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75% of Software Engineers Faced Retaliation Last Time They Reported Wrongdoing
- parkerhiggins 3y agoI've found that there isn't a lot of discussion or research around this subject. Shoutout to engprax, a compliance company, for clearly approaching the issue. Is it actually an issue though? Software engineers by design (?) are not capital "P" professionals. There's no certification or board underwriting our work. Software engineering/developers have had the latitude to "move fast" and represent the only "professional" trade that has the ability to "try again" (with a deployment) versus a structural engineer for example. > Dr Junade Ali CEng FIET, the Principal Investigator of the study, said: “Recent developments demonstrate the fundamental importance of software engineers being free to raise the alarm when they become aware of potential wrongdoing; unfortunately our research has highlighted that software engineers are not sufficiently protected when they need to do so. From software engineers facing mass retaliation for speaking up and banned gagging clauses still being used, to ‘industry-standard’ software development metrics not considering the public’s risk appetite; this investigation has highlighted systematic and profound issues with society-wide impact, given how integral computers are to all our lives. With the ubiquitous nature of software in modern society are we at the point were we need certification? The development and certification of "industry-standards"? This theme, balancing innovation with responsibility, is throughout the the Biden Administration's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (Order). Who is really responsible though? The developers who wrote the code? Or the executive who ordered the change? There's are plenty of examples of this in recent history. Where engineers/developers released code they knew was harmful/fraudulent but did so anyway under fear of retaliation. > FTX (Nishad Singh) https://www.reuters.com/technology/how-secret-software-change-allowed-ftx-use-client-money-2022-12-13/ https://www.reuters.com/technology/how-secret-software-chang... > Pollen https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/pollen/#:~:text=Later%2C%20it%20turned%20out%2C%20that%20the%20code%20change%20was%20deliberate.%20The%20BBC%20documentary%20revealed%20evidence%20that%20the%20code%20change%20to%20double%20charge%20was%20made%20on%20Friday%2C%2020%20May%202022%2C%20and%20it%20was%20tested%20to%20work%20correctly.%20The%20code%20was%20then%20executed%20by%20%22a%20senior%20employee%22%20on%20Saturday%2C%2021%20May%202022 https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/pollen/#:~:text=Later%2C%.... I wonder where this is going to go.
- tekla 3y ago> Who is really responsible though? The developers who wrote the code? Yes. The person who wrote the shit is responsible as much as the person who ordered the change.
- JohnFen 3y agoI could not agree more. We are all responsible for our actions and the results our actions cause. "I was just following orders" in no way absolves anyone of that responsibility. That you may pay a price for doing the right thing doesn't make avoiding doing it acceptable.
- BizarreByte 3y agoWhen that cost includes possibly losing everything your worked for and your kids suffering it ceases to be so clear cut. If the society you live in won't look out for you in these situations, why should you look out for it? Take care of you and yours first.
- JohnFen 3y ago> it ceases to be so clear cut. I think it's still clear cut. Losing everything is a lamentable disaster, to be sure, but that doesn't change the ethics of the situation. > If the society you live in won't look out for you in these situations It's not some faceless "society", it's actual people, including the specific people you know. If you're willing to do things that are harmful to others, you're actively working to make the world worse for everyone -- including yourself and those you love.
- generic92034 3y agoFor me that is a bit too simple (no offense meant). If you are threatened you have to balance the harm you would be suffering by not complying with the harm you would be causing by complying.
- porompompero 3y agoExtensible to nearly all professions? In academia it happens..
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- throwawaaarrgh 3y agoDefinitely every profession. Exposing a problem either makes someone more powerful than you look bad, or makes you look bad for throwing someone else under the bus. Either way you're at risk of either retaliation or bad working relationships. The only relatively safe way to report problems is to do it anonymously and pray it doesn't come back on you.
- dtaht 3y agohttps://www.asce.org/career-growth/ethics/code-of-ethics https://www.asce.org/career-growth/ethics/code-of-ethics is my guideline.
- porompompero 3y agoIt is very brief and sharp, perhaps pro-active on creating an environment where bullshit does not happen, so perhaps optimistically, it does not need to be reported.
- xhkkffbf 3y agoJust 75%? A friend was working for one of those AI startups. They wanted him to download and effectively steal documents for training their LLM. When he pointed out that the TOS explicitly forbade mass downloading, they fired him immediately. Sleezy times.
