Geoff’s AI and Healthtech garbage along with DEI has gotten out of control. Does anyone at Medtronic know how to operate anything or make any operating decisions with half a brain? Fu-k this company
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Exactly this. The fact that some folks here are so focus on DEI and not the true cause, this company is sc--wed.
@tj That was a long one full of anecdotal examples. There are always exceptions. What I have witnessed is Cat B undermines Cat A. Everyone in the preferred groups has benefited from this racism. The Cat A in the preferred group don't get the appropriate recognition for accomplishments due to this benefit.
That read made me think of mlk quote which has never been true.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
but sadly we are closer to the ts quote as you yourself confirmed and I have experienced too:
"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago and a racist today."
As for MDT, I am not a long term employee, but I only worked with a few good people. At first I attributed this to not attracting the best and brightest, being in the wrong group and the culture of bad attitudes but after a time I realized even with those effects the main culprits are favoritism towards DEI candidates for promotion, hiring, lack of actionable performance management and your "Gorden Gecko" push of low cost out sourcing at all costs. Nothing I have experienced aligns with the hype pushed down from above and out to the rest of the world.
I saw a previous comment that resonates with me.
The competent are surround by grifting virtual signaling sycophants.
@h2 I am a minority engineer and have said for decades I opposed AA/DEI. Many "wokies" will call you racist for being anti-AA/DEI and myself a "Sellout to the white people" for agreeing with the principle. So, I can share with you how I hold my position - use the data to speak for itself. Dr. Richard Sander of UCLA did a very thorough study on why AA/DEI policies don't work - the "Mismatch Problem". In this situation, there are generally two categories of minority STEM students: (1) category A with legitimate test scores, background courses, and GPA. By contrast, (2) a category B exists without legitimate skills. The GPA is below average and test scores are in the lowest quartile.
I have seen that when AA/DEI was in force in the 1990s at many universities, the majority of minority students in STEM at many elite universities would either dropout, switch majors, or graduate with poor grades. This was because in statistical distributions, the situation was often that "category A < category B". Meanwhile, as noted, the students from category A did well. For example, let's say minority student A went to a very good public HS with 12 AP programs in the far northern suburbs of Chicago and had a 1500+ on the SAT and passed 4 AP exams with college credit. By contrast, student B came from South Chicago at an impoverished school district with high crime rates and only got a 1050 on the SAT and 0 AP courses or exam credits. The latter was also missing fundamental teaching in titration, derivatives, integrals, cell meiosis, etc. So, take student B into elite Big 10 schools like Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, MN, etc., and student B would usually flunk out, drop out, lose scholarships, etc. I saw that pattern first hand as a minority engineer. By contrast, student A would excel.
When affirmative action was outlawed in 1996 in California and 2000 in Florida, the minority graduation rates actually went up. Students of category B who would have been accepted under AA/DEI were rejected and forced to go to community college or a lower-tier college. By contrast, students of category A still got accepted without AA/DEI and graduate oftentimes with honors. So, the total student population of minorities went down, but graduation rates went up in Florida and California when AA/DEI was outlawed. This supports Dr. Richard Sander's data analysis about the "Mismatch Problem". When AA was in force in FL and CA in the 1990s, students of category B were mismatched. Dr. Sander's argument was a factor in AA/DEI being outlawed in university admissions.
In summary, AA/DEI in its form of "quotas" and "reduced admission standards" actually hurt many minority students. Those from category B were mismatched and usually did poorly. By contrast, students of category A did great but were stigmatized as not having earned the admission or graduated with reduced standards. So, the elimination of AA/DEI removed those problems in CA and FL. I bring up STEM in college as a root cause because the talent pool in corporate engineering or STEM jobs comes from such university pipelines.
