5 ms·

It could be when they see that https://git.gavinhoward.com/gavin/petty-tyrant-businesses https://git.gavinhoward.com/gavin/petty-tyrant-businesses

wiseowise 3y ago
Jesus Christ.
kelnos 3y ago
It's funny, because posting that list of businesses is... also pretty petty. As is refusing to wear a mask during a global pandemic. I bet this guy also gets pissed off at the "no shoes, no shirt, no service" signs some businesses have. I know if I was hiring for something and found that post, that'd be an instant no-hire from me.
- dvt 3y ago
  > It's funny, because posting that list of businesses is... also pretty petty. People boycott things all the time for all kinds of reasons. Some people boycott Israeli businesses due to the Israel/Palestine conflict, other people boycott MyPillow, and others boycott Chik-Fil-A, or more recently Budweiser. The outrage here on HN is a bit annoying, considering this used to be a fairly balanced platform. As a consumer, boycotting a business is basically the only recourse for whatever grievance (justified or not) you may have which happens to be outside the purview of the law. Or is boycotting not petty only when your tribe does it?
  - kelnos 3y ago
    Absolutely agree boycotting is a great way to tell a business you're not happy with something they do. But if many people think you are being petty/bonkers/anti-something-they-care-about based on why you are boycotting particular businesses, that might cause you some trouble. > Or is boycotting not petty only when your tribe does it? There are certainly some boycotts I don't participate in, but respect the decision of those who do. Boycotting is petty when people think it's petty (pettiness is an opinion, not an intrinsic property of something). If you want to talk about "tribes", sure, maybe a particular "tribe" thinks some particular boycott is petty. That's life.
  - prawn 3y ago
    I don't take much issue with personal boycotts but perhaps publishing the list would irk some people?
  - wiseowise 3y ago
    They’re boycotting business for complying with government regulations. It’s petty and it’s stupid.
    - schumpeter 3y ago
      Would you have felt that way when people were boycotting buses in the Jim Crow south?
      - flangola7 3y ago
        There's a difference between boycotting ethical laws and unethical laws. Do you really need it spoonfed to you?
sph 3y ago
While I disagree with the stance and tone of that repo, I appreciate that someone stops being a corporate lackey even on their personal websites; we've all become sterile, pleasant representations of the ideal worker just hoping for someone to have the decency to pay us for our programming ability and talent. Maybe be a little careful with the conspiracy theories, but I am quite done with the corporate-friendly personas we are pushing in our tech world. I wanted to write a couple posts about anarchism on my personal blog, nothing crazy, and kept being concerned it might drive off a potential recruiter. Who the hell cares, a company where I cannot have a touch of personality is not a place I want to work at either. Must be because I learned this job in the early 2000s, when sysadmins were wearing black shirts and listening to death metal, and the CEO stayed well away from that office, not the shirt-wearing, well-trimmed DevOps you see at conferences these days. The only potentially "controversial" idea (as in, corp might not like it but will have to deal with it) that is still accepted in tech is being trans or a furry. I have no issue with either, mind you, just pointing out that anything else is a no-no.
- xena 3y ago
  Do what everyone does for this: make a side blog under a pseudonym.
  - sph 3y ago
    I thought about it but no. I am OK with who I am, and I don't have any hate speech to share that I need to hide my identity. I just want to show the Internet world a side of me that is not only the stereotypical software engineer, because I'm not. No one is, is the point I'm making. We all have our quirks, and we should celebrate them. I know your blog, I can't say I understand where you're coming from or that I relate very much with your persona, but I appreciate that you're able to stand out as your own, and I'm able to recognise you among the masses. But in many cases, outside the fight for gender identity freedom, this is not possible in the world of modern social media, where you're always one step from being lynched by a mob because you dared go against the grain. The Twitterverse is the reason we're all sterile clones of each other, dividing everybody into a us vs them culture battle. That's too much nonsense for me.
gonzo41 3y ago
This sort of thing is a instant black ball almost everywhere.
- Cymrukicks 3y ago
  Wouldn't hire him on a supermarket checkout counter, the guy seems insane.
karmakurtisaani 3y ago
Instant no hire from me. Too vocal and opinionated, could be a liability later.
flangola7 3y ago
It gets worse. His website has subscribe links to Gab and Parler accounts, and a rant whining about lobste.rs banning him for being transphobic that is completely un-introspective. https://gavinhoward.com/2022/07/lobste.rs-will-become-an-echo-chamber/ https://gavinhoward.com/2022/07/lobste.rs-will-become-an-ech... I don't care how good of a C whiz this person is, if I see that crap associated with an applicant their application is going straight to the incinerator. Even if I had no problem hiring bad, asshole human beings, this guy is a legal liability.
- gavinhoward 3y ago
  Un-introspective, huh? People really don't read my blog posts very well.
  - flangola7 3y ago
    If people can't read your posts then you need to write them more clearly. You're the author of them. Don't shift that personal responsibility onto the readers. You're the one that isn't getting hired. Whether you recognize your error or not, the people looking to hire do. There's content in your posts that if they were in a company slack message would be a major liability. Most companies don't believe in breaking the law.
- vohov 3y ago
  From reading through that blog post, he's not wrong is he? The moderation of lobste.rs is nowhere near as even-handed as HN, as his example (and many others) demonstrates.
  - flangola7 3y ago
    He is wrong, transphobia has no place anywhere. Trying to pass it under the thin guise of "unfair moderation" is both cowardly and thinly veiled. It certainly has no place in the workplace. Would he try to deny the identify of our trans senior developer? Would he say discriminatory things about our trans in house counsel? He has already shown from this blog he has transphobic beliefs and no problem saying discriminatory statements. Beyond being an ethically bad and bigoted person, this guy would bring state and federal liability to the company from the first day on the job. I don't care if he disagrees, this isn't a matter up for discussion, I will not break the law for you.
slyall 3y ago
While he does feel that he "live[s] in a place where people generally share the same values" some of those values are probably a bit public for a "boring mainstream" company. I'd suggest separate technical/non-technical blogs and only referring people to the first. I'm mostly thinking of all the blog posts that explicitly point to the disclaimer.. You don't have to hide the personal blog but this is probably a bit much for sites you point employers at.
- gavinhoward 3y ago
  I've thought about separating them. But by the time I thought about it, I was already famous for it. I've come to expect it. Notice that I never wondered why companies don't hire me. I merely said they don't. I know I'm not a good fit in a sterile work environment.