- mewpmewp2 3y agoIf it was a website, their ToS can say anything, it's still legal to download everything there.
- isilofi 3y agoMaybe, maybe not. But his main fault was pointing out the possible legal problem. As soon as he pointed to it, simple negligence and a possible Chewbacca defense became intent. Which is a huge difference in legal interpretation and penalties.
- ajb 3y agoYeah. You report these things verbally in person, not on written media. This has two advantages: your employer can decide to investigate or forget about it, and you can judge whether you are getting a bad response in person during your report, and act accordingly. You make a report in writing if you could personally be held liable, and you want your disagreement on the record. But doing so is a burning your bridges moment. Not quite sure how you handle this if you are remote...
- isilofi 3y ago> You report these things verbally in person, not on written media. I think this is dangerous. If push comes to shove, you will not have anything to defend yourself with, because of no documentation.
- ajb 3y agoI'm not sure what scenario you have in mind, in which the thing they have been annoyed by would be useful as a defence.
- wesapien 3y agoI was listening to a podcast with Jim Rutt and he said that he encouraged people to give "bad news" and to not shoot the messenger. He was also against office politics and fired people for it. I wish more companies had this culture.
- golergka 3y agoDo you honestly think the line between giving bad news or reporting bad behaviour and office politics is so clear cut?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- isilofi 3y agoI don't know about Jim Rutt, but my overall impression is that most, if not all, companies are supposedly encouraging this culture of giving "bad news" and non-retaliation. Also reinforced by the usual compliance voodoo about supposedly anonymous reporting opportunities. I've never gained the impression that that was anything more than lip-service. The two people I know of who dared to say something were shown the door. Quietly, discreetly, done in a way so they wouldn't dare to sue. Therefore, imho, if you do report anything, make sure it cannot be traced back to you. Or just don't, it usually isn't worth it.
- brvsft 3y ago> The two people I know of who dared to say something were shown the door. Quietly, discreetly, done in a way so they wouldn't dare to sue. How does this work? If I'm in this position, you'd have to either give me a lot of money or threaten to kill my family. I'd be surprised if a business tried the latter.
- underseacables 3y agoProfits before ethics..
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- xvilka 3y agoAs long as management will be done by people, it will happen. It either should be done by computer/AI/whatever completely, or it should be controlled by purely emotionless and unbiased entities.
- worthless-trash 3y agoWith any luck this will happen sooner than later.
- einpoklum 3y agoWhat's the definition of "wrongdoing" in the context of this article?... * Criminality? * Illegality? * Immorality (and according to whose standards)? * Misrepresentation/dishonesty? * Abuse?
- bartwr 3y agoAs an engineer, you generally don't know which one applies. Even qualified lawyers don't decide on the actual criminality (a jury or judge after a valid trial does). So I assume that "reporting wrongdoing" encompasses reporting up your management chain anything that "feels off," from mildly misleading marketing to actual witnessed or experienced harassment. Probably, in the vast majority of the cases, you are not qualified to judge it. And in any case, even if you are wrong and the reported thing is "ok", there should never be any retaliation for just raising concerns and speaking up. Side note and something hilarious, creepy, but kind of making sense: at one workplace (not SV big tech, but a big company), I had a manager-only training about "illegal harassment" that explicitly taught us what kinds of harassment are illegal (against protected categories) vs. "just" breaking the company's code of conduct, with quizzes on hypothetical situations and asking us "is this bad behavior potentially illegal harassment?".
- _8j50 3y agoDoes this really require an explanation? There is a right way of how things should be done, that includes everything you listed and also internal company rules, industry standard ethics and business practices but also implied and informally accepted norms and anything that isn't in the interest of the company. So long as the person believes it is wrong, they can be corrected if they are wrong but they shouldn't be retaliated against!
- xboxnolifes 3y agoDoes it matter in the context of the article? Would any option from that list make retaliation okay?
- paulcole 3y ago> Immorality (and according to whose standards)? > Misrepresentation/dishonesty? These can be a matter of perspective and if someone’s morals doesn’t align with their employer’s, then they probably shouldn’t work there.
- darajava 3y agoPretty vague article, does not give a definition of wrongdoing.
- booleandilemma 3y agoWe're in dark times for people with morals.
- Abekkus 3y agoNot sure it's been better, and not betting that it will get better.
- CoastalCoder 3y agoThe Old Testament has a lot on this theme, so I don't think it's a new problem.
