3 ms·

Ask HN: Is it a red flag if a job doxxes its devs?

by doxxing i mean things like expectations around having your company github profile being public with your name in the handle and profile and a picture, or adding you to their public team page where they show your photo and name and some details about you, or expecting you to have and maintain an open linkedin profile. how do you push back on this kind of behavior without losing the job? i want to work on the code, not on building the company's social media brand or online presence for them...i also don't like talking about work outside of work and this includes wanting to have boundaries about my online presence as well so that any associations online are entirely my own instead of related to where i work for a day job. i appreciate any advice in how to best communicate this, English isn't my first language and i'm also not very good at saying no to things.

nullindividual 3y ago
You've got four options: 1. Live with it. 2. Quit. 3. Say something and choose option 1 or 2. If you're lucky, they'll provide an option 4, just be prepared for option 2. 4. Be defiant or passive, don't do it and see what happens. Red flag? No, not necessarily. There are many positions out there in tech which are 'ra-ra'. Sounds like the company wants it's rank and file to be that representation (which IMO is not a smart move by the employer). If you're living outside of the US in a workers paradise, this may not apply to you and you might be better off than the rest of us living under an oppressive capitalist regime that consumes people, taking their last breath for that next hundredth of a percent "productivity" improvement.
- throwaway43425 3y ago
  yeah i worked at jobs where it was ra-ra how you described it and they were pretty awful places in the end.
Hatrix 3y ago
You could tell them that recruiters for other companies use that info to bombard their employees with other job opportunities.
- throwaway43425 3y ago
  thanks for this suggestion, i like it
porkbeer 3y ago
If you don't want your name attached to what you do, you need to find a career where you do. I can't imagine not wanting to have my work seen if I think I am doing good work. Pride, unlike what some people say, is not for what you are born as, but for what you accomplish through conscious effort.
- throwaway43425 3y ago
  i'm working at some job, i don't care for people to know what company or what role. i have my own projects i can attach my name to if i want anyone to see. i'm not a fan of people being able to pry into my work life because of this type of behavior from an employer.
WallyFunk 3y ago
> by doxxing i mean things like expectations around having your company github profile being public It's the other way around for me. I like my work to be publicly viewable on GH because these days it's the bare minimum amount of effort required for visibility into your online persona and demonstrates how committed you are on delivering end products. I also have a basic blog where I do technical deep dives on various matters, to virtue signal to potential employers that I'm knowledgeable in certain areas. Proper and malicious doxxing would be outing the precise location where you live and listing your private phone number without your consent. This has never happened to me.
- throwaway43425 3y ago
  if it's my project and my own work that i choose to make publicly viewable i'm okay with that. but if not, i don't want to have an online persona for any purpose decided by a job. and let's be clear that closed commit history doesn't show anything to anyone about commitment to delivering products...that is something that is knowable internally, one does not need to be doxxed in order to prove to someone that they have commitment. why can't your personal blog still be your personal blog if you use an anon handle?

nullindividual 3y ago

You've got four options: 1. Live with it. 2. Quit. 3. Say something and choose option 1 or 2. If you're lucky, they'll provide an option 4, just be prepared for option 2. 4. Be defiant or passive, don't do it and see what happens. Red flag? No, not necessarily. There are many positions out there in tech which are 'ra-ra'. Sounds like the company wants it's rank and file to be that representation (which IMO is not a smart move by the employer). If you're living outside of the US in a workers paradise, this may not apply to you and you might be better off than the rest of us living under an oppressive capitalist regime that consumes people, taking their last breath for that next hundredth of a percent "productivity" improvement.

throwaway43425 3y ago
yeah i worked at jobs where it was ra-ra how you described it and they were pretty awful places in the end.

Hatrix 3y ago

You could tell them that recruiters for other companies use that info to bombard their employees with other job opportunities.

throwaway43425 3y ago
thanks for this suggestion, i like it

porkbeer 3y ago

If you don't want your name attached to what you do, you need to find a career where you do. I can't imagine not wanting to have my work seen if I think I am doing good work. Pride, unlike what some people say, is not for what you are born as, but for what you accomplish through conscious effort.

throwaway43425 3y ago
i'm working at some job, i don't care for people to know what company or what role. i have my own projects i can attach my name to if i want anyone to see. i'm not a fan of people being able to pry into my work life because of this type of behavior from an employer.

WallyFunk 3y ago

> by doxxing i mean things like expectations around having your company github profile being public It's the other way around for me. I like my work to be publicly viewable on GH because these days it's the bare minimum amount of effort required for visibility into your online persona and demonstrates how committed you are on delivering end products. I also have a basic blog where I do technical deep dives on various matters, to virtue signal to potential employers that I'm knowledgeable in certain areas. Proper and malicious doxxing would be outing the precise location where you live and listing your private phone number without your consent. This has never happened to me.

throwaway43425 3y ago
if it's my project and my own work that i choose to make publicly viewable i'm okay with that. but if not, i don't want to have an online persona for any purpose decided by a job. and let's be clear that closed commit history doesn't show anything to anyone about commitment to delivering products...that is something that is knowable internally, one does not need to be doxxed in order to prove to someone that they have commitment. why can't your personal blog still be your personal blog if you use an anon handle?