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

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

His prospective employer would inquire about his departure and they'd also probably contact that company, he wouldn't tell the truth about why he left and his previous company would probably give an unfavorable review.

Isn't it against the law for companies to give you a bad recommendation or something? I thought I heard something like that.

True.

JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, etc. all stop by Morehouse to recruit. There's a good HBCU network on Wall Street.

Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, etc. aren't stopping by and grabbing people from Morehouse's CompSci department!

In 10 years, they likely will, but that's not where Tech is right now in terms of its diversity focus.

Finance has been making strides for years. Not perfect. But, much better than Tech.

I think the "strides" are very smoke and mirrors. You'll be hard pressed to find any directors, managing directors, and damn sure any executive directors in finance and banking. Especially outside of operations. African-Americans especially have a hard time. At the same time, opportunities are there to make money, regardless of the glass ceiling, so I see your point.

 

[ViShawn]

The only thing a future employer can ask a former employer is their start and end dates of employment. They can't ask anything more than that.

 

[FSP]

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.

sanity > money

 

[mamba]

The only thing a future employer can ask a former employer is their start and end dates of employment. They can't ask anything more than that.

Problem is in Silicon Valley, everyone is hopping from company to company. So, there are always a few degrees of separation.

So, naturally, people will text a buddy to get some info on a candidate.

 

[Capital Steez]

I've worked on the sales side for a San-Fran based social media tech company.
Our office was 1 floor above Uber's.
I believe everything he had to go through. That man was no coward, probably one of the most mentally strong amongst us.

He probably had to endure things I can't even imagine. RIP to him and my sincere condolences to the family.
I think here on TheColi we comment too quickly without realizing that this guy could have easily been a regular poster on this site.
We need to have more nuanced convos on mental health and surviving/navigating corporate America. I'm only 26, but the stuff I've had to endure in my short tenure already has me questioning my ability to continue on this path for the rest of my career.

 

[mamba]

i think its more so, dude told a lot of people that he got a job at uber making 170K. his family were very proud of him. and he was proud that they were proud.

but when he got to uber and realized he made a big mistake, it was next to impossibl for him to just up and leave. the embarrassment, the let downs, the "what happened?" questions. and then, any real man will understand the dread of having to tell wifey (who probably looks up to you), that u might get fired or that ur boss thinks ur performing below expectations.

a lot of yall should watch the movie called "Company Men". its got ben affleck, tommy lee jones and kevin costner in it. it will put things in perspective for you. matter of fact, every single person in this thread must watch this movie. if u watch this movie and u still come out talking tough, ur an idiot.

its not so easy to get a job paying as much as dude was making. if he left uber, chances are pretty good he woulda had to take a paycut at the next company he works for

Breh, I watched some of that movie.

Put Black skin on those white dudes and the struggle is 10X.

All Coli friends need to watch that movie.

 

[TRUEST]

Breh, I watched some of that movie.

Put Black skin on those white dudes and the struggle is 10X.

All Coli friends need to watch that movie.

i remember watching that and thinking to myself, life is hard. people who are born rich dont have an idea what its like to have to work.

having ur own business is really the only way out for black people. at least u are in control of ur destiny. and in todays tech world, u can easily hide the fact that ur black so ur business reaches its potential.

 

[mamba]

i remember watching that and thinking to myself, life is hard. people who are born rich dont have an idea what its like to have to work.

having ur own business is really the only way out for black people. at least u are in control of ur destiny. and in todays tech world, u can easily hide the fact that ur black so ur business reaches its potential.

The movie really hits on ageism as well.

Ageism is a beast in contemporary corporate environments.

When dude told that old man he'd be laughed out the room if he recommended anybody over the age of 30 for the gig with frequent international travel.

After old dude heard that, he was ready to commit that. And he did.

When older workers get laid off, there's really no bouncing back.

In the Tech world, expiration date for individual contributors begins in that 45-50 range.

 

[Zpektro]

Ultimately this form of hyper capitalism is demented.the structure will be restructured when ppl finally had enough this shyt won't last.there's billions in poverty and folks out there making billions.

 

[K.Dot]

Suicicide is coward shyt, especially if you have a family.

Breh, you're brain is LITERALLY sick. Have you seen how fukked up a genuinely depressed brain can look? Metabolism fukked, oxygen to the brain fukked, neuron activity fukked. The idea that there is a "soul" or that the mind/conscience is some invisible magical shyt needs to die immediately. You are your brain, your brain is you and if it's fukked, you are fukked. People with sick brains are not thinking rationally, period.

 

[mamba]

Breh, you're brain is LITERALLY sick. Have you seen how fukked up a genuinely depressed brain can look? Metabolism fukked, oxygen to the brain fukked, neuron activity fukked. The idea that there is a "soul" or that the mind/conscience is some invisible magical shyt needs to die immediately. You are your brain, your brain is you and if it's fukked, you are fukked. People with sick brains are not thinking rationally, period.

These nikkas don't get it. Brain health is no laughing matter.

You aren't going to do "normal" shyt when your brain is all fukked up.

 

[K.Dot]

These nikkas don't get it. Brain health is no laughing matter.

You aren't going to do "normal" shyt when your brain is all fukked up.

My doc says mental health medicine is expensive and wasn't always covered by health insurance so a lot of blacks lost out on it. Still pisses me off

 

[the cac mamba]

These nikkas don't get it. Brain health is no laughing matter.

You aren't going to do "normal" shyt when your brain is all fukked up.

:hovtrump:

 

[Field Marshall Bradley]

These nikkas don't get it. Brain health is no laughing matter.

You aren't going to do "normal" shyt when your brain is all fukked up.

I would take that image with a grain of salt

 

[Kane1]

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.

Dude turned down a job at Apple to work for uber.....


If it was so bad GE could have quit and went to Apple to see if he could get that offer again, but my man killed himself




fukk'em