Bug Report! zine
January 15, 2019 8:53 AM   Subscribe

Bug Report! zine
Bug Report! is a (free) zine about the frustrations and growing disillusionment of working in technology today. You can see the first issue online here; soliciting submissions for the second one now!
Role: Editor
posted by splitpeasoup (6 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite

FYI - pages 12-13 with the Spotify screenshot are not rendering correctly for me - reading in Firefox on Linux Mint 18.3. The text is running off the edge of the page.
posted by COD at 3:52 PM on January 15, 2019


Oh man, this was so excellent. It hits a lot of the realities of working in tech and made me feel less alone. Thanks for this.
posted by sleeping bear at 11:17 AM on February 6, 2019


THANK YOU for making and sharing this. Sharing these experiences is so great. The hypnotic nature of "An Ode to the Modern Office", the resonance of "Remote", and the _conversation_ regarding why those two people left -- I appreciate these a lot.
posted by brainwane at 7:01 AM on February 7, 2019


Reading issue one, I was struck by the line about Fred Brooks on page 8: "Probably racist--I mean he's old as fuck."
Was there some incident/scandal that I, also old af, missed? I googled around and found nothing, so I wonder where this is coming from. As someone who left the tech industry (which the article I'm quoting was about) in large part because of age discrimination (I'm old enough to have read Brook's Mythical Man-Month) I would like to know if his age is the sole reason for his racism.
posted by Obscure Reference at 6:43 AM on February 10, 2019


Obscure Reference, my sympathies; ageism in the industry is awful and rife, and I'm probably going to get hit by it starting pretty soon.

I'm not one of the people in that conversation, but I can cite one specific related part of Brooks's writing. The last time I reread Mythical Man-Month I was struck by the sexism in:
A team of two, with one leader, is often the best use of minds. [Note God’s plan for marriage.]
I'm assuming that the person in the conversation who makes this remark is shorthanding a line of thinking like: in general, the legendary thinkers and leaders of the past were steeped in systemic biases, and it's useful for us looking back to remember that likelihood alongside the accomplishments, because it may influence how we judge their accomplishments and read their arguments and assessments today. But I certainly don't love the phrasing they chose for that shorthand, because of the implication you note.
posted by brainwane at 8:09 AM on February 10, 2019


Huh. I see now "Brooks is an evangelical Christian who is active with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship." which I'd missed earlier. I hope Larry Wall doesn't share this sentiment.
posted by Obscure Reference at 9:08 AM on February 16, 2019


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