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Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

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Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#81

Post by yieldcrv »

vrinsd wrote: post #75
yieldcrv wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hm, that might be happening to me, I'm an IC right now I make it pretty clear during hiring that I don't have aspirations beyond IC anymore. Been there done that kind of vibes, I like to build. I say my value add is that I can add a vote for whatever policy or method would improve an org, people seem to like that. But I'm currently on a team where leadership is doing everything outside of the sprint cycle, random dem…

This reeks of a situation where the people in the management position(s) really aren't the right people for the job and having a logical discussion or trying to explain how or why something should be done differently falls on deaf ears (or worse, antagonizes them). Maybe I'm projecting from my own experiences but this usually is because the leadership has a "top down" mentality, "we know better because we are in this…

edit: I got fired today for that

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#82

Post by yowlingcat »

yieldcrv wrote: post #81
vrinsd wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reeks of a situation where the people in the management position(s) really aren't the right people for the job and having a logical discussion or trying to explain how or why something should be done differently falls on deaf ears (or worse, antagonizes them). Maybe I'm projecting from my own experiences but this usually is because the leadership has a "top down" mentality, "we know better because we are in this…

edit: I got fired today for that

You're a newly fired IC? In a comment several days ago about vesting schedules it sounds like you were speaking as a cofounder. If these were the same role then something smells suspicious about how your coworkers were treating you from the start IE any of these leaders and the general style of operating the company should have included your input. Moreover, I'm surprised they'd make a decision like this so flippantly as I'm not sure how it could be easy to fire a cofounder without significant legal headache to the company.

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#83

Post by mousetree »

yieldcrv wrote: post #81
vrinsd wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reeks of a situation where the people in the management position(s) really aren't the right people for the job and having a logical discussion or trying to explain how or why something should be done differently falls on deaf ears (or worse, antagonizes them). Maybe I'm projecting from my own experiences but this usually is because the leadership has a "top down" mentality, "we know better because we are in this…

edit: I got fired today for that

You got fired for just asking "are we using the sprint cycle?" There must be more to this story, no?

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#84

Post by sgt »

lr1970 wrote: post #58

One of the most interesting examples is Mitchell Hashimoto of HashiCorp fame (13B publicly traded company). His career path was: HashiCorp CoFounder -> CEO -> CTO -> Engineer -> finally left HashiCorp in December 2023. Now he enjoys private life while creating a super-cool Ghostty terminal in Zig [0], currently in private beta. [0] https://mitchellh.com/

Something tells me Zig is going to overtake Rust! Anyone, anyone?

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#86

Post by AnimalMuppet »

yieldcrv wrote: post #28
convolvatron wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the only problem with this is that as an IC when your manager is really doing poorly and not grasping their job, its _really_ hard not to say 'dude wtf, that's just not right'. that can go pretty badly. so you really have to work hard to stay extra constructive and support them as if you were _their_ manager, without the authority that usually implies. and that's a heavy burden as an IC

hm, that might be happening to me, I'm an IC right now I make it pretty clear during hiring that I don't have aspirations beyond IC anymore. Been there done that kind of vibes, I like to build. I say my value add is that I can add a vote for whatever policy or method would improve an org, people seem to like that. But I'm currently on a team where leadership is doing everything outside of the sprint cycle, random dem…

> and the other IC's I do talk to (who don't know I've been in other non-IC roles before) act like I asked the biggest boat rocking question ever and I'm putting a target on myself.

That tells you much about the culture of the place. The other ICs know that you can't ask questions like that - they know that not only is the place dysfunctional as far as the sprint cycle, but it's vengefully dysfunctional - management will get you if you point out their dysfunction.

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#87

Post by jf22 »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #26
convolvatron wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the only problem with this is that as an IC when your manager is really doing poorly and not grasping their job, its _really_ hard not to say 'dude wtf, that's just not right'. that can go pretty badly. so you really have to work hard to stay extra constructive and support them as if you were _their_ manager, without the authority that usually implies. and that's a heavy burden as an IC

This is partly why ageism exists. The longer you have worked, the more obvious the failings of your superiors are. Older workers are harder to trick into working on some project that will fail/produce no business value.

Conversely, older workers don't really care about what has business value and what doesn't, and if they did, they certainly care less about getting entangled in a discussion about it.

I know a lot of older workers, myself included, who don't want a seat at that table anymore.

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#88

Post by yieldcrv »

mousetree wrote: post #83
yieldcrv wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

edit: I got fired today for that

You got fired for just asking "are we using the sprint cycle?" There must be more to this story, no?

the aforementioned guy merging PRs in random order decided that the existence of merge conflicts were all the devs fault, pinned a merge conflict on me and said I wasn't a good fit for their management style, a charitable explanation as none of us would pass an interview if we described an application development process this way

so I did in fact put a target on myself for asking anything

all happened at the end of yesterday, thought I was in the clear but they were conferring. My weekend post and reflection ironically turned out to be foreshadowing.

(hm all the time stamps are wrong, I originally posted the observation two days ago. I posted this sunday or so and got fired on monday afternoon)

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#89

Post by yieldcrv »

yowlingcat wrote: post #82
yieldcrv wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

edit: I got fired today for that

You're a newly fired IC? In a comment several days ago about vesting schedules it sounds like you were speaking as a cofounder. If these were the same role then something smells suspicious about how your coworkers were treating you from the start IE any of these leaders and the general style of operating the company should have included your input. Moreover, I'm surprised they'd make a decision like this so flippantl…

I’ve been everything

I work for other people right now

These were not the same roles

Re: Ask HN: Going from CTO to Developer?

#90

Post by yowlingcat »

yieldcrv wrote: post #89
yowlingcat wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're a newly fired IC? In a comment several days ago about vesting schedules it sounds like you were speaking as a cofounder. If these were the same role then something smells suspicious about how your coworkers were treating you from the start IE any of these leaders and the general style of operating the company should have included your input. Moreover, I'm surprised they'd make a decision like this so flippantl…

I’ve been everything I work for other people right now These were not the same roles

I guess I don't get it -- if you've founded a company and it went successfully enough to where you can be an LP (or you are otherwise independently wealthy), why would you join an early stage company full-time as an IC when you could join as a consultant or advisor to smoke out whether the collaboration is a good fit for you?
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