It's a big deal now I guess... what's the fun in being able to blog if you can't talk about what's happening with your life? Not giving details is cool, but in general. *sigh*
The one that got me was the story where someone got fired for talking about moving from JSP's to PHP. Now, I would never have thought that was a secret in any way. Wouldn't you be able to tell from looking at the webpage? Yikes. To protect myself, do I have to pretend that I don't even go to work? Or should I use a level of secrecy like if I was working for csis or something?
The thing that I don't understand about that last example about revealing moving from one tech to another, does that mean you can't put on your resume what you have been doing?
I'm a bit confused. I'm not sure if I will mention work anymore. But I want to, damnit. Maybe I'll just become a secret agent man and have a nice clear line of what I can / cannot say.
Listening to: Underworld - Cowgirl
The whole switching from Java to PHP discussion was quite long, and it's almost made moot by the fact that we don't know she was fired for that reason ... that's just what she's told us ("I was fired for blogging") and it may not even be those posts! Crazy...
ReplyDeleteIn any case, with private companies there are some business issues with releasing information too soon. Eventually, yes, it will be common knowledge that they use PHP and it's safe to put it in your resume.
The news of the switch from an "inside" source rather than just speculation (just because the file extensions are all PHP, doesn't make it PHP) makes it credible information that competitors can use against the company.
Also during a critical transition period, the release of this information could damage the company's relationship with Java vendors, for example. In the event that the PHP migration didn't work out, maybe they had the backup plan of sticking with Java. The Java vendors might not be too happy with their little PHP experiment, and now the company has to spend the time mending a damaged relationship.
It's definitely politics and it's delicate ... best left to the business strategists who ultimately have the responsibility of making the "big decisions" and managing the release of information like that. That's probably why they get pissed when a blogger nonchalantly mentions it to the world at large.
Interesting follow-up on troutgirl's blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://troutgirl.com/blog/index.php?/archives/48_Consequences.html
She says it's the employer's responsibility to outline a blogging policy but I disagree.
Disclosure like this is likely already covered under confidentiality agreements and/or employee contracts ... and if it isn't, it should be in there for the benefit of the company, not its employees (a company without disclosure agreeements might want to get some legal help!). Often a degree of secrecy is crucial for business strategy and beating the competition.
Employees don't need an explicit blogging policy, they just need to be more aware of the global publishing reach of their blog, much like a newspaper. It's just as risky to talk about your employer's business in a newspaper editorial, for example. Would you do that without thinking twice?
Just to be clear about the specific situation, I thought the posts that troutgirl apparently got fired for look pretty benign. But we don't have all of the information to make that determination, so it's hard to say. I'm not taking sides either, I'm just going on what we know ... if I can help people be more careful, then I'm happy.
In any case, all bloggers should take these precedents to heart, be more aware of what they write publicly and how that can affect the image and the business of the company they work for, that's all I'm saying. This could have happened to any of us, but it didn't; we should learn from other people's missteps so that we don't make them ourselves.
Keep on blogging though!
Canned with a positive outcome you could say:
ReplyDeleteJoyce Park, view her pic on Red Herring ,
blogger ID Troutgirl, with a huge following, was canned by Friendster, a blogging company, for.....blogging.
Duh, %&? you might be tempted to say. Not so fast. Now and then, the interactive media gets reverse-engineered in the worst sense of the word, by big, huge succesful TV execs who Bring Their Business Expertise to the Interactive Field. By sharks, whose world is one of one-way broadcasting, where dumb consumers can't talk back and employees, *if they're smart*, will say what they're told. Two-way conversations in any way are an anathema to the foxy toxidity of general non-ecletic dishing out of news speak mentality.
Joyce Park is currently getting deluded with job offers. Interactive is cool, sharky.
Gisela Strauss
Technical Translator
Munich
http://bloggerati.blogspot.com
gisela.strauss@gmail.com
Speaking of newspeak ... sheesh.
ReplyDeleteThat Red Herring article is here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=10839&hed=No+Friendster+of+mine