A job ad for a lead software developer in Singapore went viral today – for all the wrong reasons. Posted by Shanghai-based startup Sugar, the job description quickly raised the ire of the app development community.
In the section about the sort of person they’re seeking, they allegedly insinuated that being ambitious supposedly means eschewing family life:
You are ambitious, intense and entrepreneurial, and you dream of doing truly epic shit with your life. You recoil at the thought of having 1.15 kids, balloting for a flat, saving up for a Toyota and waiting to withdraw your CPF savings at 65 (or 70, or 80, or 120).
Then there were these descriptions of who the company doesn’t want:
You are a shallow social climber whose dream is to work for Goldman Sachs because it “looks good on your CV”. You went to an Ivy League university because it would “look good on your CV”. But you couldn’t get into Goldman Sachs (or Citibank, or HSBC) because you actually have no passion for finance, just like how you want to buy that Louis Vuitton bag (because it will “look good on your social CV”) despite having no passion for design and craftsmanship. Guess what? If you were rejected by Goldman Sachs, you will be rejected by us too. For exactly the same reasons. Advice: try applying for a government job.
You are a social misfit. You like technology only because you can’t relate to real people. You spend your weekends playing DOTA and in your sleep you dream about your hero reaching Level 38. At school, you were always the last to get picked on any project or sports team. Having a conversation with you is about as interesting as watching paint dry. Advice: go seek help from a mental health professional.
The company also drew controversy for its long list of requirements, asking for a color photo, and offering a salary of S$4,000 to S$5,000 (US$3,100 to US$4,000).
Singaporean software developer Guo Chen Hou wrote a blog post explaining why he was offended. He says that the job description sidelines a large segment of Singaporeans who would inevitably go down the path of having kids and getting a house. On salary, he felt that S$5,000 for a lead software developer is “peanuts.”
He also believes that the ad unfairly dismissed people working in large corporations. Addressing the company directly, he writes: “How does wanting to work for prestigious companies like Goldman Sachs make them shallow? The very organizations you marginalize gave you your bank account, connected your cellphone to your loved ones, and makes sure there’s food to be bought when you visit NTUCs.”
He goes on: “Oh and you don’t want social misfits? You don’t want people who were always the last to get picked? [...] You know what? Some of the most successful technology companies are where they are today because the misfits envisioned something others didn’t, and built products that made everyone else’s life better.”
Developer Bryan Lim also found the ad distasteful. “The tone of the job description is condescending and that is the last thing any founders want their JD to feel like. I felt distasteful reading it as a programmer,” he says.
The anger has spilled onto Twitter.
Sugar has used similar descriptions for its other job ads seeking a senior graphic designer, management associate, and marketing executive. Tech in Asia is attempting to reach out to Sugar for a response.
‘Discriminatory’ job ad angers developer community