- 1letterunixname 3y agoMinus Victorian prostitutes but add rockets and screens, we're living in Charles Dickens' times.
- TriangleEdge 3y agoI have watched HR videos while employed at every tech company I have worked at that would insist that retaliation is forbidden and it's ok to report wrongdoing. Let's say, for example, I wanted to report something along the lines of: <person_with_specific attribute> becoming a manager, then every one on the team slowly being replaced with <person_with_specific attribute> at <large_well_known_tech_company>. I'm not convinced this is possible without retaliation. I would love to see a survey with one question asked at all tech companies with more then 100 employees. "Promotions are based on merit, answer from 0 to 10."
- _8j50 3y agoIt's so bad, sometimes you face pre-emptive retaliation if you have a habit of speaking up lol. HR says that to avoid lawsuits. If you bring retaliation and bullying to HR, you will be fired but not right away so it won't look like retaliation but maybe after significant time has passed. The best place you can be in corporate america is unseen by middle management and have a good immediate boss who values you.
- PradeetPatel 3y agoIt still baffles me to think that some still believe that HR is on their side. Human resource is there to safeguard the company from regulatory, compliance, and legal challenges.
- mcpackieh 3y agoSome people are inexperienced and/or naturally trusting. HR always talks sweet and acts like they're the good guys here to help you. They wouldn't do this unless some people were going to fall for it.
- dr_kiszonka 3y agoIs it in tech or in other industries too? (I am not that experienced, and have had relatively positive experiences with HR, besides occasional incompetence.)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- jongjong 3y agoI feel like I'm still facing retaliation for quitting a company 3 years ago. I'm more experienced and more efficient than I've ever been as a software engineer but I can't keep a job and nobody answers my job applications anymore even after changing countries (I have multiple citizenships). I apply for hundreds and get literally 0 calls back. Even my sister who works in HR can't believe it so we started applying together. I constantly hear stories of junior devs straight out of no-name universities getting jobs easily with huge salaries. I don't know what the heck is going on. Is there some algorithm systematically filtering me out based on my name or seniority?
- tjpnz 3y ago>junior devs straight out of no-name universities Nobody cares what university you went to.
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoRight now a lot of people without any history of whistleblowing have the same story
- pc2slow4webpack 3y ago> junior devs straight out of no-name universities getting jobs easily I'm a soon-to-be grad from a Top 5 Canadian school with multiple internships (no big names, unfortunately), it's been very difficult for me to get callbacks. In fact my ratio of getting past the first screen is about 2/125. I would blame your experience more on the market.
- theferalrobot 3y ago> I apply for hundreds and get literally 0 calls back You can’t meaningfully apply for hundreds of jobs. Apply to 3 or 4 and spend 10x longer on each application. Email the recruiter telling them why you are interested and a good fit, tailor your resume to each one. I’ve sat on plenty of hiring calls and in my personal experience there are just too many candidates applying with the completely wrong credentials or background using LinkedIn “easy apply” or the equivalent. Nearly all of those just basically get “easy rejected” on our first pass through candidates.
- wccrawford 3y agoI once reported something that my boss said to the heads of the company. They sent HR in to take care of it instead. My boss said, "I could get fired for what you said I did." He didn't deny it, just that I could cause him to get fired. I said, "Yeah!" or something similar. The company's response? I was to talk to my boss first next time before going above his head. For something he did that was (I think) illegal, and clearly not okay. I assume that was so he could sweep it under the rug. That year, I didn't get a raise, when I normally got rather large raises. I went somewhere else 6 months later and immediately earned 40% more. I'm not at all surprised that 75% say they faced retaliation.
- newZWhoDis 3y agoGive us a hint: was it legal pre-1965?
- talldatethrow 3y agoI worked at a place where the person in charge of hiring for that department passed on a great candidate that was black, not because he didn't like black people IMO, but because he said "if were wrong about him being great, black people are way too hard to fire". That was the only openly crazy racist statement I've really ever heard in a corporate environment.
- gotoeleven 3y ago[flagged]
- askonomm 3y agoHow is this a fact? I'd like some references for that. And also, last I checked, negative treatment based on colour of skin (such as in this case NOT hiring a person) is, in fact, racist.
- CoastalCoder 3y agoIt may be useful to separate fact and ideology here. I.e.: (1) Does such a dynamic exist? (2) If so, what's the right way to deal with that fact during hiring? It's harder to have a meaningful discussion if those two things are conflated.
