My Time at Snap • Hacker News Board

Re: My Time at Snap

#211

Post by mellosouls » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 4:50 PM UTC

isoskeles wrote: post #206

mellosouls wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are perhaps poring too much over the detail. I've no idea how you get to burning the whole building down, my rationale for conveying the importance of respecting standards, legislation and plain human decency was pretty clear I think.

The rationale I see here is that 'disrespecting' standards means we should cut off the nose to spite the face. Why didn't you decide the building should be burned down, rather than just closing the offending restrooms? Or if not burned, closed temporarily? Or, per your example, what is the difference if they leave the restroom open but specifically disable the urinals, letting people use the sinks to wash their hands…

Please, just consider what I actually said, these excessive scorched earth situations are kind of bizarre.

The reason you would require the functioning facility to be closed is to make it clear to the business and all others there are consequences for this incompetence and lack of care.

Re: My Time at Snap

#212

Post by Timberwolf » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 4:55 PM UTC

derwiki wrote: post #153

Timberwolf wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked with a "John", with the added bonus that I was expected to be the hatchet man telling developers that they couldn't use any language features introduced post Java 5 or that they had to restructure all of their solutions in line with the latest edict. Thankfully we had some very good teams who saw exactly what was happening, and were able to schedule a round table so we could talk about how this was both demo…

I haven’t worked with Java in over a decade. What is the rationale for not allowing newer language features? Thanks in advance!

In this context, the rationale was little more than this being the last version in which "John" had done significant day-to-day programming, and therefore felt informed enough to interfere with on a daily basis. My personal take was that a lot of the negative behaviour was being unable to "let go" and accept no longer feeling like the best programmer in the organisation.

Re: My Time at Snap

#213

Post by jkp56 » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 5:03 PM UTC

teen wrote: post #22

Tough break. I also spoke w/ a Snap Recruiter around the same time as you, and was offered that ridic amount of equity- they were talking about 600k for L5, or over 1m for L6. I felt like this was a huge red flag that their equity was bullshit. And that vesting schedule is an obvious scam. Reading Glassdoor is nothing but stories like this one. Sorry you went through it. None of this surprises me, