Former Github developer Julie Ann Hovarth slams sexist culture in Silicon Valley as Tom Preston-Werner leaves Github

A DREAM job in tech for one woman has ended up with allegations of harrassment and the founder of a huge company stepping down. What on earth happened?

IT’S the dark side of sunny Silicon Valley.

The founder of a popular company has been forced to step down, while being blasted online by his former staff member, in a bizarre series of events that exposed the sexist underside of tech’s male-dominated culture.

Women at GitHub who sprang forward to defend the men who harassed me, it is naive to think the same thing cannot and will not happen to you.

— Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) April 21, 2014

Company perks: Witch hunts, snow cones, and silencing.

— Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) April 21, 2014

Sound messy? Here’s what happened:

In March, Github developer Julie Ann Hovarth went public with allegations of bullying and harassment at the firm.

She claimed the company maintained a blokey and hostile culture perpetrated by the founders, including Tom Preston-Werner and his wife, who Ms Hovarth alleges intimidated her into leaving the company, according to her account on Techcrunch.

Every employee deserves a safe work environment and to be respected by their peers. Those are not 'earned', they're necessary.

— Julie Ann Horvath (@nrrrdcore) March 17, 2014

Ms Hovarth told the tech website she joined the company in 2012 as the only female developer on a small and supportive team, but soon began to feel as if it was a hostile boys’ club she would never be part of.

When the wife of one of the founders asked her out for drinks, she agreed because she was “always looking to meet women I can look up to.” However this quickly turned out to be a mistake.

“I met her and almost immediately the conversation that I thought was supposed to be casual turned into something very inappropriate,” she said.

“She began telling me about how she informs her husband’s decision-making at GitHub, how I better not leave GitHub and write something bad about them, and how she had been told by her husband that she should intervene with my relationship to be sure I was ‘made very happy’ so that I wouldn’t quit and say something nasty about her husband’s company because ‘he had worked so hard,’” Ms Hovarth told Techcrunch.

Tom Preston-Werner has stepped down from Github. Pic: Twitter.

Feeling bullied, Ms Hovarth told her partner, who also worked at Github at the time. But before long she was summoned to HR and asked to relay their conversation, Ms Hovarth alleges.

After trying to let the issue lay low, she said whispers around the office made her feel threatened. Meanwhile, another engineer, who she alleges was hurt by her rejection of his sexual advances, started “ripping out [her] code from projects ... I would work on something, go to bed, and wake up to find my work gone without any explanation.”

For a full account of her experience, click here.

As things grew increasingly ugly and anonymous posts appeared on networking site Secret, Ms Hovarth stepped down and went public with her account.

In response, Github launched their own internal investigation which led founder Tom Preston-Werner to step down this morning.

Farewell GitHub, Hello Immersive Computing - http://t.co/KEVpQna21Q

— Tom Preston-Werner (@mojombo) April 21, 2014

A post on their website by CEO and co-founder Chris Wanstrath said it found “no evidence to support the claims against Tom and his wife of sexual or gender-based harassment or retaliation, or of a sexist or hostile work environment.”

“However, while there may have been no legal wrongdoing, the investigator did find evidence of mistakes and errors of judgment.”

Mr Wanstrath also said there was no evidence of gender-based discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or abuse and the company will implement new HR and training initiatives.

Mr Preston-Werner conceded he made mistakes in a post of his own, but said he isn’t guilty of discrimination.

“I want to be very clear about one thing: neither my wife, Theresa, nor I have ever engaged in gender-based harassment or discrimination. The results of GitHub’s independent investigation unequivocally confirm this and we are prepared to fight any further false claims on this matter to the full extent of the law.”

Something we’re sure Ms Hovarth will take him up on.

Have you experienced harassment or bullying at your work? Continue the conversation on Twitter @newscomauHQ