[engatuber]

Maybe I'm overreacting to comments on HN and other social media. The CEO of a successful startup publicly said he wouldn't hire someone from Uber.

Many HN comments on articles about Uber share the same opinion. Several of these commenters were founders of software companies.

[DINKDINK]

>The CEO of a successful startup publicly said he wouldn't hire someone from Uber

Would you really want to work at a company where a CEO is so prejudicial? I know I wouldn't (and I find the publicized culture of Uber incredibly repugnant).

If you're happy at your current position and aren't complicit in the abuse that's going on (seeing abuse but not doing anything about it) then stay. If you're concerned that in a subsequent interview that your position will color you, volunteer for a noble cause:

-Encouraging young women to pursue STEM education / careers

-Domestic Abuse NGO etc

[brudgers]

A CEO might prejudge a person coming from one company to another based on perceived risk to workplace culture the same as when assessing someone just out of school or coming from or into enterprise or out of military service or out of prison or back to the workforce from raising a family or when switching vocations or with gray hair or lip piercings.

Of course it could also be based on direct empirical observation, or just liking to hear the sounds of one's own tweets. On the other hand, the would-you-want-to-work-at-a-company-where position probably falls flat in the case of Uber...it already ate the cake.

[panarky]

Fact: Uber has a well earned reputation for tolerating or even encouraging a work environment that is hostile toward women.

Fact: If you're a male Uber employee, you're somewhat tainted by this association. Maybe just a little, or maybe more.

Conclusion: If you're competing against another candidate who is identical in all other respects except they don't have this association, you're at a disadvantage.

It's not fair to you, but that's the inescapable conclusion.

The bigger question is, do you believe that Uber is ultimately a force for good?

In addition to your salary and benefits, is it important to you that your efforts contribute to making the world a little bit better?

[brudgers]

I don't disagree with the potential for it being seen as a disadvantage. I don't think 'I saw it as a force for good' is ordinarily going to dissuade someone who sees it as a disadvantage at best it might be an excuse. The problem with excuses for one's own behavior is that they are often taken as a mark of character (whereas excuses for others' behaviors are often seen as a hallmark of judgment).

[taway_1212]

> Conclusion: If you're competing against another candidate who is identical in all other respects except they don't have this association, you're at a disadvantage.

How many hiring managers actually care about this? I know it's PC to say that you care, but I doubt it would affect the actual decisions of many managers.

[thehardsphere]

> The CEO of a successful startup publicly said he wouldn't hire someone from Uber.

1. "A successful startup" is one company. Fortunately there are thousands of companies who could employ you and the vast majority of them will not care.

2. CEOs don't typically make hiring decisions for engineers at any company that is "successful" because they have more important things to worry about. I would argue that you should avoid working any where the CEO is engaged in this sort of micromanagerial moral preening.

> Many HN comments

HN is a bubble. That bubble tends to be a bit more... umm... extreme... in more than one way, than the rest of the software industry or the world.

[obsidience]

Yes, you would be overreacting.

If a CEO is going to classify all male Uber employees as male chauvinists and not hire them I would see that as stereotyping and discrimination of a class. The world is not black and white and I would definitely not want to work for that CEO.

That being said, I see issues with Uber long term. Not just Travis issues but also in the business model. Eventually all car manufacturers will have level 5 autonomy. At that point the car manufacturers will be Uber. They will be able to produce the car at cost and watch it drive away from the car manufacturing plant to be rented out wherever it's destination state/country is.

Uber doesn't have a chance in the long term.

[brandon272]

I'm not long on Uber either, for several reasons. But there exists a possibility that Uber's legacy could be that it served an important and pioneering role in the evolution of transportation and that is something that current employees should consider before they want to jump ship due to perceived brand popularity.

[obsidience]

I agree, Travis did indeed disrupt the taxi industry and had to fight tooth and nail to get Uber to where it is today. I respect the hell out of that but unless Uber has enough money saved up to buy a small car manufacturer they are toast in the long term.

Regarding brand popularity, there's a quote from Gladiator that I love: "The mob is fickle brother". We're living in an age of the mobile phone app and there's no such thing as brand loyalty anymore. We as consumers and contractors can UNinstall an app such as Uber or SnapChat in 5 seconds. The only thing preventing that with Uber is likely the same thing that keeps Walmart in business: $$$.

[brandon272]

It sounds like you are basing the opinion of the company you work for more on online comments than your own experience of working there!

Things change quickly. Uber has had some hiccups lately, but reports of its death are greatly exaggerated. There is a strong chance that "sexual harassment" and "toxic managers" will not be attributes people think of when they think of Uber in a year from now, assuming the company works to resolve those internal issues in an effective manner.

[ergo14]

Well, I'd say those are jerks that I would not want to work with in the first place.

So because Uber made some mistakes it is OK to blame random workers board failings? Fuck logic.

Google, FB, $INSERTWHATVER here can also make a mistake, as a worker you should not be punished because of that.

Discriminate someone because their employer probably discriminated someone - so tolerant...

[savethefuture]

Yes you are, stay with Uber and stop listening to everyone else and listen to yourself.

[EduardoBautista]

Well then that company probably has a terrible culture as well.