With that said, if you don't want to be accused of being racist, then you can (1) use the analysis by Dr. Richard Sander as a legitimate counter point for the Mismatch Problem. And (2) recognize that category A students do exist. Because they really do excel. I recall a 4th year medical student at Colorado who excelled in anatomy lab and was one of the teaching assistants. He had many "E" grades which are ridiculously hard to earn. But one white female said she knew when "minorities aren't around" that many white medical students would yell all the minorities were there only because of AA/DEI. As noted, that is true in many cases for category B. But he was from category A and excelled. But his success was questioned and stigmatized instead.
So, if you don't want to be accused of racism and provide valid counter points against AA/DEI, then (1) use the analysis of Dr. Richard Sander and (2) note that category A does exist. With that said, I am a minority with multiple master's degrees and well over a decade of experience, and my job was still sent to India. I had high performance reviews. As for AA/DEI, I never saw it on any projects I worked with at Medtronic. Most everyone there was really competent in their duties. To me, most women and minorities were of "category A" at Medtronic. I learned a lot from many people who were there. The only problem I saw with the potential for racial tension was (1) a product owner with anger management issues and (2) a lead developer who used sarcasm a lot and would joke if someone got a tan. I know the "far left wokies" could potentially accuse those two guys of racism and dox them quickly to millions of people on social media without due process. By contrast, as a brown minority of an old generation, I am not hypersensitive and pride myself on a high threshold. But you should always recognize the "lowest common denominator" of thresholds in the room. At every meeting with strangers, assume there is a "wokie" in the room if you don't want to get called out. As for me, I actually liked working with those two white guys. I thought they were great coworkers and super efficient. But I concur that Medtronic is big enough that some cases of AA/DEI with "category B" people could exist. I presume posters who complain about DEI have witnessed that problem, and I defer to them on details. In other words, if you want to complain about AA/DEI, imagine a court where the burden of proof is on you. What data do you have to support your observations? Is it selection bias? Observation bias? Or is it just plain old mediocrity like I saw with that Mexican PO?
I can think of many students and co-workers of "category B" going back decades. One of the worse was a female manager without a software engineering background chose to cancel an ETL project that prevented data corruption which put the project at risk for compliance violations in a bad way. Another was a Mexican product owner from far Southern Mexico who struggled with advanced English. I knew HS teens of Mexican American descent in the west who could speak English far better than he did when they were in HIGH SCHOOL. So, this Mexican PO was horrible, but he threatened racism and a lawsuit if you complain of his work - even to other minorities. So, I know the "bad apples" exist - but there are "category A" minorities and women too. One of the best for a female engineer was a woman who was both a licensed nurse and electrical engineer. She coded robotics for medical devices. So, if you do see "category B", it's important to point them out. But if you assume "every damn minority or woman is of category B", then the accusations of racism or discrimination against women will likely get you doxed or on a PIP at a minimum.
My problem with Medtronic is with my job being sent to India by executives in the style of "Gordon Gecko" of "Wall Street" when he said "Greed is good". Anytime I see Medtronic on the news, I just think of executives like "Gordon Gecko".
So, I decided to pivot to the clinical domain deeply with an esoteric but safe role removed from offshore layoffs. I don't want to reveal the role. It's not a common role people would think of, but it exists, and that is my current target. I spent all day yesterday studying anatomy lab for this pivot. I am excited to leave corporate politics and go deep into the clinical world of translational science. I'm currently memorizing terms like olecranon, tibial tuberosity, subscapular fossa, etc. for an anatomy lab exam for this clinical pivot. Best wishes.
@np Agreed, sometimes you are gifted these grifting racist anchors through no fault of your own.
@n7 Ah yes, the misdirection tactic. Lets pretend the emperor is wearing clothes. It is the managers fault they can't turn lead into gold. You are gifted an 85 IQ for 100 IQ job through checkbox favoritism. Please! On top of that, lets not forget the sense of entitlement these poor souls have been indoctrinated into given passes and the highest adulation for even the simplest forms of accomplishment. Your manager is not your mom. Is it the manager's job to say your drawing is artistry when it is just a bunch of scribbles? Lets watch the house burn down cause Sally learned how to make fire! The competent are surround by grifting virtual signaling sycophants.
