> Wow, imagine hating your boss so much you go to so much creative and illegal lengths (that can backfire against you) to track him, instead of using same skills legally to finding a better job.
I’ve mentored a lot of juniors. It’s not uncommon for young people, especially those with less developed social skills, to have an undeserved fear of their boss or anyone else with authority. It’s common with young people who have debilitating anxiety and a tendency toward rumination. They think that as long as they avoid the authority figure, they can avoid any negative social interactions (which are largely imagined).
It’s possible that the boss was bad, of course, but I kind of doubt it given that his response to this situation was to let the person off easy.
>I’ve mentored a lot of juniors. It’s not uncommon for young people, especially those with less developed social skills.
Sure, but even as a junior employee, we're still talking about mature adults here, not kindergarten kiddies, who can vote, pay taxes and are held accountable for their actions in front of the law, so they should be aware that deliberately backdooring their employer so that they can surveillance their boss, not only most likely violates their employment contract they signed and can have serious legal backlash against then both from the company and from the person who's privacy they were trying to break.
>It’s common with young people who have debilitating anxiety and a tendency toward rumination.
Yeah, I get that, but how is this in excuse for hacking your employer/boss? Why not seek therapy from professionals for that and try to either quit toxic workplaces or report abusive bosses and find a workplace that accommodates your personality and emotional type, not try to hack and backdoor your employer's network to keep tabs on your boss.
There is no workplace in the world and no work colleagues that will tolerate you hacking their network and invading their privacy because you have anxiety and a tendency toward rumination.
No disagreement here, but to answer your question: If someone is struggling with social anxiety, they actually have to somehow overcome their anxiety enough to seek that help. It can be a real catch-22. (Not a justification for this person's actions by any means. Just explaining motivation.)
> Sure, but even as a junior employee, we're still talking about mature adults here
It’s a wider range than you’d think. Juniors range from seasoned employees who have had various jobs over the years to completely green employees who have never had to work a day in their lives. The latter group can allow a lot of people to avoid dealing with their problems and maturing for a long time.
> Yeah, I get that, but how is this in excuse for hacking your employer/boss?
It’s not, and I never said it was. I was only replying to the insistence that the boss must be a terrible person.
The author of this piece didn't work at the company. It sounds like the company wasn't really full of technical people. The perpetrator probably thought they were so much smarter than everyone else that they'd never be caught.
I think it depends on the company. Larger corporations like banks tend to have management types who are sociopaths or giant egos who only care about making themselves look good to their own boss. They expect their reports to work unpaid overtime and don't recognize their efforts.
I’ve mentored a lot of juniors. It’s not uncommon for young people, especially those with less developed social skills, to have an undeserved fear of their boss or anyone else with authority. It’s common with young people who have debilitating anxiety and a tendency toward rumination. They think that as long as they avoid the authority figure, they can avoid any negative social interactions (which are largely imagined).
It’s possible that the boss was bad, of course, but I kind of doubt it given that his response to this situation was to let the person off easy.