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Andrew Whatever

 Discussion on question by Charlie Bro…

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Andrew Whatever
Oct 29, 2020 17:27
Because if, as I suspect is the case, his "disrupting the teams" means the person is calling them out on sexist / racist / etc. behavior which has been allowed to go on in this office culture (the natural conclusion when someone is calling someone a "social justice warrior", a term that literally applies to taking on social justice issues) (and I highly doubt this word choice was an accident), then the answers should reflect that. Why do you object so much to me asking for examples to clarify?
Andrew Whatever
Oct 29, 2020 17:27
That's not a concrete example that is an observation by the OP about what it "seems" like, the same OP who uses terms like "social justice warrior" as an insult. I question the OPs bias and merely asked for more specific details.
Andrew Whatever
Oct 29, 2020 17:27
To clarify further, whatever you think about the state of "PC" culture in America, in a professional workplace yes, you do actually have to be fairly "PC". The kind of things you can say around a group of like-minded friends are not the kind of things you can say in a diverse workplace where all employees are supposed to have a safe and comfortable place to come and do their jobs. So someone essentially complaining that an employee expects a workplace to be "PC" (which is what complaining about "social justice warriors" usually means) doesn't get much sympathy from me.
Andrew Whatever
Oct 29, 2020 17:27
That's why I want examples of what this person means. The only one given, whistling, is innocuous and doesn't really meet any definition of social justice warrior anywhere. I'm wondering what type of "SJW" behavior the OP perceives this individual has.
Andrew Whatever
Oct 29, 2020 17:27
I need more examples. Otherwise I'm going to assume that when you say "social justice warrior" what you really mean is your office "culture" includes being openly sexist and / or racist and he took issue with that. We had a guy who came into our (very much led by our boss at the time) sexist / racist office culture and disrupted it... and it led to a lot of people eventually admitting that they never felt comfortable with the "culture" to begin with and were glad someone was finally calling it out.
Andrew Whatever
Oct 29, 2020 17:27
It's a pejorative in all parts of America as far as I know. The problem is, it's an undue pejorative generally used by Conservatives to attack people they think are being too Liberal "PC", and in most cases this just means people who take issue with racism and sexism and speak up about it. When I see someone say "social justice warrior" it says more about them than the person they are saying it about.
 

 Discussion on answer by Kate Gregory:…

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Andrew Whatever
May 27, 2016 20:28
@Itsme2003 This dude who barely feels like he can relate to these people knows the entire department's citizenship status? Unlikely.
 

 Discussion on question by Lumberjack:…

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Andrew Whatever
May 13, 2016 22:34
If I had a micro-manager boss who asked me if they micro-managed, I might say no as well, for a variety of reasons. That data isn't particularly useful.
 

 Discussion on question by Morning Sta…

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Andrew Whatever
May 7, 2016 07:37
I don't know if this is an answer you would be looking for, but I burnt out on programming in my mid-20s and didn't want to TOTALLY abandon my computer background. So now I teach computers to elementary students 3 days a week (still programming 2) and I'm much happier. Looking to move into teaching full-time. It's certainly not for everyone, and maybe not quite as physical as what you are looking for, but my point is more that there are jobs out there that aren't desk tech jobs but can still allow you to use your tech knowledge and experience.
 

 Discussion on question by Migz: Is it…

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Andrew Whatever
Apr 20, 2016 23:56
@Kilisi Do you heavily monitor the minute to minute productivity of your staff? They might be taking more / longer breaks than you realize.
Andrew Whatever
Apr 20, 2016 23:56
Normal: Yes, though multi-hour breaks are probably not quite as normal unless someone really has a light load. Allowed / understood by your employer: Depends on the employer. Almost definitely NOT if they are multi-hour breaks.
 

 Discussion on question by Bryan McClu…

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Andrew Whatever
Mar 31, 2016 18:55
Same thing current governments do with ex-soldiers they can't support... ignore them and let them become homeless.
 

 Discussion on question by Dmitry Grig…

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Andrew Whatever
Mar 24, 2016 03:06
Not in my experience, although I honestly never go as deep as looking at blog posts about companies I am looking at. Maybe I should.
Andrew Whatever
Mar 24, 2016 03:06
Incidentally one of my jobs is teaching computers at a Catholic school and even there no one ever asks me about religion. It wasn't even brought up in the interview despite the fact that the official position of the Catholic church when hiring is a preference towards Catholics.
 

 Discussion on question by Smig: How t…

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Andrew Whatever
Feb 27, 2016 11:33
@Francine DeGrood Taylor Maybe, though THEORETICALLY it could have gotten me in trouble with management if they found out I was giving out vague warnings. Albeit it's very unlikely they ever would have.
Andrew Whatever
Feb 27, 2016 11:33
I was put in this uncomfortable situation before and I'm not sure I handled it well. I hinted VERY HEAVILY to the employee that he should be careful about what he does on his work computer without coming out and telling the employee anything specific. In this situation I knew that he would never tell management I (sort of) warned him. Then I did as management asked, though with some minor protest. And THEN the whole thing blew over because my manager left before anything happened and the new manager was a fellow coworker who had no interest in tracking computer usage.
 

 Discussion on question by Alex: Shoul…

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Andrew Whatever
Dec 16, 2015 19:19
In my experience software companies with a primarily older employee base tend to get into their ways and not keep up with new tech as much. Obviously this depends on the individual employees involved, but as a generalization I think it holds. So you might be adding more than you realize simply by having recent experience in (I'm presuming) relatively new tech.
 

