Cisco Fatty - A Cautionary Tale

For those of you who don't know, last week a young woman interviewed at Cisco and shortly after leaving published the following tweet:

Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.

Needless to say it wasn't the smartest thing in the world to do.

Since I have some experience in the matter, I figured I would chime in.

Last year, about this time, I blogged about WellCare's layoffs at the time. Looking back I find it...funny? that I didn't know better. Despite people telling me not to do it. Maybe I was just stubborn. Anyway, I blogged it and in less than an hour it came across my Google Alerts, along with everyone else in the company who had set up Google Alerts for WellCare. Oops.

I removed the post that afternoon when my VP gave me an earful and the rest is history. My contract was terminated the following Tuesday when I returned to work.

With Twitter it's even easier though. There's an illusion of privacy I think, especially for those who don't truly understand the social web. I didn't completely understand it, or what the consequences could be. Perhaps I did though and just didn't care. I still wrestle with that. I'm not proud of the way it went down, but it's in the past now.

That said, I think I took responsibility for my actions. I have expressed regret here and in interviews. I don't blame anyone but myself.

@theconnor though seems to be taking another tact. While stating

it was crass of me to say what I did and I take full responsibility for the stupidity of my action.

she then goes on to talk of the impact of Twitter and that people don't really know what it is or what it's affect will be. Really? What about the people that have been fired for blogging (ahem)? What about the people that have been fired for posting on Facebook?

I think she was on the right path with her decision to post, but I don't think she goes far enough to show she's learned from it. She had a golden opportunity to redeem herself ever so slightly, but she didn't. Humility in this instance would have gone a long way in her future endeavors.

Update
Hat tip to Jake