Suicide of a Black Uber engineer: Widow blames job stress and racism

[ViShawn]

It sounds bad but it seems as if he wasn't "built" so to speak, for that career at Uber.
Other high-profile careers that place an immense amount of stress on you with incredibly grueling hours, and almost no Black coworkers have similar stories.
If he wasn't prepared to take on 90hr development weeks, in an uncomfortable atmosphere, he should have quit.
I feel bad for him, as well as the family that just lost their father, husband, and likely their main source of income.
To be real a lot of people burn out incredibly quickly and deal with depression and suicide ideation because they're not used to no longer being the "top" o their "class."
Doesn't sound like he was about that Adderall/Modafinil life that many of his coworkers are on.
RIP.

I'm going to err on the side of the fact that Uber has been under fire for their toxic environment more than anything.

There's stress in the industry sure, but not stress that should make you wilt and lose your will.

 

[EndDomination]

It'll be interesting if uber finds it difficult for folks to work for them because of this incident

I'm sure not.
They could have had a replacement developer in his place before his body was even cold.
There are a lot of hungry CS kids in that area.

 

[EndDomination]

i work in finance/accounting...an even more network and clique oriented field. yall buggin

if you got companies like Apple and Uber trying to hire you you're the prize at that point. He wasnt confident and like he said his spirit was broken. He was weak. it is what it is.

If he was that afraid he could/ve hired a consultant or recruiter to facilitate

Then you should know just how bright that Red Letter can be.
Imagine jumping ship from PWC and going to E&Y?
Not in your dreams.

 

[Ski Mask]

It's no surprise that suicidal people keep this shyt to themselves, when you got some of these terrible responses

 

[southern.girl]

Don't mean to be harsh on the brother and I don't know all the details but it's pretty selfish to kill your self when you have such a family. If you're being bullied or facing racism just quit and look for a new job. Obviously as a highly talented black engineer I doubt he'd have been jobless for long.

I've heard that black engineers are being replaced by B1Visa applicants. Either way, that was a lovely family. Very sad situation.

 

[Copy Ninja]

Widow should blame herself for not being able to see suicidal signs

 

[ViShawn]

Widow should blame herself for not being able to see suicidal signs

How though?

 

[Zpektro]

Cacs are bullies but if you over thirty that shyt shouldn't bother you unless its overtly out of hand.I worked for a small it firm in my early twenties got bullied a little I told em to go to hell after my last paycheck.thing is IT jobs require sitting for hours with neck pains and back pains.I quit that shyt and work free lance pay ain't as good but I'm cool with it. Dude had good pay and didn't want to disappoint is wife and kids from the stress and health problems associated with IT work.

 

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

Can't feel sorry for a grown man making six figures leaving his family to struggle and pick up the pieces. Go seek help.

 

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

This is why we have to side businesses, hobbies, mentoring sessions, etc. when your job becomes your identity all it takes is a stroke of a keyboard to send you off the deep end.

 

[DJSmooth]

He was quite a handsome man..

Feel sorry for his kids. fukk. Also fukked that he is my age. As a black engineer I empathize about the work environments and navigating being the only black person or one of a few in the industry.

I work as Software Engineer in Cali.

I want to call him a coward.

..But after working for a while in this industry you learn the money doesn't seem to be worth it. When you work as a software engineer at a big tech company you don't work 40 hours a week twiddling your thumbs all day. You can average 60-90 hours a week. When you are at work you are thinking all day & working. When you get lunch, you eat lunch at your desk and work. When you tell people that you are stressed they don't believe you because you have this "Good job".

He literally probably had no one to vent to because he was the most successful person in his social circle. He can't vent to his wife because you are supposed to be a "man" or it is seen as unattractive. Look at this dude you can tell he wasn't c00ning. Once you reach a certain level of success as a black man you have unbelievable pressure to thrive that most black people will never experience. When ever his wife probably introduces him to someone she is like this my man he works at Uber and list his accomplishments for 10 minutes just beaming with pride. When ever his kids see him interact with people they witness people giving him so much respect and probably just beam with pride.

It's harder to stay on top than it takes to get there.

Everyone keeps saying he should have moved back to Atlanta. As other IT brehs have said it's not as easy to make this type of money in Atlanta. If you could make 170K a year in Atlanta do you really think he would move to the other side of the country to be surrounded by cacs, indians and asians all day? I doubt it.

 

[mamba]

I've heard that black engineers are being replaced by B1Visa applicants. Either way, that was a lovely family. Very sad situation.

Not just Black. Native-born engineers are not as attractive as the cheap talent these companies can get from India, China, Malaysia, etc.

 

[mamba]

I work as Software Engineer in Cali.

I want to call him a coward.

..But after working for a while in this industry you learn the money doesn't seem to be worth it. When you work as a software engineer at a big tech company you don't work 40 hours a week twiddling your thumbs all day. You can average 60-90 hours a week. When you are at work you are thinking all day & working. When you get lunch, you eat lunch at your desk and work. When you tell people that you are stressed they don't believe you because you have this "Good job".

He literally probably had no one to vent to because he was the most successful person in his social circle. He can't vent to his wife because you are supposed to be a "man" or it is seen as unattractive. Look at this dude you can tell he wasn't c00ning. Once you reach a certain level of success as a black man you have unbelievable pressure to thrive that most black people will never experience. When ever his wife probably introduces him to someone she is like this my man he works at Uber and list his accomplishments for 10 minutes just beaming with pride. When ever his kids see him interact with people they witness people giving him so much respect and probably just beam with pride.

It's harder to stay on top than it takes to get there.

Everyone keeps saying he should have moved back to Atlanta. As other IT brehs have said it's not as easy to make this type of money in Atlanta. If you could make 170K a year in Atlanta do you really think he would move to the other side of the country to be surrounded by cacs, indians and asians all day? I doubt it.

All of this. Truth.

 

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

I work as Software Engineer in Cali.

I want to call him a coward.

..But after working for a while in this industry you learn the money doesn't seem to be worth it. When you work as a software engineer at a big tech company you don't work 40 hours a week twiddling your thumbs all day. You can average 60-90 hours a week. When you are at work you are thinking all day & working. When you get lunch, you eat lunch at your desk and work. When you tell people that you are stressed they don't believe you because you have this "Good job".

He literally probably had no one to vent to because he was the most successful person in his social circle. He can't vent to his wife because you are supposed to be a "man" or it is seen as unattractive. Look at this dude you can tell he wasn't c00ning. Once you reach a certain level of success as a black man you have unbelievable pressure to thrive that most black people will never experience. When ever his wife probably introduces him to someone she is like this my man he works at Uber and list his accomplishments for 10 minutes just beaming with pride. When ever his kids see him interact with people they witness people giving him so much respect and probably just beam with pride.

It's harder to stay on top than it takes to get there.

Everyone keeps saying he should have moved back to Atlanta. As other IT brehs have said it's not as easy to make this type of money in Atlanta. If you could make 170K a year in Atlanta do you really think he would move to the other side of the country to be surrounded by cacs, indians and asians all day? I doubt it.

Why not take less money and move back if it'll literally save your life?

 

[ViShawn]

@DJSmooth sent you a PM