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Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

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Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#71

Post by jacques_chester »

fdsfsaa wrote: post #55
jacalata wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because they do 100% pair programming. When you rely on someone else being there at the same time as you, you need predictable hours. It's possible they don't need to be as fixed as they are, but that's how they've chosen to do it.

> 100% pair programming I don't think there's a faster way to send me running away screaming. I'd actually take "100% Visual Basic" over "100% Pair Programming" if I had to choose one at gunpoint.

I think most people self-select out of applying for this reason, usually because of a bad experience.

I was skeptical. Now I greatly prefer it. It would take a ludicrous raise to shift me to a company that doesn't do it as a regular practice.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#72

Post by jacques_chester »

EngineerBetter wrote: post #4

Pivotal. I've had the pleasure of working with many Pivots, and Rob Mee has built a great XP culture.

Pivotal is the first company I've worked at where I genuinely felt like I was engineering.

Most places you work have one or two people who really care. They care about people. They care about process. They care about technology, software design, about doing the right thing the right way.

At Pivotal that's everyone. I've yet to meet a single example of the shrugging "eh, it's just a job" archetype I've previously found elsewhere.

It's so incredibly hard to create this kind of a self-reflective, self-correcting culture. Pivotal's done it and under conditions of enormous growth.

Really. It's the best job I've ever had, by a country mile.

Edit: one more marker.

People come back to Pivotal. It's the first company I've seen with reverse attrition. It's common for Pivots to head to other companies and then come back in less than a year. There's no bridge-burning: if you head out from Pivotal to do something new, you leave as a friend and you can return as one.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#73

Post by zamalek »

bluesilver07 wrote: post #15

Valve's new employee handbook looks pretty interesting - http://www.valvesoftware.com/company/Valve_Handbook_LowRes.p...

According to Newell[1], Valve aggressively fires as it hires. It's not based on stack-ranking bullshit - more of a cultural and disciplinary fit. If you have the right personality you could thrive there, but if you need a manager to help you shine it's best to look elsewhere.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8QEOBgLBQU

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#74

Post by jasonlotito »

culturestate wrote: post #14
jakozaur wrote: post #5

There is no universal scale. Some people prefer to work at big companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook... some at smaller fast moving startups and everything in between. There are for sure better and worse companies in each category, but even within big companies there is huge variance and it depends what you are looking for. Though some generic observation: 1. Product companies tends to have better culture tha…

> Good litmus test is to ask employees, do they have hackathons I'm a designer rather than an engineer, but I've always been a bit puzzled by the popularity of intra-company hackathons. It seems like a great way for management to keep employees working longer hours for less pay – an overnight hackathon that results in, say, 80 hours of additional work from a small team only costs the company some pizzas.

You are misrepresenting internal hackathons.

They are merely X days provided by the company where your regular duties are no longer your priority. Instead you are encouraged to learn and/or create.

Some may work more hours. Some may work the normal hours. That's it.

If it imposes restrictions on what can be worked on and limits creativity and doesn't put learning first, it's really not a hackathon.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#75

Post by jasonlotito »

culturestate wrote: post #26
chii wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it depends on what hackathons are geared to doing - if it's _actual_ client/business work that they'd be doing normally, then it's not a proper hackathon, and just an excuse to get more hours out of the employees. But if it's a free for all, do anything you want style, and participation is optional (truly optional, not fake-optional via management peer pressure), then it's a good sign.

My hangup is that in either case, it's still extra work that benefits the company rather than the employee. It's performed on company premises with company equipment - gamified overtime, essentially. I suppose there's an argument to be made that a good employee can make it mutually beneficial (use the time to learn a new, marketable skill that can get them a raise or a better job), but still...

Explain simply how building something the company won't use or learning something new on company time is essentially gamified overtime when doing this on normal company hours.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#76

Post by DerpyBaby123 »

FLGMwt wrote: post #69
BerislavLopac wrote: post #48

ThoughtWorks?

If you've worked w ThoughtWorks, I'd love to hear your experience. I'm a few floors above them in Chicago but haven't had the pleasure of chatting with anyone.

I work at TW (formerly in Chicago). We really care about doing continuous delivery well, which means a lot of automated testing, and ensuring good infra.

People give regular tech and non-tech talks, at weekly and monthly events. There is a lot of good stuff given by smart people.

The engineering culture here has been formed by years of bringing modern software practices to clients in industries where quality is important, like banks, airlines, government. There's a lot of great knowledge here, although sometimes I feel that it's a bit too inward facing. For example many many talks are given internally but not so much in the wider community.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#77

Post by praneshp »

bluebknight wrote: post #41
United857 wrote: post #22

I'm biased, but I'd say out of all the "big" tech companies, FB has the best engineering culture. * With few exceptions, engineers aren't hired for a specific team; they go through bootcamp where they get exposure to all parts of the stack and tasks from different teams. * Ideas usually come from engineers. Managers are there to be a sounding board/connect you with people resources as needed. * Moving fast is valued…

It sounds like a great place to work at. Kinda sucks that, they only interview new grads from top schools unlike the other Big 4.

Definitely wrong. My wife recently interviewed there, not from a top 50 university

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#79

Post by IndianAstronaut »

jakozaur wrote: post #5

There is no universal scale. Some people prefer to work at big companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook... some at smaller fast moving startups and everything in between. There are for sure better and worse companies in each category, but even within big companies there is huge variance and it depends what you are looking for. Though some generic observation: 1. Product companies tends to have better culture tha…

>Companies which got strong technical leadership and software is a key component rather than add on (e.g. some banks)

This is so crucial. I currently work at a bank and it is frustrating. The business side forces technical decisions on you, is generally not very understanding of technical challenges, is micromanaging, etc.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#80

Post by coldcode »

jacalata wrote: post #27
sargun wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it true that pivots have to be in the office at a specific time?

Yes, because they do 100% pair programming. When you rely on someone else being there at the same time as you, you need predictable hours. It's possible they don't need to be as fixed as they are, but that's how they've chosen to do it.

Basically they hire 2 people to do 1 person's work. I guess its a nice employment policy. But I would never work there.
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