- DoesntMatter22 3y agoI know a girl at a Fortune 500 company (not a dev) who was in corporate sales. She went with a more experienced sales person (a guy) who took her and the client to Hooters. No joke. This is like 2019 so in full swing Me Too movement. When she reported it she was immediately put on a PIP for bad performance. Then she was really dressed down privately by her boss for bringing it up. She taped the convo (legal in her state). Even presented with that evidence they fired her. They went to the EEOC to protest. The EEOC said that there's almost nothing you can do. So, regardless she hired a lawyer. It wasn't the money it was the fact she was fired despite reporting this (and having good sales numbers). She spent 2k out of pocket. They said "No we aren't gonna settle". Finally they offered to pay her lawyers fees. She said no and that she was going to finance a movie (low budget but who cares) of what happened to her and form a support group. And talk with ProPublica about the company. Over 3 hours they negotiated until they gave her a bit under half a million. The only way to really get justice is just to do things like that I guess. Reporting it has the opposite effect. Eventually many of the other guys involved were let go.
- askonomm 3y agoGlad she got something for that awful treatment. But the thing is, this sort of thing doesn't really scale. A lot of (most?) people don't have the time/resources to attempt any of this and are too afraid to have a future job call the previous job and hear negative feedback because of the retaliation, thus hindering future employment prospects. The whole thing is extremely against the employee. And the companies know this. That 1 person a year that has the balls to retaliate and who the company has to eventually settle with is effectively just a cost of doing business, and so nothing changes. I once worked for a crypto startup that turned out to build a ponzi scheme. I of course quit, and asked for my due money from paychecks not paid yet. No money to be seen. I reported the startup to the police, but the police didn't seem all too interested for doing anything about it. I then threatened the startup with going to the local business news outlet and reporting my story, to which they finally responded with and gave my missing money, but the thing is - I had talked to the business outlet, and they also didn't care about the story. I was bluffing and just got lucky. And as far as I know they continued with their business just fine.
- ulizzle 3y agoOh yeah, the worst thing you can do is speak up at work. Especially if any of the higher-ups are assholes up to no good. That's why recruiters value long-term stays at a job because it shows that you either have too much to lose or are too much of a coward to stand up for yourself.
- shiroiuma 3y agoInternal recruiters might value that, but third-party recruiters don't. The more people jump around between companies, the more money they make in commissions.
- tehjoker 3y agoWell no shit, reporting wrongdoing means getting on the wrong side of someone more powerful than you. Here are things that would make it possible to fix this: - Unionization - Strong Federal whistleblower protections That's about it. Of the two, the most important is unionization, because the company can buy off the feds via the revolving door.
- ambrice 3y agoMore accurate headline would be "75% of Software Engineers Who Reported Wrongdoing Claim They Faced Retaliation". I know there are some obvious cases where people were explicitly retaliated against, but I'm also not sure you can just automatically trust someone when they say they didn't get that raise they obviously deserved due to retaliation. Also, I stared at this sentence for a long time trying to figure it out: "Meanwhile, the Horizon IT Inquiry continues to investigate how faulty accounting software has been blamed for multiple suicides and what has been described as “the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history”, with those wrongly imprisoned including a pregnant woman." Maybe if I'm British that makes more sense but seems like it was just thrown in there to crank up the drama.
- awinter-py 3y agoyeah current phrasing implies that at least 75% have reported
- ganeshkrishnan 3y agoI worked in a big media company and the department next to me had a manager that would get angry and throw stuff on the wall. Once he grabbed the desk IP phone and threw it at the white board, cord and all. Made some of the employees pretty nervous in weekly meetings. One of them complained to the HR. The employee's contract was not renewed that quarter and nothing ever came of the manager.
