The problem with this, is that when he enters the workforce a lot of that social awkwardness and bulling problems could come back again. So it's a short lived victory.
In the UK outside of silicon roundabout and a few good companies, programmers are low rung employees and often pushed around and managed by the same sort of people who bullied him school. He won't have any authority to hit back, and if he tried probably would be fired.
The majority of start ups, and tech companies in the UK are run non-technical entrepreneurs, marketeers and so on and not techs. These are normally selected from the type of people who bully at school, not the bullies.
A large part of being programmer in these organisations is learning to identify and tip toe around these people to stop them ruining your career.
School had a lot of bullying for me, university was great, and then at work it was like being thrown back into school.
Having been a programmer in tech companies in the UK for a long time I agree about the low status, but I've only rarely encountered bad behavior by managers (mistakes and bad decisions, yes. Bullying not so much). My experience is that in this sort of job the pay is at least liveable and the working conditions are typically good. This is however entirely anecdotal and it's quite possible that I just got lucky and am an outlier. I think there are many other kinds of jobs where bullying is much more common and may even be a core feature of the profession (I'm thinking of Work Programme providers).
Bullying is rife in the UK tech industry. If you put up a wall people will respect it and keep away but if you don't, it's open season. There's also a nasty class divide between permanent and contract staff. I'm the latter and much resentment is felt even though the former could be the latter with a little effort and reap the benefits.
As a 35-year old Brit who has spent his entire career in the UK tech industry, I do not recognise what you describe.
However, there are many "tech industries" and so I can't tell you if the culture in the Java, C++/C#, Windows or Banking etc. industries is like that, because in the Internet, Startup, Ruby/Python type industries it absolutely 100% is not.
Animosity between permanent and contract staff is something I've never witnessed either. Contractors who aren't worth their money? Sure they're going to get a hard time, but if I'm working with a contractor who has 20 years experience on me, sure, I'm expecting them to earn good money. I always saw them as an inspiration, nothing else. I know my colleagues have too.
So, whatever sector you're in, and whatever employer you're with, get out and look elsewhere: it's not like that in many, many, many other parts of the industry.
I'm in finance sector (mainly insurance) for reference on the J2EE/C# side of things.
I think a number of people have been burned by bad contractors in the city. There are tonnes of them from experience who cruise around with absolutely no reputation.
I'm a contractor in the city but not in finance. If I had to guess I'd say you get bad contractors there because the money on offer is huge, so it will attract people who have no idea what they're doing but are great at blagging.
Having been a contractor for several years now, I have to admit I've never seen any sort of bullying. I've never been treated like anything less than a bona fide member of the team. To be honest, I've never seen any sort of bullying. Maybe I just don't know it when I see it ...
(currently on my fifth placement, in London, at a mix of small and international companies)
People with aspergers tend to have poorly developed normal social skills thus having less friends who can support them , thus making them easier targets.
I've worked in the UK tech industry for 12 years. Never seen what you describe. Never been treated as low-status either, and I've never worked for the old street crowd.
I'm not sayin your experiences are wrong, but they might be less universal than you think.
The person being bullied keeps a log of what happens.
They then go to HR (or whatever the proceedure is -and companies need to have a proceedure) to talk about it. They present a copy of their ongoing log and ask for help. If the person has seen a doctor they can ask that doctor to write a supporting letter.
Being a member of a union is helpful here because they will help.
Most technology companies in the UK are small(1-20). They don't have HR, and don't really have 'grievance procedures' even though they should. So often bullying is straight from the owners/directors.
If you went to a small digital agency, and said you wished file a grievance you would be laughed at.
Most tech companies may be that small, but most tech jobs are not with companies that small.
Either way, if you are bullied out of work we have a robust system of tribunals and workers rights over here. You don't need to be a union member to have rights and you shouldn't be scared of exercising them.
I think that might depend on whether or not you use ACAS to resolve the dispute, I don't believe there is an obligation to go through ACAS unless both parties agree.
ACAS do arbitrate individual unfair dismissal cases. Often employment contracts from large companies will say "You agree to use ACAS for arbitration".
Large companies like this because it streamlines the process rather than dealing with different individual lawsuits, it also gives HR a number of policies to implement which can tick the boxes and give them a strong position in any dispute. If you have 1000+ employees eventually someone is going to claim unfair dismissal.
Smaller companies with 10 employees or less are more to just hope they don't get sued at all.
As far as I know you can't enforce arbitration / mediation in the UK it woudl not be justicable i.e you can't sign your statutory rights away
"Acas don't represent people in employment cases. Their job is to try and help you and your employer settle your case.
This doesn't mean that they will try to get the best deal for you, but one that both you and your employer will accept. So if you can't reach an agreement that both you and your employer are happy with, Acas will stop their involvement, and you can decide whether to go on with your case to the employment tribunal."
I think it would put an employer in a stronger position in court to say "employee refused to use arbitration service as described in contract", IANAL etc.
Not really the same thing as an arbitration clause unless you can persuade a judge that the arbitration decision would have contradicted employment law in some way.
Going to HR requires there to be an HR department. In general the ability to do something about bullying in a company or institution depends on there being the management and adminstrative structure to formalise complaints without them going through the bully. I've seen people leave places, especially in the UK civil service, because the bully controlled the access to reporting them.
Yeah, there are protections, but like all legal protections they are really only technically there. Practically, taking that course requires sinking a huge amount of time, effort and possibly money into it, and the outcome is not certain. Most people will quit and try another job.
In the UK outside of silicon roundabout and a few good companies, programmers are low rung employees and often pushed around and managed by the same sort of people who bullied him school. He won't have any authority to hit back, and if he tried probably would be fired.
The majority of start ups, and tech companies in the UK are run non-technical entrepreneurs, marketeers and so on and not techs. These are normally selected from the type of people who bully at school, not the bullies.
A large part of being programmer in these organisations is learning to identify and tip toe around these people to stop them ruining your career.
School had a lot of bullying for me, university was great, and then at work it was like being thrown back into school.