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haha. that's hilarious. i worked at a company that was trying to change its image from 'sweatshop' to 'we know tech' image (like a google or facebook). What bet

• chris_wot 12y ago
  "are you kidding me? I'm not coding for 24 hours straight with no sleep...and then have to come into work the next day..." Uh, I would have asked what sort of overtime they were providing. I'm sort of assuming they weren't paying.
• paulojreis 12y ago
  Was it a "big corp"? I work at one, and sometimes they do these kind of initiatives, to sound "hip" and all that jazz. They are optional but de facto mandatory, and almost everybody hates it. It seems that we can't take a day or two to rethink and reimplement something that's problematic, but we can (or have to) play "startup" for a day or two. It's as cringeworthy as it gets; you can easily tell that everyone wants to go home or even do real work. And the hypocrisy is mesmerising. Somebody else here in HN (can't recall the thread) said this kind of initiative in megacorps were "mandatory fun". I can't put it better than that.
  • VLM 12y ago
    "They are optional but de facto mandatory, and almost everybody hates it." I'm about the same age as OP and I have a lot of big corp experience and ALL "after hours team building activities" are thiny veiled punishment. ALL of them. The only people who don't see them as punishment (at least in public) are the primates winning the dominance ritual by forcing their slaves, err, I mean employees, to do stupid stuff. Or severe stockholm syndrome victims. What a bunch of jerks. If I don't hate them before the teambuilding, I hate them after it, thats for sure... Non mandatory I don't mind although I'd never attend. Make it mandatory and you light the fire of hate.
    • hessenwolf 12y ago
      As somebody from the Anglophone world, the only good after-hour team-building exercises involve lots of really good food and getting hammered.
      • click170 12y ago
        Except, what about the people who don't drink? As someone who works somewhere where these "team building exercises" take place, if the rest of the group is going to be drinking then there is 0% chance of me going. I don't mind people enjoying themselves around me, but I'm not interested in spending time with them as they drink more and more and consequently start acting stupider and more belligerent. A lot of people enjoy getting shit-faced, but some people don't. I'm the latter. It's enough for me to truly feel sorry for any recovering alcoholics who mistakenly apply for a position on my team. Does all team-building have to include drugs (yes I'm including alcohol as a drug)?
        • VLM 12y ago
          "what about the people who don't drink?' Its all in the attendance policy. A former employer paid for everyone's first drink and an appetizer platter on Friday at 5:01 pm practically every week. Some drank a root beer and had some chips and salsa and left at about 5:15 pm, gotta pick up the kids or whatever, others reportedly were there all night. The christmas party (OK, "holiday party") ran the same way, but much more generous. Its a simple solution and its amazing how easy it is to ruin it. Its like crypto algos.
        • sopooneo 12y ago
          I drink socially myself, and love that type of work gathering where everyone gets ridiculous, but I respect your stance completely. I can understand why many don't like that situation. And I've thought about it much more since one of my childhood friends had to give up alcohol completely to avoid dying before he turned 30. So now when friday drinking is proposed I get very uneasy wondering who among the invitees may be nervously rubbing away at a one year token in their pocket as they smile and try to be team players.
  • d357r0y3r 12y ago
    I don't know, we've done hack weeks where I work and they were really fun and productive. The past few times, it has basically been "take a few days off of your normal tasks and work on a feature that you personally want to work on". Things that you might really like, but haven't been prioritized by the organization.
    • paulojreis 12y ago
      That actually sounds very cool, productive and fertile for product development - a prototype may be enough for the organization to "see" a new direction. Unfortunately, my experience hasn't been quite the same...
• hessenwolf 12y ago
  The worst pizza I ever had was at a Datageeks meetup in Munich (absolutely great meetup, by the way; generally over-booked). It was covered in some kind of microwaved, poached chicken, drowned in gloopy curry-sauce-from a tube. I felt so sick and ashamed after the third slice.
  • ghaff 12y ago
    At least for me, pizza is one of those foods that I really like when it's good. Personally I tend toward brick oven thin-crust but, in any case, pretty fresh out of the oven, non-soggy, fresh and flavorful ingredients. Unfortunately most pizza, and especially most "event" pizza is none of those things and it's disgusting.
• fit2rule 12y ago
  How you know you're contributing to a Cargo Cult: Starbucks is involved.
  • sosborn 12y ago
    I'm sure there is some irony to be found here.
    • fit2rule 12y ago
      Probably a lot of caffein'y/milk'y/froth'y too ..
• emergentcypher 12y ago
  Yeah, I'll come to your overnight hackathon... and bill the company at my off-hours consulting rate!