- Re Github, Mix:
- A “flat” organization
- No HR (until 2014)
- Weird blurred boundaries with founder’s wife pushing for pro bono work.
- A sprinkle of failed office romance
- Possible passive aggressive pull requests.
Shake vigorously:
The investigation found no evidence to support the claims against Tom and his wife of sexual or gender-based harassment or retaliation, or of a sexist or hostile work environment. However, while there may have been no legal wrongdoing, the investigator did find evidence of mistakes and errors of judgment. In light of these findings, Tom has submitted his resignation, which the company has accepted.
In sum: something weird just happened, enough to make a founder step down. Maybe not sexual harassment, but don’t work here.
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Domestic violence that a CEO almost got away with and was forced to step down by the board. Don’t work here either. Your CEO is crazy enough to hit someone 117 times and deny it.
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Also, known as comments on the internet will be terrible.
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Codebabes… If you don’t find this sexist, I’m not sure why I’m bothering to comment.
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From the supplementary reading:
But, that answer isn’t reassuring for women in technology at all. What happens if (when) something like that happens to you? Will your company throw you under the bus to protect themselves legally? Will they try to discredit you, even while taking actions make it clear something happened?
[…] The entire situation reads: A male executive can do something that’s wrong/sexist. The company will want to cover itself legally, so it will discredit the claims. It’s hard to PROVE something was sexist. There’s always so much individual variation between people – so it’s easy to discredit. The company does realize something was wrong – so it forces the executive to resign. Yet, a prominent VC is still offering support and funding, with no context.
Or if something bad happens to you, don’t expect your company to do anything in your favor, and the internet will rip you apart.
Anyway, I’d much rather be reading about cool tech and projects instead of the latest weird/inappropriate work environments going on in Silicon Valley. I wish this stuff would stop cropping up too, but it doesn’t so there must be a problem.
As a general takeaway, no one should have to tolerate a bad working environment. Correct the working situation situation or leave for greener pastures, and seriously, don’t excuse this shit if you see it because it’s your immature company “culture”.
