HN Explorer

Tell HN: Google now requires SWEs to take part in company citizenship activities

6 points by faanghacker ↗ HN
This is a throwaway account that I created.

I work as a SWE at Google. The official SWE role expectations were recently amended to include citizenship contributions such as interviewing, recruiting, mentoring, and organizing extracurricular events. It is now mandatory for SWEs at higher levels to make these contributions, however it does not list any specific requirements.

This seems like another major blow to the company culture. I simply can't see how this will result in anything other than a further watering-down of any remaining pockets of good engineering culture within the company, as engineers no longer have the option to simply focus on getting good work done.

HNers, your thoughts?

16 comments

[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 50.3 ms ] thread
tomohawk
Volunteer to work on a committee to overturn this policy.
mehhh
The actions Google has taken over the last 3 years are far different than in the past. Something is wrong with the organization as a whole.

Last week, Google donated to the Salvation Army[1] here in Seattle (a group that fights against LGBTQ+ rights) yet Google claims to adhere to the GSBA Code of Ethics that bans such behaviour[2]

Google has also chosen to fund climate change deniers[3] over the last year.

1 - https://mynorthwest.com/1540117/google-gives-1m-for-seattle-...

2 - http://www.thegsba.org/membership-sponsorship/standards-of-e...

3 - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/11/google-c...

tomohawk
You could volunteer at Salvation Army, which does a lot of good work, and piss off the cancel culture jerks.
mehhh
Why would I volunteer for an organization that thinks my future husband and I should be arrested and either chemically castrated (like Alan Turing) or committed to an asylum?
rogerkirkness
Interviewing, recruiting and mentoring are good work. If you want to be nerd in a corner, stay junior.
faanghacker
It's harder to take pride in that kind of citizenship work when your company keeps making these kinds of top-down decisions.
rogerkirkness
I agree, it's harmful, there should be other career paths that don't require it. But from the perspective of the employer, it's way more economically valuable. I think that's when you know it's time to go to a smaller company.
SamReidHughes
I would expect interviewing and mentoring to be a job responsibility at any large engineering organization.
faanghacker
The mentoring part is specifically for areas outside of your team's work.
SamReidHughes
Maybe I’m missing some implication here. What do you mean by areas?
faanghacker
For example, suppose you work on the Search for Android team, under Search. You might work to train others in Search and others in Android as part of the work on Search for Android. Those don't count as citizenship, because they are directly related to your work.

You'd have to mentor people outside of that area, such as mentoring new hires in general, not as part of your job role.

SamReidHughes
That sounds like it would improve engineering, not water it down. Information spreading between people like a DAG, rather than a tree. Unless the "mentoring" is bulloney.
bableka
Don't you think you have other stuff to offer? Like guidance, developing the skillset of others and learn along the way?