- wutwutwat 3y agoI have left the last 2 shops I worked at due to being put into shitty situations and either nothing was done, or for my last role I was very clearly forced to have no choice but to quit. I'll keep the details to a minimum to protect their and my own privacy, though I'm not sure I owe them that. 2 jobs ago: I was told by my cto that we were going to use a pen testing firm to get a report on our new system, pretty standard stuff. What was not cool was that this pen testing firm offered a week trial or something like that, and my cto's plan was to utilize their services for the report, which was needed for us to satisfy an enterprise requirement so we could sign a deal and collect $$$, and cancel quickly as to avoid paying the pen testing company the 40k or some large amount for their services. Is it maybe the pen testing firm's fault for offering a free trial, maybe, but at the very least it's a snake like move to do such a thing esp when our company was going to use the report to generate unknown amounts of enterprise cash going forward. If we found value in it, and it made us comply and get deals, we should pay that company for their services, just like we'd want others to do for our company. I would not have liked to hear anyone at the company suggest such slimy tactics, let alone my CTO. I was pretty tight-nit with the CEO, and was a very early employee. We had seen many ups and downs together both professionally and personally. I went to him as a friend, because I felt almost like a cofounder without the perks, because I had been there so long, and wanted to let my ceo and my friend know what a C level was telling me to do, because I honestly didn't know if I was being told to commit fraud, and at the very least, that shit can't be coming from the top, it'll only get more slimy down the chain if that's the precedent the org leader sets. I was shocked when the ceo didn't believe me after he spoke to the cto. I was then faced with the choice to stay and work under a cto I now had a major issue with and didn't respect, or quit the company I felt I helped build. I quit, with no plan in place because that request came out of the blue and forced me in between rock and hard place. Thankfully I landed on my feet quickly, at the last job I had... 1 job ago: A coworker on my team started to hold calls over after standup with just us 2, and then would start quizzing me on systems as if they didn't know how they worked. Some of these systems mind you, this person wrote, yet I was multiple times forced into a corner with them as they played dumb and asked leading and trivial questions, as if I were being tested by them for unknown reasons. The first few times this happened I chalked it up to me misinterpreting what was going on, but I started to pay closer attention after that to see if it was being done deliberately, and it without a doubt was. One of the most extreme calls I was being asked to explain to this person a system they authored, and they knew I knew they authored it, because I had done much of the code review for them when they wrote it. I asked this person why they were making me explain the code to them, they wrote it, and the person once again acted like they weren't sure what I meant. I became very pissed off at being (I hate this word but it's a textbook example) gaslit by a coworker, so much so that I hung up the call and immediately messaged my vp. This is where it gets shitty. The vp heard my issue and saw how upset I was. I was furious. I was threatening to quit. They talked to the other person, and came back to me and said they were "choosing to believe the other person", which if you majored in doublespeak or do pr for a living, is another way of saying "I think you're lying". Now my vp of eng is telling me he doesn't believe me when I go to him upset about a coworker intentionally fucking with me. Why I had any faith in them after being called a liar and left to be messed with is beyond me. At this point I'm thinking there must be something wrong with me that I'm not believed when I go to my leaders with legit issues. It honestly is one of the worst feelings to know I'm not lying, yet not have the people who should have my back believe me, and I still get upset to this day looking back at how I was dismissed when I had no reason to lie or make up stories. Long story short I should have left then, but stuck it out another 6 months, being harassed by this person in different ways the whole time. I on more than one occasion regrettably lost my cool with them in public channels and was not professional. I was burned out, and harassed by a psychopath and not believed by leadership. I quit when in an all hands they announced the coworker's promotion to my team's manager, which now put my harasser who was on the same level as me, in a position of power, as my boss, and it was clear that they wanted me out, but didn't want to fire me, so I was forced into either quitting my job or staying at a place where my harasser is now my boss and in charge of everything I do every day, and having the ability to sabotage my ability to earn more money, performance reviews, workloads, stress levels, or advance my career beyond my current role. I quit. I was fucked with by a coworker, called a liar, and forced to either work under a psycho person or quit the company and abandon the large project I had created while working there that I honestly loved to wake up every day and get to work on. That one really fucked me up. I've been out of work for a year now. Lost everything. I honestly don't even want to go back to software, but due to financial obligations and the debt from being out of work and losing all my possessions, I have no choice. Software is mentally taxing enough, let alone when you try to do the right thing in the face of corruption and nobody believes you, or you are the daily victim of a mind fuck from some unstable coworker with a bone to pick. That made my existing sabbatical level burnout turn into something that honestly has to be some form of trauma, and I haven't wanted to write a line of code since I quit that job a year ago, and I haven't. A week after I quit, the first huge rounds of layoffs started as well. Now I'm being asked in intro calls why there's a year gap on my resume, and I've already experienced people not believing me when I tell them the truth, so, I've been "contracting" here and there for a year, which is a lie. Funny how my attempts to be an honest person cost me two careers I never wanted to leave and resulted in me being the one telling fucking lies. Universe you are a cruel and mysterious sob.
- sublinear 3y agoUm... this is an ad for a consultancy.
