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Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
21–30 of 117 posts
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does the "TL;DR" sentiment really belong at HN at all? I'd like to think this community is above that. The whole thrust of the site is about/for people who aren't interested in taking the easy way out.
I always appreciate the efforts of HN'ers who post a TL;DR summary. It's less about taking the easy way out, and more about saving time.
In that case, why is tertius asking for a summary? If a summary is a good idea, the keyboard can be found between tertius' chair and screen ;-)
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#23He had me until: "What’s your final level at Microsoft? Please don’t say CEO or Technical Fellow – I can almost guarantee you it’s not." He may be right, but there are some ambitious employees at Microsoft who truly do want to be CEO. If that's what they want, I hope they continue to bust their ass of to achieve it.
I really don't like when critics put a cap on someone's future.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#24Two things struck me, one kind of minor - a Pentium 66? In 1997 my desktop machine at my new startup job was a Pentium Pro 200. It replaced the SGI Indy R4400 200 from my previous startup job. No offices with doors, though, of course. The other thing was, and I don't mean these questions in a derogatory way, how do you start working for Microsoft in 1997, of all years. And how do you stay there for 12 years running?…
What kind of startup employee will you be when the only professional environment you have known is Microsoft?
Good thing he's not going to a startup, he's going to Facebook.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#25Really needs a TL;DR
Does the "TL;DR" sentiment really belong at HN at all? I'd like to think this community is above that. The whole thrust of the site is about/for people who aren't interested in taking the easy way out.
we just need an automated way to extract that information so it doesn't clutter the comments.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#26[deleted]
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#27He had me until: "What’s your final level at Microsoft? Please don’t say CEO or Technical Fellow – I can almost guarantee you it’s not." He may be right, but there are some ambitious employees at Microsoft who truly do want to be CEO. If that's what they want, I hope they continue to bust their ass of to achieve it. I really don't like when critics put a cap on someone's future.
Undoubtedly you are correct, someone else will eventually be CEO, thus his statement is categorically false. However he is being over the top to make a point, some people think it while knowing they don't work hard enough/care enough to get there. He is saying people need to stop lying to themselves and realistically view their future with the company.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#28[deleted]
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#29I very much enjoyed this, especially the part on compare with the best person in the office, no one else.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#30If you consistently deliver what the business needs most, and you do it well, it’s impossible not to get promoted. People tell me this isn’t true, that it’s all about the people you know and about “visibility.” I have no idea how to consistently deliver impactful business results without becoming visible as a side effect. I hate it when developers ask me how to become “more visible.” They hate it when I tell them to “do great work.” They think I’m mocking them.
You can think this way if your idea of "what the business needs most" is "what currently has the sales guys in a tizzy." Forget about everything else. Oh, and if your code only works for current customers, and has to have a bunch of tweaks and fixes applied for each new customer, then people will think your code is what allows them to sell to new customers. No kidding. If you write code that doesn't handle cases A, B, and C, then later you get credit for adding "support" for A, B, and C and making it possible to sell to customers X, Y, and Z. That's "visibility," because people from sales and marketing will mention your name appreciatively at high levels.
And for God's sake don't do any work on scaling or reliability, because a salesman never calls up your boss's boss and says, "It's been a long time since the scalability of your systems scotched a deal. I just want to say that's awesome and thank you." Wait until it breaks, make everyone thinks it's impossible, and then fix it.
EDIT: In a healthy organization, none of this will affect who gets promoted, but in an organization where people worry about "visibility," this is what they're talking about.