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Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?

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Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?

#171

Post by zepolen »

shadowtree wrote: post #41

Tell me you never ran a large code base in production, without telling me. Past a certain point there are no "simple code changes" anymore. Automation and functional QA needs to ensure zero regressions, internal and external docs need to be considered, it all needs to be bundled in with many other code changes (feature and fixes), etc. There is no shortcut. Even FB had to dial back their "break shit in prod" mantra.…

> Tell me you never ran a large code base in production, without telling me.

Your post does a good job of that.

Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?

#173

Post by jc_811 »

To sift through all of the noise, the answer that makes the most sense is 1 word: quit

In your own words it “sucks”. If you don’t want it to, your only real options are to accept the new normal, or find a new job. In organizations of that size it will be a grinding multi-year (decade?) marathon to make any company-wide change.

If you’re an engineer, and have an acquired startup on your resume, you should have no issues finding a new role at another company that has your ideal employee size & culture.

Edit: I don’t mean quit today and walk out. But rather, have a new job be your new primary goal and start the search. This will help you get through the days you have left (you’ll be amazed how much mental relief is provided when dealing with a stressful situation, but then realizing - I don’t have to deal with any of this much longer), while being responsible and not leaving until you have a new gig lined up

Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?

#174

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

You should send this write up directly to the CEO.

You can either quit because working a big company can suck, or you can get moved up the chain of command if you are the type of person who actually cares about this problem and wants to fix it.

Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?

#175

Post by iKnowKungFoo »

treis wrote: post #152
ascar wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Direct link https://old.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/rkk9qg/im_a_new_s... for everyone else having a hard time figuring out how to find the actual comment. Really worth a read and absolutely puts OPs story into perspective.

Yeah that story is total bullshit. It's someone's fantasy. The equivalent of me telling the story of my epic comeback in the Superbowl.

I can buy the part about putting up fences between business people at the tech team. Been there, done that, modernized project management. But the "thank you"s, bonuses and all that? Complete fantasy. :)

Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?

#176

Post by megablast »

_skel wrote: post #37

> So I reach out to the manager and ask what is going on. This is a simple task, I said. Why does it take an entire quarter for your team to deliver? He doesn't have an answer. Your simple task, which you think would only take a few days to implement, is probably one request in a long queue of requests that team is dealing with. That means they won't be able to start on it for a long time. That team probably set up t…

Surely this huge company with lots of people, where most people didn’t ask to buy a new company, is doing nothing but sitting around waiting for this guy to give them some work??

Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?

#177

Post by throwaway2331 »

shadowtree wrote: post #41

Tell me you never ran a large code base in production, without telling me. Past a certain point there are no "simple code changes" anymore. Automation and functional QA needs to ensure zero regressions, internal and external docs need to be considered, it all needs to be bundled in with many other code changes (feature and fixes), etc. There is no shortcut. Even FB had to dial back their "break shit in prod" mantra.…

Man, unvarnished, lacking agenda---besides the stroking of one's ego---and blunt communication: I missed you so.

I agree with the sentiment. Being an "adult" is about restrictions, limits, boundaries, and confines; you can't just willy-nilly do whatever you feel like. You must now realize and accept that we all bend the knee to something. We are not immortal gods, free from all consequence, but merely ants allowed to live by the systems we inhabit.

Perhaps the most authentic post I've seen on this entire site in a long time.

Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?

#178

Post by danielmarkbruce »

achillesheels wrote: post #161
danielmarkbruce wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The explanation given above is that you aren't the priority you used to be.. it doesn't take a month to get something done, it takes a month to do all the things in the queue in front of you. If there is a lesson here it might be that companies quickly lose focus and try to do too many things. Then there are giant queues of things to do and important things are held up by unimportant things. Your thing might be impor…

The judgment, however, is that while one is not the same priority any longer, one's priorities are necessarily devalued, due to the a competition for resources, namely, time. I see the common explanation here is to just shrug at the state of affairs. Is this the best management can do? I can see why Fortune 500 companies die now.

When you say "is this the best management can do", I believe you are thinking about it in the wrong terms. It's a trade off. Almost all these decisions are trade offs and there isn't a strictly better option available. I read most of the explanations here pointing to that trade off and understanding it.

Let's assume for a minute the poster has joined google. Do you want some random person changing code in a system used to deploy applications? No. That same code deploys Google Search. That thing pumps out over $50 bill a qtr of high margin revenue.

The process described could be at Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Apple. These are Fortune 500 companies and while they will die eventually, it isn't going to be in any time soon and it isn't going to be because the team working on internal infra doesn't move fast enough.

Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?

#179

Post by chris11 »

femiagbabiaka wrote: post #104
fiachamp wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of people on HN nowadays that are okay with getting nothing useful done is striking. Startup guy, you don't have to accept being part of a bloated hierarchy that rewards politics more than good decision-making. You could check out at the corpo job and start prototyping your own startup ideas. Or join another early stage startup where your performance matters. I'll be starting one soon - let's keep in touch…

if your startup ever makes it to any sort of scale, it will likely have the same problems -- they all do :)

Yeah, I'm at a startup that's rapidly growing, and is adding more process. I don't feel like it's overmanaged, I don't generally need to pull in my manager or skip. But I can imagine giving a similar response, the major difference is that the team I'm on doesn't really have official processes set up.

The main problem is that the team has a lot of work to do. So simple tasks might take awhile if they aren't high priority. If I got significant push back, I'd talk to my manager or skip. Because doing it sooner would mean pushing back other high priority requests.

Re: Ask HN: Startup acquired by a large company and it sucks. What to do?

#180

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

gringoDan wrote: post #49

When the Dilbert comics become all too real. While you may find it difficult to get things done, the bureaucracy will leave you with a lot of time on your hands. With that time, either: 1. Pour the energy you would have put into work into side projects, starting your own company, etc. Good route to take if you are vesting. 2. Interview at other companies where you can actually make an impact. Luckily the job market i…

> 1. Pour the energy you would have put into work into side projects, starting your own company, etc. Good route to take if you are vesting.

Isn't this dangerous advice? Could work done on a side project during company time end up being legally owned by their employer?

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