wiseowise 3y ago

Jesus Christ.

kelnos 3y ago

It's funny, because posting that list of businesses is... also pretty petty. As is refusing to wear a mask during a global pandemic. I bet this guy also gets pissed off at the "no shoes, no shirt, no service" signs some businesses have. I know if I was hiring for something and found that post, that'd be an instant no-hire from me.

dvt 3y ago
> It's funny, because posting that list of businesses is... also pretty petty. People boycott things all the time for all kinds of reasons. Some people boycott Israeli businesses due to the Israel/Palestine conflict, other people boycott MyPillow, and others boycott Chik-Fil-A, or more recently Budweiser. The outrage here on HN is a bit annoying, considering this used to be a fairly balanced platform. As a consumer, boycotting a business is basically the only recourse for whatever grievance (justified or not) you may have which happens to be outside the purview of the law. Or is boycotting not petty only when your tribe does it?
- kelnos 3y ago
  Absolutely agree boycotting is a great way to tell a business you're not happy with something they do. But if many people think you are being petty/bonkers/anti-something-they-care-about based on why you are boycotting particular businesses, that might cause you some trouble. > Or is boycotting not petty only when your tribe does it? There are certainly some boycotts I don't participate in, but respect the decision of those who do. Boycotting is petty when people think it's petty (pettiness is an opinion, not an intrinsic property of something). If you want to talk about "tribes", sure, maybe a particular "tribe" thinks some particular boycott is petty. That's life.
- prawn 3y ago
  I don't take much issue with personal boycotts but perhaps publishing the list would irk some people?
- wiseowise 3y ago
  They’re boycotting business for complying with government regulations. It’s petty and it’s stupid.
  - schumpeter 3y ago
    Would you have felt that way when people were boycotting buses in the Jim Crow south?
    - flangola7 3y ago
      There's a difference between boycotting ethical laws and unethical laws. Do you really need it spoonfed to you?

