Mark Jen Fired?
An anonymous poster tells Phillip Lensen that Google blogger Mark Jen was very quietly fired 11 days ago, after angering his bosses and possibly violating his NDA by publicly criticizing the company. From Google Blogoscoped:
“I regret to inform you that Mark Jen was fired from Google on Friday, January 28th. I don’t have any details, but I can tell you that he was quietly let go. An e-mail was sent out to the entire company, letting us know that the matter many had written to management expressing their concerns about, had now been taken care of. I initially thought that this meant that Mark had been told to be more careful about discussing company financials, but it soon became apparent that Mark had left the company. I can only assume that his silence since that date means that they either threatened him or cut him a sweet severance deal. Whatever happened, it’s a sad day when you can’t speak openly about both the good and bad at your chosen place of work without getting silenced.”
As Phillip points out, several bloggers, myself included, saw the flap over Mark’s blog late last month as an exciting opportunity for Google to become a little more human, to get their own Scoble. I hope Mark isn’t fired, because no one should be fired for just complaining about his company’s health plan and lunch room. Still, I do have to acknowledge they would be well within their rights if they did.
If Mark is without work, I’m willing to bet Microsoft is willing to take him back.
Nathan, I could confirm this by a Google source. So indeed Mark Jen was fired…
Comment by Philipp Lenssen | February 8, 2005
Um… Why would anybody want to inflict a Scoble-equivalent on google? (Or on anyone else, for that matter.)
To my ear, Scoble is one of the least “human” (if by human you mean “warm”, “spontaneous”, “tenderhearted”, or “made out of meat”) spokesperson around.
Comment by John Prevost | February 8, 2005
I don’t really understand the logic that someone should be protected from being fired for violating their NDA because, y’know. They have a web site and I like them and stuff.
There is nothing sacrosanct about keeping an online journal that empowers one to disregard one’s contractual obligations without consequence.
Comment by peterb | February 8, 2005
Damn, I was hoping it hadn’t happened.
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What do you have against Scoble? Why should he be “tenderhearted”? He blogs about software, not childcare?
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Scoble violates his NDA every day. Its a good thing he does, and its an even better thing that his bosses let him.
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | February 8, 2005