Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 270 posts

Re: Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

#71

Post by kjakm »

codecutter wrote: post #35
Madmallard wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you not immediately report this guy to HR? His behavior is absolutely verbal abuse.

Please don't play it emotionally and report it to HR. Folks from HR are there to take care of the manager and employer. Such a step could be suicidal.

I find this attitude to be the same as kids not telling on the bully because it’ll make things worse. The guy lost a four figure bonus for no sane reason. Keeping quiet isn’t going to make anything better. You either speak with HR or firstly maybe your boss’s boss. Maybe things are a bit different if you work in one of the places where you can be fired at will but generally you have employment rights that will protect you.

Re: Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

#72

Post by _____bee »

worst: I have in two companies before being exposed to "Toxic Culture". Before working in my 3rd company, I didn't imagine that there are "engineers" who would go behind my back and just talk sh*t about the whole team. I left after few months, but to this day, I still couldn't process it. Culture does matter.

Re: Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

#73

Post by notapenny »

codingbbq wrote: post #51

Best : My manager who appreciates everyone's time. He puts in efforts to immediately reply to anyone, takes quick decisions and acknowledges quite often. If anyone is dependent on you, unblock them immediately. Worst : Many of the co-workers/ department heads etc. etc. have moved ranks above me exponentially and yes because of their hard work. Congratulations to them. But sometimes if I have to reach out to them or t…

This is anecdotal of course, but I've addressed people as Sir and have been addressed that way it's always in a friendly way. Usually it's just a sign of respect, you may think they're mocking you but they might just see you as one of the "old crew". It may even be a cultural thing, I've noticed that a lot of my Indian colleagues tend to use it as well. Anyway, when in doubt I'd just ask, otherwise next time someone does it just joke back that if they're calling you Sir, you should probably call them Mr. President, if the response is casual enough it's all good.

Re: Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

#74

Post by byteface »

beforeolives wrote: post #69
byteface wrote: post #61

I was inspired by a guy from Brazil to learn to touch-type. It not on the national curriculum in the UK. I'd say well over half of UK coders can't touch-type. I can easily do 90+ words per minute without trying. I just think and my fingers wobble and words appear. It's like magic. I'd say everyone should learn. I learned to run code without re-reading it from a bad coder. I used to spend a few mins reading code I'd w…

I never understood this way of thinking about touch typing as a distinct skill from typing. My experience was that when you're kid and use a computer for the first time, you need to look at the keys, and then over time you look less and eventually you can type without looking at all. I never saw it as a distinct skill that needs it's own name or needs to be taught in school (apparently I'm wrong about this). It's jus…

when my missus goes to bed. i can still game without a backlit keyboard. you can't.

Re: Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

#75

Post by byteface »

beforeolives wrote: post #69
byteface wrote: post #61

I was inspired by a guy from Brazil to learn to touch-type. It not on the national curriculum in the UK. I'd say well over half of UK coders can't touch-type. I can easily do 90+ words per minute without trying. I just think and my fingers wobble and words appear. It's like magic. I'd say everyone should learn. I learned to run code without re-reading it from a bad coder. I used to spend a few mins reading code I'd w…

I never understood this way of thinking about touch typing as a distinct skill from typing. My experience was that when you're kid and use a computer for the first time, you need to look at the keys, and then over time you look less and eventually you can type without looking at all. I never saw it as a distinct skill that needs it's own name or needs to be taught in school (apparently I'm wrong about this). It's jus…

I'll point out i learned at about 25. im 40 now. at that time i rated myself too.

Re: Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

#76

Post by beforeolives »

byteface wrote: post #74
beforeolives wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understood this way of thinking about touch typing as a distinct skill from typing. My experience was that when you're kid and use a computer for the first time, you need to look at the keys, and then over time you look less and eventually you can type without looking at all. I never saw it as a distinct skill that needs it's own name or needs to be taught in school (apparently I'm wrong about this). It's jus…

when my missus goes to bed. i can still game without a backlit keyboard. you can't.

I can. My point is that I can do it without having been explicitly taught touch typing. It's just a skill I developed over time and I thought that it happened for everyone else too.

Re: Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

#77

Post by LeonB »

karaterobot wrote: post #40

Best colleague taught me that if someone needs help, it is always worth my time to stop what I'm doing and give it to them. Worst colleague taught me to be loyal to people and not to companies. You can be friends with people, but not companies. Friends will reward loyalty and sacrifice, companies just want you to think they will.

How did the worst colleague teach you that? Did they do the opposite of that?

Re: Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

#78

Post by brazzy »

codecutter wrote: post #35
Madmallard wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you not immediately report this guy to HR? His behavior is absolutely verbal abuse.

Please don't play it emotionally and report it to HR. Folks from HR are there to take care of the manager and employer. Such a step could be suicidal.

That is such a bullshit meme that needs to die.

HR's exact goals vary between companies, but unless the company culture is toxic all the way to the top, part of their job is usually to reduce staff turnover (which is very expensive for the company), and in pretty much any company their job is to protect the company against lawsuits. Abusive managers are not well liked by HR.

Re: Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

#79

Post by plank_time »

wiether wrote: post #63
plank_time wrote: post #21

One of my mentors at the first company I worked for in Silicon Valley never said “no” to one of my ideas. He said “okay, we’ll try it out and see what happens.” He was inherently supportive of new ideas and as a junior engineer it felt very refreshing to not have to argue my way into a feature that I felt strongly about. I’ve carried that same mentality throughout my career. My worst colleagues were the exact opposit…

> One of my mentors at the first company I worked for in Silicon Valley never said “no” to one of my ideas. He said “okay, we’ll try it out and see what happens.” He was inherently supportive of new ideas and as a junior engineer it felt very refreshing to not have to argue my way into a feature that I felt strongly about. I’ve carried that same mentality throughout my career. I try to always have this kind of mindse…

There’s a difference between obviously absurd ideas and those that someone can go off and try in their own codebase. Giving some breathing room so people can experiment and try things on their own without disrupting the product is being supportive, in my opinion. It doesn’t mean everything should go in. But I give the person the opportunity to sell their idea. Maybe it’s better than I think, or maybe others on the team will support the idea. Unless you’re the only competent person on the team, if the team thinks its a good idea then why not? If you’re the only competent person on the team however, you should really leave the company.

It’s the same thing with code reviews. I make a distinction between issues of opinion vs issues of correctness. I will never let incorrect code get checked in, but if it’s a matter of opinion, then I’m more lenient to let things in.

Re: Ask HN: What lessons did you learn from your best or worst colleagues?

#80

Post by byteface »

beforeolives wrote: post #76
byteface wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

when my missus goes to bed. i can still game without a backlit keyboard. you can't.

I can. My point is that I can do it without having been explicitly taught touch typing. It's just a skill I developed over time and I thought that it happened for everyone else too.

So you feel for the 'home keys' instincitvely without looking? every time you type? and never had a single lesson?
Post reply on HN