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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?

#61

Post by ice109 »

nrjdhsbsid wrote: post #21
lettergram wrote: post #11

This is a fairly hard question, and inherently ha bias. What I will say is this, I believe every company from Google to the startup down the street will have some fault. However, one of the largest faults I've seen in my years working is the arrogance. I have personally found startups to be some of the most humble in that regard, they'll push you to make design choices other shops won't have you make, and if you mess…

I've had the opposite experience. Not universal, but I find most startups I've interviewed with extremely arrogant. The nicest workplaces for me have been the old and steady companies with boring software. Things I see a lot in startups: Lack of real world business experience, so terrible management. "we're the best" attitude pervasive in everything. Hyper focused on the technology used over the job at hand. Unrealis…

echos my experience at a fintech startup.

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

#62

Post by thomas-b »

Biased as well, but for that other side of the world: Atlassian Engineering culture is amazing, and repeatedly ranked best place to work in Australia. Atlassian is also very actively hiring in Sydney with great relocation experience (feel free to poke me on that).

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

#63

Post by taway_1212 »

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…

> 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.

How is that good? You essentially don't know what you sign up for.

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

#64

Post by taway_1212 »

fdsfsaa wrote: post #57
Vinnl wrote: post #36

Reading the Netflix engineering blog now and then, I do appreciate how many of their engineering decisions also take into account the effect it will have on their colleagues, i.e. "does this change affect how quickly/independently our engineers can do stuff"?

Netflix's stack ranking is a huge turnoff though. Netflix's philosophy is that it has no loyalty to employees and expects none in return. Regardless of Netflix's other attributes, this policy is a huge turn-off. https://www.fastcompany.com/3056662/the-future-of-work/she-c... If I wanted great pay and cutthroat competition, why wouldn't I just work in finance? The finance industry isn't stupid. They have developer eff…

How does loyalty even work? Let's you'r a valuable developer, but your performance dropped significantly for 6-12 months because you got a baby. The company should stick with you not because of loyalty, but because it's good business - they know you will bounce back once you start getting enough sleep.

Another example - you were a valuable developer, but got a crippling, chronic disease which makes it harder to concentrate. There is no hope of your productivity ever going back to "reasonable" levels. What is loyalty in this case? Should they still pay you for the years even though you can't contribute?

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

#65

Post by taway_1212 »

exfacebook wrote: post #32

Facebook --- far and away the best engineering culture I've ever seen, and I've been programming for 20 years. Other companies aren't even in the same league. Facebook has an incredibly high hiring bar. I never once met someone who I didn't feel was qualified to be there. I was seldom the smartest person in the room. The high average engineer quality allows the company to give developers almost complete autonomy. At…

How is their remote/work from home policy? How are the offices? Are they massive refurbished warehouses where hundreds of people constantly distract each other?

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

#66

Post by [deleted] »

taway_1212 wrote: post #63
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…

> 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. How is that good? You essentially don't know what you sign up for.

[deleted]

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

#67

Post by greenspot »

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…

I agree about Facebook.

They must have a great culture. Look what FB did for the JS ecosystem just recently—yarn, React, React Native, Immutable. Really excellent stuff which you not only need superb people but also a good culture.

So, I'd say that excellent products, both the commercial ones but also open source, are a good indicator for 'culture'.

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

#68

Post by gabipurcaru »

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.

Not true. I've interned three times at FB and will join full time, and I'm from a Romanian university that is nowhere near "top".

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

#70

Post by jacques_chester »

knocte wrote: post #23
EngineerBetter wrote: post #4

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

I might agree, but their product is horrible.

Which product? We have a hand in quite a few these days, most notably Pivotal Cloud Foundry.
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