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by nymph 4416 days ago
BTW: the point about drug testing applies to the handful of cool, geeky, "Agile" companies that adhere to this ridiculous practice, too.

In fact, a certain company by the name of Pivotal Labs comes to mind.

So -- anyone from Pivotal reading this? You're more than welcome to share your true thoughts about your employer's urine fetish, here and now -- safely and anonymously! On the off chance that upper management might actually care what you think about the topic, and perchance, take you seriously.

But heavens, don't do this while your frontline manager is standing nearby! You might get... caught!
3 comments
jnbiche 4416 days ago
Well, scratch Pivotal Labs off my list of potential employers. Interesting to hear this is common practice among "Agile" companies.

Can anyone confirm this trend?

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muyyatin 4416 days ago
Taking test-driven development too literally?
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chimeracoder 4416 days ago
This is the first that I've heard of Pivotal Labs requiring drug testing.

That makes me really sad - I thought the tech industry was free of this incredibly invasive, offensive, and counterproductive[0] practice.

Do you know any other tech companies that have these policies (particularly startups)? I wonder if this is an outlier or just a commonplace practice I've been unaware of.

[0] Because not all drugs remain detectable for the same amount of time, drug tests simply encourage use of drugs that are tougher to detect (if you use cocaine, amphetamines, DMT, or heroin on a Friday, it will all be gone from your system by Monday). Marijuana sits at the far other end of the spectrum - depending on the means of testing, it can be detectable weeks after use.

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yannyu 4416 days ago
My understanding is that it is not uncommon for VCs to push their companies to start drug testing. Can't vouch for exactly why that is, but it seems to be something that happens.
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walshemj 4414 days ago
Why do these VC's have shares in drug testing company's I can think of only a handful of job (outside of DV/TS clearance) that should be allowed to test there employees train drivers, airline pilots and so on.

Your MD doesn't have to have drug tests and they have access to the whole damm candy store.

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