Why I'm jumping on the #DeleteUber bandwagon

I know I've been quiet here for a while, and FYI this is going to be a bit of a different kind of post, but it's a topic that I think needs to be heard.

In a blog post yesterday, Susan J Fowler, a respected engineer and author of Production-Ready Microservices: Building Standardized Systems Across an Engineering Organization, described a year working for Uber as a Site Reliability Engineer in terms of what I can only describe as rampant and systemic sexual harassment. Uber's CEO responded with a statement, but I have to agree with others on the Internet who have observed that if he had no clue this type of behavior was happening in his organization, he's not doing his job properly.

This has inspired me to finally join onto the #DeleteUber bandwagon; as of today, I am going to drive and ride solely with Lyft whenever possible. I would prefer to take in less money than support any company contributing to the sexist culture that unfortunately pervades our world, and especially the tech sector.

Those who know me may remember that during the last wave of #DeleteUber I was defending Uber. I felt they got a bad shake during the response to Trump's immigration ban, when tensions were very high. I saw a lot of misinformation going around, and what I perceived to be people making decisions to change their habits based on that misinformation, so I tried to help correct that. This time, though, it just plain looks bad.

Gender inclusivity in the tech sector is a challenge many great companies are struggling with. I applaud that Travis Kalanick plans to open an investigation, and I hope those responsible for the incidents Susan described are dealt with appropriately - by nothing less than losing their jobs, no matter how "high performing" they may be. If even half of what Susan says is true (and it all rings true to stories I hear nearly every day, so I certainly have no reason not to believe her), they deserve nothing more than an immediate termination.

I've never felt like Uber really cared or made efforts to help their drivers; the simple fact is that they were the "better" choice because they had the bigger platform. But this is one step too far - this is my personal breaking point. I am deleting Uber, and I hope you will consider doing so as well.

I'm still thinking about what to do with the title of this blog, which I do hope to update a bit more again, especially as I discover how things really go with Lyft when I stick with it and don't fall back to Uber. "TNC Geek" would seem to be the "correct" genericization of "Uber Geek" (TNC stands for "Transportation Network Company", the legal term used for services like Uber and Lyft), but I don't know how that scans just yet. Stay tuned on that front.