 Discussion on question by xameeramir:…

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Andrew Whatever
Nov 13, 2015 20:29
Actually you know what would really make me want to hire someone? "I got the answer A which I know is what you want me to answer... however, I am reasonably certain that I can safely eliminate X floors from the top, which if I am correct in my assumption would give us A-B as the answer, but if I am wrong it will end up at A+C. Furthermore I can run the numbers on eliminating other amounts of floors from the top as well if you want me to, and try to calculate risk versus reward for each. Which of these options best fits your business goals?"
Andrew Whatever
Nov 13, 2015 20:29
Ug. Obviously I get that. I'm saying to me it's dumb. If you're making up light bulbs that don't even exist in the real world and a bunch of other rules that don't exist in the real world you're clearly not looking for my answer to what I would actually do if presented a real world scenario so... just give me an X and a Y and let me solve your abstract problem without all of this made up nonsense instead.
Andrew Whatever
Nov 13, 2015 20:29
My point is that if you're introducing these "real world" elements (like using actual light bulbs) into your brainteaser not only does it become impossible to solve without ignoring the elements and reverting it back to a generalized math problem, but that any real world application would naturally introduce a lot more variables that would make your generic solutions inapplicable to most business situations.
Andrew Whatever
Nov 13, 2015 20:29
No in the real world this is an impossible question to solve, because no two light bulbs are exactly the same, no two drops will result in the exact same impact angle, the stress from "successful" drops would still impact the structural integrity of a lightbulb for subsequent tests, etc. I posit that I could give you a million light bulbs to play with and you could never solve this with a specific floor number that would consistently work for every light bulb following the rules of the test. But I digress, that's not my exact point.
Andrew Whatever
Nov 13, 2015 20:29
No, I'm saying their stated question is too specific to be asking for a generalized algorithm, even though that is obviously the answer they want. I get that they don't just want to give you a math problem to solve and want to see if you can think creatively, but... if thinking creatively means ignoring how you would actually do this in the real world and just paring it down to a math problem anyway, that's silly.
Andrew Whatever
Nov 13, 2015 20:29
I know what it is. And I'm sure I could solve it however they wanted. I just hate questions like this because what they want is not what they actually asked.
Andrew Whatever
Nov 13, 2015 20:29
It's not about semantics at all though. It is about real life judgment calls that can eliminate needless steps, which is a VERY IMPORTANT trait in many jobs.
Andrew Whatever
Nov 13, 2015 20:29
Of course any floor cannot be the right one, only one floor can be the right one or the question is meaningless. What you really mean is that I don't have enough information to eliminate any floors. And I'm saying that if you give me two "average" light bulbs and let me look at them for 10 seconds, I will safely eliminate floors and give you an accurate answer in less than 13 drops. This isn't about proofs this is something I will do for you in real life. If you don't believe me ship me the light bulbs and find me a building that will let me do this test.
Andrew Whatever
Nov 13, 2015 20:29
I guarantee I would solve this in less than 13 drops unless the light bulbs are industrial strength and reinforced in some bizarre way. That is why I hate questions like this. The "correct" answer probably assumes you have NO IDEA WHAT TO EXPECT and have to base your choices on any floor potentially being the right one but... I have a pretty good idea what to expect and could use that pretty good idea to streamline the process.
 

 Discussion on question by John Thomas…

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Andrew Whatever
Sep 6, 2015 04:21
Well yeah, it could mean that. Or it could mean that he isn't getting paid enough. I'm objecting to the idea that programmers "don’t care about money, actually, unless you’re screwing up on the other things". Disagree 100%. Last time I talked to my manager, who knows I am planning on leaving and wanted to get me to stay, he asked me what they could do besides compensate me more. I said nothing. I have no serious complaints but the pay, and there is literally nothing they could do other than pay me more money. But then, I'm below the median pay as 49ish% of programmers are.
Andrew Whatever
Sep 6, 2015 04:21
Sorry for average I meant median. For instance according to this US News website, 10% of programmers made around 43k in 2013. The median for programmers was only 76k, so 49.999...% were making less than that. Offer them a 30k raise and yes, that will matter... a lot. Don't tell me money won't matter to these people. Not everyone is a 6 figure programmer. And hell even 6 figure employees tend to live right up to their means, so money still matters to them. The Porsche won't pay for itself. money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/computer-programmer/salary
Andrew Whatever
Sep 6, 2015 04:21
@Voo You might be surprised how many programmers don't make pretty good money though. Remember that when you look at "average" salaries in the field, 49ish% of people are making less than that. 30k more a year in my current position would be HUGE. Heck, 10k a year more would be.
Andrew Whatever
Sep 6, 2015 04:21
@SatelliteSD I really disagree with this. "They don’t care about money, actually, unless you’re screwing up on the other things." He fixes his own statement later down and admits they do care about money if they aren't making enough. But that means they do care. If this company is underpaying their programmers, that will matter, and not just for "justice" but because they want decent money so they can live decent lives. Even if they are paying "standard" that will matter to any programmer who thinks they are above average, which is only 49ish% in reality but probably 90ish% in our minds.
 

 Discussion on question by Chandler Ma…

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Andrew Whatever
Jul 24, 2015 23:19
"Those personal PCs/cell phones are sometimes used to VPN/Remote in to work outside of business hours" This is IT, so it may be VERY IMPORTANT that these devices are kept working for a whole host of reasons. I'd say this is a completely legitimate request. Now, if the requests are more like demands with short deadlines and no acknowledgement of the other work you have on your plate... that's a whole other issue you should bring up with the appropriate parties.
 

 Discussion on question by someone: Pa…

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Andrew Whatever
Jun 2, 2015 00:14
I don't have advice just commiseration. I used to get pretty severe panic attacks and it kept me from applying for many jobs for years. The weird thing is they never actually happened in interviews, but just experiencing them elsewhere and knowing they COULD would make it tough to want to put myself in that position.