Who cares. People like to be a part of a team. I was a noogler for a little while. The little propeller cap is on a shelf a few feet behind me as i type this. I was in my 40's but it was the first time i was part of a tribe at work and it felt kind of good (despite being old and 'kind of weird' relative to the rest).

I quit before i graduated so i guess it wasn't that special, but i think it's overall a positive thing (if managed well).

Or it's just convenient to have a shorthand for people working at a particular place, and as long as you're doing that, may as well have fun with it. The obvious "Waymoers" doesn't exactly work anyway.

I can't imagine it was a top down thing. It's just a silly point of culture that isn't that important day to day. Take a step back and have some empathy for people who aren't under iron rule and shitpost and have fun in ways that are stupid but trivial midday.

Waymofos would be better.

Credit Karma also apparently calls its employees "Karmanauts". Heavy duty cringe.

Gamification, creating fake ladders, groups, clubs and shiny awards are common techniques in managing the emotionally-driven producers, aka the line workers. I'm not sure if this works with waymo employees, as they are likely smarter than those who create these kindergartens.

At my current company, we are Hippos. :)