could be enforced by my manager or HR, but would prefer to handle it in a more direct/personal manner. It probably should be. I assume you're not the only English-only person in the office, and likely not the only person feeling uncomfortable. It's really not okay that they are deliberately cutting you out of import conversations. > Honestly though, there are a host of issues I've seen crop up across my org that I suspect are products of a weak engineering culture caused by our partially-distributed setup. I don't think we're ever going to switch to being completely co-located, but I do wonder if I would have a better experience working in either a completely IRL or completely remote team. Some will suggest that remote work is as (or more) productive as IRL work, but you're seeing a massive push to get people back into the office after the pandemic for a good reason. For example, it's bad enough that you are being left out of engineering conversations, but if you were all remote, you wouldn't even know there was a Mandarin only group chat for these things. I won't re-hash the point about remote management, but this situation you find yourself in should have been picked up and dealt with by an IRL manager. > Hadn't thought of this. I think they like me? But I guess both can be true. I mean that they would no longer have the 'inconvenience' of having to facilitate you in English at all. They would also not have to follow any English (Western) cultural norms in the office either.

by bArray 4y ago

clolege 4y ago

> What is the official language of the company? It's English. I know that this could be enforced by my manager or HR, but would prefer to handle it in a more direct/personal manner. > You can't manage an IRL team remotely. We are a "hybrid" team split between multiple US offices with a few fully remote members. So, kind of IRL but also kind of remote. Honestly though, there are a host of issues I've seen crop up across my org that I suspect are products of a weak engineering culture caused by our partially-distributed setup. I don't think we're ever going to switch to being completely co-located, but I do wonder if I would have a better experience working in either a completely IRL or completely remote team. > If you lost your job and was replaced with another Chinese person, this would be ideal for them. Hadn't thought of this. I think they like me? But I guess both can be true.

bArray 4y ago
> It's English. I know that this could be enforced by my manager or HR, but would prefer to handle it in a more direct/personal manner. It probably should be. I assume you're not the only English-only person in the office, and likely not the only person feeling uncomfortable. It's really not okay that they are deliberately cutting you out of import conversations. > Honestly though, there are a host of issues I've seen crop up across my org that I suspect are products of a weak engineering culture caused by our partially-distributed setup. I don't think we're ever going to switch to being completely co-located, but I do wonder if I would have a better experience working in either a completely IRL or completely remote team. Some will suggest that remote work is as (or more) productive as IRL work, but you're seeing a massive push to get people back into the office after the pandemic for a good reason. For example, it's bad enough that you are being left out of engineering conversations, but if you were all remote, you wouldn't even know there was a Mandarin only group chat for these things. I won't re-hash the point about remote management, but this situation you find yourself in should have been picked up and dealt with by an IRL manager. > Hadn't thought of this. I think they like me? But I guess both can be true. I mean that they would no longer have the 'inconvenience' of having to facilitate you in English at all. They would also not have to follow any English (Western) cultural norms in the office either.