Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
brexit through the gift shop¶
Note
This is a public letter to my co-workers, which probably shouldn’t be public.
If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.
—Bertrand Russell
On Monday morning, a friend and co-worker stood up and rage quit. And I really do mean rage quit, it even included a short stand up quarrel in the car park. Obviously, nobody has spoke about anything else since…
Background¶
We used to work in an environment where we could reject projects on moral grounds with ease. In fact, IRBs exist for that exact reason. Times were good, projects were plentiful, and it was just the way things were.
This is definitely no longer true. As we continue to rearrange some projects for their move to the continent, and lose access to many of the future projects we have prepared for, there has been a significant push back on personal project choice.
To some extent it should be expected. We’ve lost fifteen percent of our R&D workforce to the European offices already, in many ways those of us that remain(for example: me) are the less valued employees. Yes, this is harsh, but it also the reality. Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t change the reality.
So, there are quite a few people further down the ladder who can no longer rely on the more valued workers to object-in-unity to immoral works. And there are a fair few who have only just discovered they were never holding the chips, and being let go is a real possibility(we’re way beyond the pool of voluntary redundancies at this point).
Collective bargaining¶
So, object-in-unity is pretty much dead. And it has really surprised me quite how fractious some of the arguments now are. Given that people are basically fighting for scraps the gloves have well and truly come off, which I suppose should be expected. However, I thought — or at least hoped — we were better than this.
With some people, quite rightly, being concerned for their own careers there has been some real vitriol aimed at the exitter. I understand their argument; his rage quit will mean that project is dead1, and with it the work of the peripheral workers has gone too.
It isn’t helped by the fact that it turns out this particular worker is — we’ve just found out — independently wealthy through the sale of a side project about five years ago. Seemingly, a minority of people believe it would be okay if someone’s morals put them in the poor house, but less so if they have a cushion to soften the blow.
What’s coming next?¶
Lisa is a sellout! Lisa is a sellout! Lisa, what’s a sellout?
—Ralph Wiggum
Clearly this is going to continue for the foreseeable future. There are a few of us who, to put it frankly, are basically on gardening leave while this mess is being sorted out. The outcome is either you’ll find yourself doing different work in a years time, or you’ll be made redundant. It could be much, much worse.
I, for one, haven’t had a tier-one project since August 2016, haven’t published a notable work since October 2017, and have only been cited once this year. If anybody understands the feeling that your career is dead, then surely it is me. However, now is not the time to be turning on your co-workers(and in many cases close friends).
My career is over in its current form, my future is close to non-existent at this point, and I mourn what now feels like a wasted fifteen years of my life. Not one of those things would be less true if somebody was now grinding on projects that they believed to be reprehensible. In fact, they’d remain true and I’d feel far worse for having to live with the damage I’m doing to that person.
Please, I beg of you, consider the outcome we’ve seen in some other cases over the past few months. Nobody you deal with is happy with this, we’re just doing what can to get through it as best we know how.
Footnotes
- 1
Yes, that is a terrible bus-factor problem. The powers that be should have seen it coming, but probably missed the point where the other people with the necessary skills have been moved to Germany.
Authenticate this page by pasting this signature into Keybase.
Have a suggestion or see a typo? Edit this page
