Top all-time · #860
Susan Fowler
Personal blog · susanjfowler.com/blogcareerprogramming
Susan Fowler's personal blog at susanjfowler.com covers career and programming. Since 2016, 76 different Hacker News readers have linked it 89 times, most often “Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber”. The last post was in 2020, but the archive is still widely read.
Rarely recommended · 5 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Susan Fowler's blog for her 2017 post on her year at Uber, which commenters cite on harassment and HR, and for her posts on learning physics and maths.
- Recommended for · 5 comments
- Called impressive and interesting; a comprehensive physics overview; a passage gave solace; one commenter just says 'Read this'.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Writer. Engineer. Fledgling Physicist. Amateur Myrmecologist.
Most-linked posts?
- Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber39 people · 41 mentions · first linked 2017-02-19
- So You Want to Learn Physics (2016)13 people · 13 mentions · first linked 2017-01-11
- If Susan Can Learn Physics, So Can You (2016)4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2020-08-08
- Life Without a Destiny3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2017-05-22
- Steps tech companies can take to protect women and minority employees2 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2017-05-21
- Twenty Books That Shaped My Unconventional Life (2016)2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-02-20
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-12-12
- So You Want to Learn Physics2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-08-19
- The Ops Identity Crisis2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-10-14
- The architecture interview2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-10-07
What Hacker News says?
OK, so I had no clue who Susan Fowler was. And now I am impressed: https://fledglingphysicist.com/2013/12/12/if-susan-can-learn... https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-l...
Comment linking /blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-learn-physics
on “Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber”Submitted Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber as a story · 4107 points
HN discussionMuch of the restaistance is nothing to do with taxi medallions: https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-on... https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/business/media/uber-emil-...
Comment linking /blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
on “Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O.”Submitted So You Want to Learn Physics as a story · 482 points
HN discussionSo if supported allegations of rampant corporate sexism and sexual harassment[1][2], legally suspect actions during corporate events[3], the "Greyball" toolkit[4], departure of at least seven high-level executives in recent months[5], a tone-deaf and self-aggravating CEO[6], financial analysts pointing out the massive scope of investor subsidies and lack of profit opportunities[7], and questionable classifications o…
Comment linking /blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
on “Uber faces criminal probe over software used to evade authorities”Submitted So You Want to Learn Physics (2016) as a story · 249 points
HN discussionI had the first impression as you but IIUC they are saying the rep's poor ethics/judgement are enough to make them unemployable and we should all realize and agree or our judgement is also questionable. E.g. Bob's super smart and gets 10 times the work done as anyone else but he also sexually harasses the secretary and dips into the petty cash drawer at least once a week. It should be clear we don't want to have Bob…
Comment linking /blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
on “I Know What You Download on BitTorrent”Submitted So You Want to Learn Physics (2016) as a story · 229 points
HN discussion>Boldly expect acceptance, and my experience has been -- you will receive it. Thank you for your 2 anecdotes! Perhaps since Susan Fowler [0] followed your advice and did not achieve results, you will give her anecdote the same argumentative weight you give yours. But there is a troubling trend I want to oppose. People seem to argue that getting vindictively angry and fighting for your rights is wrong, and that its b…
Comment linking /blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
on “I'm not a Woman in Tech”Submitted Who's on call? as a story · 165 points
HN discussionWhile it may be true that the hiring process in the tech industry is has a more utilitarian basis than in other industries, it is quite a jump to go from there to concluding that sexism in tech (at the "worker bee" level) is not a problem. Consider the high-profile stories of how women get treated in the industry after they are hired. https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/15/julie-ann-horvath-describe... https://www.susanj…
Comment linking /blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
on “Ellen Pao: My lawsuit failed. Others won’t”Submitted The Ops Identity Crisis as a story · 161 points
HN discussionWhy post a bitly link? Real link: https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-on...
Comment linking /blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
on “Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee”Submitted My Year in Review: 2019 as a story · 110 points
HN discussionHi, Sychophant. First, could you please re-read the original blog post[1] very carefully. I do not feel that you read it carefully the first time. Second, can you please explain this sentence: "I was then told that I had to make a choice: (i) I could either go and find another team and then never have to interact with this man again, or (ii) I could stay on the team, but I would have to understand that he would most…
Comment linking /blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
on “Uber Investigating Sexual Harassment Claims by Ex-Employee”Submitted Steps tech companies can take to protect women and minority employees as a story · 76 points
HN discussionThink you're talking about Susan Flower and two of her articles: If Susan Can Learn Physics, So Can You - https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/26/from-the-fledgli... and So You Want To Learn Physics... - https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-l...
Comment linking /blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-learn-physics
on “How to Study Mathematics (2017)”Submitted The Ops Identity Crisis as a story · 5 points
HN discussion> Susan Fowler joined Stripe to found and edit Increment and the first issue launches today. BTW, this is the same Susan Fowler of ex-Uber fame: https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-on... Congrats on the new position, Susan! I'd be interested in hearing what it's like moving from a code-focused job to a content-focused job. Seems like a very unique shift!
Comment linking /blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
on “Introducing Increment”Submitted If Susan Can Learn Physics, So Can You (2016) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI found Susan Fowler's story quite interesting, as told on her blog: https://www.susanjfowler.com
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Physicists of HN, what are you working on these days?”Submitted Reflecting on One Strange Year at Uber (2017) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionIn addition to said here: * https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-l... There are plenty of textbooks and lecture notes available online and that article links to most of the popular choices. Make sure to choose correct order of topics to avoid getting stuck!
Comment linking /blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-learn-physics
on “Ask HN: How to self-study physics?”Submitted The architecture interview as a story · 3 points
HN discussionFirst up, I am no expert, but I have traveled this road for a while so I'll share a bit. I see Susskind's theoretical minimum is plugged here. Good. That is a fantastic place to start. Start at the beginning. Skip nothing. Leverage what you know against what you don't. You remember how to find an extremum of a function from Cal 1? The first order necessary condition for an extreme point is that the derivative of the…
Comment linking /blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-learn-physics
on “Ask HN: How do I learn math/physics in my thirties?”Submitted So you want to learn physics as a story · 3 points
HN discussionIf you're ever interested in digging into other areas of physics, take a look at this blog post by Susan J Fowler which gives a comprehensive overview with references to various topics: https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-l...
Comment linking /blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-learn-physics
on “How to teach yourself hard things”Submitted Twenty Books That Shaped My Unconventional Life (2016) as a story · 2 points
HN discussion>> It seems like HR and "diversity officers" have effectively become the "political officers" of the 21st century left of collectivist grievance politics. That's contradicted by the reported behaviour of HR in cases of sexual harassment of women engineers by their male colleagues, as for example in the case of Susan Fowler, the Uber engineer who left the company because of harassment and a discriminatory culture. I…
Comment linking /blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber
on “Fired Google Engineer Loses Diversity Memo Challenge”Submitted Life Without a Destiny as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
