Okay, but in that sense of projection, all stated facts are projected versions of the facts. In your opinion, should we just not discuss our experiences with companies at all, since the descriptions will be mere projections of what actually happened?

> In your opinion, should we just not discuss our experiences with companies at all, since the descriptions will be mere projections of what actually happened?

I don't think I can answer that question without more context. It largely depends on the situation.

In this case he could have simply omitted the name of the company:

> I was rejected by <insert succinct description of what these coding tutorial sites are> three times, so I built my own

He's sharing the same story without throwing jabs at a particular company. I could have done the same in my above example with the same result:

> I tried to start a company with someone 3 times and failed, so I became a solo founder instead and succeeded

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IMO it comes down to professional etiquette. Don't broach muddy topics in public because the audience doesn't have enough context to see the complete picture. It's sort of like airing your dirty laundry in a public restaurant.

> He's sharing the same story without throwing jabs at a particular company.

I would argue it’s not the same story. He wanted to join this other company but couldn’t, which means that his product or at least personage is going to be different in a way that is irreconcilable with Codecademy. They are thus his direct competitor, which is extra information conveyed by this title.

> the audience doesn’t have enough context to see the complete picture.

No one has enough context to see the complete picture, though. The logical progression of this is, “don’t talk about things in general,” which I rather fundamentally disagree with. If someone is unhappy, that can be a good motivator for a story. The same is true for happiness IMO, by the way.