sph 3y ago

While I disagree with the stance and tone of that repo, I appreciate that someone stops being a corporate lackey even on their personal websites; we've all become sterile, pleasant representations of the ideal worker just hoping for someone to have the decency to pay us for our programming ability and talent. Maybe be a little careful with the conspiracy theories, but I am quite done with the corporate-friendly personas we are pushing in our tech world. I wanted to write a couple posts about anarchism on my personal blog, nothing crazy, and kept being concerned it might drive off a potential recruiter. Who the hell cares, a company where I cannot have a touch of personality is not a place I want to work at either. Must be because I learned this job in the early 2000s, when sysadmins were wearing black shirts and listening to death metal, and the CEO stayed well away from that office, not the shirt-wearing, well-trimmed DevOps you see at conferences these days. The only potentially "controversial" idea (as in, corp might not like it but will have to deal with it) that is still accepted in tech is being trans or a furry. I have no issue with either, mind you, just pointing out that anything else is a no-no.

xena 3y ago
Do what everyone does for this: make a side blog under a pseudonym.
- sph 3y ago
  I thought about it but no. I am OK with who I am, and I don't have any hate speech to share that I need to hide my identity. I just want to show the Internet world a side of me that is not only the stereotypical software engineer, because I'm not. No one is, is the point I'm making. We all have our quirks, and we should celebrate them. I know your blog, I can't say I understand where you're coming from or that I relate very much with your persona, but I appreciate that you're able to stand out as your own, and I'm able to recognise you among the masses. But in many cases, outside the fight for gender identity freedom, this is not possible in the world of modern social media, where you're always one step from being lynched by a mob because you dared go against the grain. The Twitterverse is the reason we're all sterile clones of each other, dividing everybody into a us vs them culture battle. That's too much nonsense for me.

gonzo41 3y ago

This sort of thing is a instant black ball almost everywhere.

Cymrukicks 3y ago
Wouldn't hire him on a supermarket checkout counter, the guy seems insane.

karmakurtisaani 3y ago

Instant no hire from me. Too vocal and opinionated, could be a liability later.

flangola7 3y ago

It gets worse. His website has subscribe links to Gab and Parler accounts, and a rant whining about lobste.rs banning him for being transphobic that is completely un-introspective. https://gavinhoward.com/2022/07/lobste.rs-will-become-an-echo-chamber/ https://gavinhoward.com/2022/07/lobste.rs-will-become-an-ech... I don't care how good of a C whiz this person is, if I see that crap associated with an applicant their application is going straight to the incinerator. Even if I had no problem hiring bad, asshole human beings, this guy is a legal liability.

gavinhoward 3y ago
Un-introspective, huh? People really don't read my blog posts very well.
- flangola7 3y ago
  If people can't read your posts then you need to write them more clearly. You're the author of them. Don't shift that personal responsibility onto the readers. You're the one that isn't getting hired. Whether you recognize your error or not, the people looking to hire do. There's content in your posts that if they were in a company slack message would be a major liability. Most companies don't believe in breaking the law.
vohov 3y ago
From reading through that blog post, he's not wrong is he? The moderation of lobste.rs is nowhere near as even-handed as HN, as his example (and many others) demonstrates.
- flangola7 3y ago
  He is wrong, transphobia has no place anywhere. Trying to pass it under the thin guise of "unfair moderation" is both cowardly and thinly veiled. It certainly has no place in the workplace. Would he try to deny the identify of our trans senior developer? Would he say discriminatory things about our trans in house counsel? He has already shown from this blog he has transphobic beliefs and no problem saying discriminatory statements. Beyond being an ethically bad and bigoted person, this guy would bring state and federal liability to the company from the first day on the job. I don't care if he disagrees, this isn't a matter up for discussion, I will not break the law for you.

slyall 3y ago

While he does feel that he "live[s] in a place where people generally share the same values" some of those values are probably a bit public for a "boring mainstream" company. I'd suggest separate technical/non-technical blogs and only referring people to the first. I'm mostly thinking of all the blog posts that explicitly point to the disclaimer.. You don't have to hide the personal blog but this is probably a bit much for sites you point employers at.

gavinhoward 3y ago
I've thought about separating them. But by the time I thought about it, I was already famous for it. I've come to expect it. Notice that I never wondered why companies don't hire me. I merely said they don't. I know I'm not a good fit in a sterile work environment.