About Work
medium.com/about-work · Group blog · on HN since 2013
About Work is Medium publication by Shanley Kane on workplace culture, sexism in tech, management, and startup myths.
What HN saysCommenters are split: some push back on the tone and the claims about 'rockstar' engineers, others recommend her articles and urge implementing their ideas.
29HN people shared it
9linked it in comments
22stories submitted
369story points
5 years agolast shared
2013people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 110x Engineer3 people · 228 points · first shared 2013 · 176 comments on HN
- 2How the Productivity Myth is Killing Your Startup3 people · 22 points · first shared 2013 · 6 comments on HN
- 3An Open Letter to Women in Technology3 people · 21 points · first shared 2013 · 5 comments on HN
- 4Fuck You, I Got Mine2 people · 9 points · first shared 2013 · 1 comments on HN
- 5I Wish I Knew2 people · 7 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 6Misogyny and the Marketing Chick2 people · 4 points · first shared 2013 · 1 comments on HN
- 7Things I Never, Ever Want to Hear Again1 people · 26 points · first shared 2013 · 47 comments on HN
- 8Microaggression and Management1 people · 13 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 9Finding Out You’re a Sexist, Misogynistic, Homophobic, Classist, Racist Asshole1 people · 11 points · first shared 2013 · 27 comments on HN
- 10Seethe and Grin: My Life Going to Tech Events1 people · 7 points · first shared 2013 · 1 comments on HN
- 11Essential practices for women in technology1 people · 6 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 12Downfall of Distributed Startups1 people · 4 points · first shared 2013 · 1 comments on HN
- 13Managing Against the Machine1 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 14Reading List for a New Kind of Manager1 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · 1 comments on HN
- 15Your Enterprise Technology Website Is Hurting My Face1 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
maxcan · 2014-06-08
Its great to know that Shanley doesn't think name calling is appropriate or productive. I shudder to think about what she'd think of something like this: https://medium.com/about-work/finding-out-youre-a-sexist-misogynistic-…
edit: more name calling that she would certainly condemn: https://twitter.com/ryan/status/474791621100199936
schrijver · 2014-04-20
EDT: To me, this post comes across as vacuous and pompous because it does not explain at all what ‘culture’ means in this context. An IMHO great reply has already been written before this post appeared:
‘What Your Culture Really Says’:
https://medium.com/about-work/e8ab06c3b75f
> Let’s examine popular startup trends that are being called “culture” and look beneath the surface to find the real culture that may be playing out beneath it. This is not a critique of the practices themselves, which often contribute value to an organization. This is to show a contrast between the much deeper, systemic cultural problems that are rampant in our startups and the materialistic trappings that can disguise them.
yummyfajitas · 2013-09-29
There also seems to be some ideological motivation for claiming rockstars don't exist.
The existence of rockstars provides fodder for individualist ideologies. Many people are more collectivist, so therefore feel the need to dispute the existence of rockstars. This is a little bit evident here - you need a rockstar team, with diversity. It's far more evident in the last post on this same topic.
(Not quite a dupe, but it might as well be. https://medium.com/about-work/6aedba30ecfe )
Amusingly, it's also a very corporate philosophy. "No programmer is worth more than any other, therefore to advance you must enter management." Tends to be self selecting in such corporations, since everyone who isn't mediocre leaves.
engtech · 2013-06-14
Thanks! This is a good read.
https://medium.com/about-work/1cd9fbf8ca15
calibraxis · 2014-05-02
You can amplify their voices and efforts. For example, depending on your power, you can take Shanley's articles like this (https://medium.com/about-work/514a6edcce2c) and implement them. Or you can disclose your salary. Or install a simple code of conduct.
Society stamped the male designation on my forehead, and feel like there's no end of wonderful things I do that have an immediate impact. Which improve people's dignity and quality of life. Do I attack patriarchy? Good. Do I attack the boss's ability to extract unconscionable hours, dignity and money from his wage-slaves? Good.
But you know that movie Avatar, which portrays the white male hero "leading" an army of poor blue savages? Avoid such corrosive social nonsense, and you'll spend a lot less energy. Simply assist and amplify the efforts of others, share literature which isn't afraid to be radical, and you'll go far.
baddox · 2013-12-29
Unfortunately for this all female team, feminists will accuse them of working to support the patriarchy just as much as the evil men. Sadly, this is actually what prominent feminists in technology believe: https://medium.com/about-work/e82b7ca7de03 (Ctrl-F "support the patriarchy").
For these feminists, women who fail are obvious evidence of patriarchy, and women who succeed are obviously just working alongside the patriarchy. I firmly believe that if next year the tech industry was 55% female and females received 55% of funding and salaries, feminists would point to that as evidence that the patriarchy is purposefully giving things to women to hide the fact that they're all misogynist pigs. This prominent tech feminism is, according to their own terms, completely unfalsifiable.
melindajb · 2013-11-03
I'd argue that this post in itself violates the "shallow" prohibition on Hacker News. It's like a religious or political debate.
But for the record, once one starts generalizing an entire class of people, it's a slippery slope:
I hate MBAS -> I hate Marketers --> I hate women.
see: https://medium.com/about-work/aa49dffc975d
There are shitty devs just like there are shitty MBAs. And that's where I'll leave it.
Asparagirl · 2013-10-13
Extremely timely post from Shanley about the mythos of the "10x engineer", how it began, and why it is so pernicious:
https://medium.com/about-work/6aedba30ecfe
(Hint: 10x what? what is the thing being measured, and how?)
jongold · 2013-04-15
For a vastly different take on the same subject… (no comment)
https://medium.com/about-work/405b2d12d213