Comment by eropple | Hacker News Reader

Comment by eropple | Hacker News Reader

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I've left jobs because of my boss. I've also left jobs because of completely unrelated reasons. My boss at TripAdvisor was a fantastic guy who I still hold in the highest regard and I'd go work for again if it made sense. But I was offered an opportunity simply not available at that job because it didn't exist and didn't matter to the company.

I've also been privileged to work with HR people for whom the adage "never trust them" was completely false, because they were good people who happened to work in HR. So there's that, too. They were excellent sources of advice and problem-solving help when needed, and I consider at least one of them a friend even now that I no longer work for the company.

So it sounds to me like you're projecting, and kind of being rude about it?

Eh, he's not wrong (even if he's being a Walter about it).

HR is not a union for employees. HR is there to protect the company: It just turns out that the company's theoretical (keyword there) interests and the employee's interests align frequently (e.g. keeping the workplace free of discrimination, keeping employee morale up).

The point is, when you don't approach every interaction in an adversarial manner, you're remarkably more likely to not have them be your adversaries.

If by "projecting", you mean drawing on my experience, then of course I am.

> I've also been privileged to work with HR people for whom the adage "never trust them" was completely false.

I'm glad you had a good experience with HR. Being able to be friends with an HR employee does not invalidate the axiom that you should not trust an HR rep in matters of your career (happiness). There is too large a body of negative examples out there in order to safely ignore it. Everyone can of course can and will make their own choices, but I stand by my previous statements.

If you were hiring HR people, you would look for good people that can be trusted. And then you can also fire them if they don't do what is good for the company. You can't trust them because they answer to people you shouldn't trust. it doesn't matter how pleasant and understanding they are -- they won't outrank their boss for you.

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