- wespiser_2018 3y agoIt doesn't surprise me 75% of SWEs report retaliation based on my experience in tech, but credit to 100% of people with integrity that spoke truth to power and risked paying the price. The world would be a lot better place (in my humble opinion) if more people spoke up when things were wrong, and were less afraid of losing a job at a company crossing an ethical line they hold. I know that's a luxury opinion, but if you did the right thing and lost something important, that's a company throwing away the best of humanity and a clearly toxic culture.
- creer 3y agoMore great corporate culture would be awesome. But it's very hard for the employee to distinguish between talk and policy versus reality on the ground. So even when the corporate culture and incentives are actually good and clean, it's risky for the employee to speak up. What might help is more communication of the proportion of complaints or reports that resulted in what. In a "measure it if you want to see it happen" manner. The measure will then be gamed but hopefully that's only a second order effect.
- orwin 3y agoIf you're working at a French company or in France, you can knock at any union's door and report retaliation. They will give you advice, access to a psychologist and legal council (and representation if you want to go further)
- de-moray 3y agoEarly in my career, I dealt with this garage. Once, I reported the VP of engineering for instructing me to commit fraud. I got back "Just do what he says, he's got experience in these things.". Then they hired someone to take over my team. Another time, I reported someone for sexual assault to HR. I shared the incident without names at first and HR told me "oh, that's awful. Who is it? They need to go.". When I shared the name, I got "oh. Well, they are too important to the company. I'll talk to them." I put in my resignation shortly after that. I won't work for people like that anymore.
- tonyedgecombe 3y ago>Another time, I reported someone for sexual assault to HR. I'd probably go directly to the police about something like that.
- zubairq 3y agoYour ability to get hired for jobs relies on your future employees knowing that you didn't "rat" on your previous employers. Every company has skeletons in the closet so keeping your mouth shut is part of what gets your hired
- 1letterunixname 3y agoOnce upon a time, I raised concerns about rushed changes and weakening the security configuration of a private credit card processing network. It was Stanford University and I was summarily "forced to resign" for not immediately complying. PS: My boss also embezzled office equipment for personal use.
- 1letterunixname 3y agoI was once peremptorily retaliated against for just being in the room with a director of what was a major cell phone manufacturer who muted a call periodically to make racist/non-native English speaking comments about remote new hires. Although I failed to say something and should've, my badge was deactivated the next day without a single word. There was a good deal of obnoxious arrogance at that particular shop, so it wasn't much of a loss.
- pjmlp 3y agoI can imagine this being true, I never bought into the trainings and the whole corporate values. It always feels like is something companies do, because everyone is expect to act that way publicly.
- incomingpain 3y agoIn my last job, I was 1 of 2 network admins. The other network admin, while never consulted, made it public that he didn't believe I should be allowed to touch networking gear. I did get warned early that I needed to copy his configs or else, they were good configs and so I did use them as templates for sure. But then came a time when I was scheduled for 4 weeks in advanced and I had constant emergency jobs. He ended up picking up a couple jobs, but he was under the impression he had all the networking jobs. So he flips out because I had been stealing his work... whatever. I had been helping him with his workload, now it was time I needed help. But no, he didn't actually do the work, he then looked up every single one of my tickets and anything network related he noted and then investigated if I did it correctly. Mind you, he's not above me in the heirarchy. This is a peer who now is putting together a list of all the problems he found. The only real problem which he found was that I hadn't put the devices into RANCID. You know the rancid server nobody told me about and never gave me credentials to. But after he was told to stop that and do work. He went to my client and started badmouthing me. My client who likes me got rather upset, recorded it and sent it to me. They are sales people, they record calls all the time. Well his biggest complaint about me was that I hadn't renewed my cisco certifications, and if I'm not certified, I shouldn't touch cisco equipment. but he also blamed me for an outage that only he could have caused. I was driving to another job at that time and nobody else had any audit logs on being on my client... So I went to HR, I made a formal harassment complaint. HR listened to me explain my side, then said it's he said she said. That I'm not the first to complain, but they needed something more concrete. Well the next morning, I got fired by my boss.
- sassy_quat 3y ago[dead]
- Arech 3y ago> Despite software delivery metrics prioritising speed, the British public and software engineers agree it’s the least important factor. Instead, the public cares most about data security, data accuracy and preventing serious bugs. Does anybody know the source of the claim? I'd like to present it to our management team if it's sound enough :-D