@jd Yep. What I'm saying is regular process, not opinion.
Know that anyone working on those situations also knew it was bullsh-t and unfair on you to have to put up with mediocre performers for fear of them suing the company, or negative publicity. Many times we know that the person is absolutely incompetent, but either has been told they're a victim, or are just entitled and are maliciously trying to leverage the race card.
The best solution is to strongly consider who you hire and if it is worth what it will cost for you when they inevitably call you a racist when they hear something they don't like.
Professionally, it will either cost you your job or your reputation, or a lot of time and stress if they turn out to be incompetent.
Everything I am saying actually only applies to one specific minority group. You all know who that is.
@ja I literally worked in Legal. "Maybe, just maybe" I have the insider view of how it actually works and have had to pay worthless trash people out and watch talented people be RIFed just as easily?
If you had half a brain, you'd realize that what was written comes from someone familiar with multiple processes.
You should have been a better manager then. Good managers won't have to cut anyone if they manage better.
@ja That is the problem with knee capping white males. You see a WM succeed maybe it is nepotism or the like but you assume it is merit based most often knee capped. You see a checkbox move up even if you are pleasantly surprised they are not incompetent you know they were given passes. The passes are just easier to justify.
@h2 I have personally performance managed both and agree. I have been allowed cut lose a marginal white male almost effortlessly while I have checkbox negative contributors go through the whole performance manage process, having overwhelming justification only to be told "You can't they are protected class!". People think "YOU" are an incompetent keeping these useless anchors around.
Lol... DEI is 100% a problem, just not in the way you all imagine it is. It isn't just about hiring... in fact hiring is the least of the issues.
(1) Try to RIF a minority or alphabet person. RIFs require that the employee resource group leader globally is engaged, whereby they beg you to invent a position to keep the minority and assess if it's WACIST or not. White people lose their jobs first if at all possible. The minorities even get a litle asterisk next to their name in the RIF discussions to indicate their special status. Waste of time and completely overrides merit.
(2) Try to performance manage a minority (especially) or alphabet person (less of an issue here). Legal will immediately be involved and you will have to jump through so many more hoops. You'll probably have to pay them out as well, because they'll start to cry racist because they're unreliable and sh*t at their jobs. Then you get to deal with the issue of being called a racist if you performance managed them. You're better off just not hiring minorities besides Latin people. Save yourself.
(3) The ERGs have no global budgets, so there are tons of them globally. Tons of people wasting time and money having events at Disneyland (check if you don't believe), taking international trips to spend 2 days talking about where they like to put their privates, and adding zero value. Let's not forget the useless fkn photofest of rainbow flags and funny glasses and cake days people put on Linkedin. What a slap in the face to people that actually have to work.
Overall, the org is slower and more incompetent because of time wasted on DEI sh-t and appeasing professional victims.
The exception is Latin people, who work their butts off.
He’s blaming it on DEI because of far right memes he saw on Facebook
if you don't need to go into the office, you will be replace by AI.
not sure why workers don't understand that yet. One dude with AI windows open can do the work of 4 remote workers.
Easy to blame dei and remote workers
Both are not the issue
Many teams work across several time zones - remote working is productive and holds value
Why go to the office if you can be productive from home. Makes zero sense. Not everyone is a extrovert and finds an office environment productive. In fact being around in the office with colleagues that are constantly gossiping is unproductive.
Dei are not in the main leadership position making the company decisions. The board is all white. Quit with the racism okay? It's not cool.
Call is grandpa all you want but the generation of incompetence coming into this organization won’t survive without us when neither of you know how to build or create anything but bulkshit on social media using Claude, Gemini and even worse ChatGPT
DEI was so COVID=19, everyone loved WFH. Welcome to 2026, RTO is here and those hired workers HATE the idea of actually having to work in the office where all can see their worth is ZERO.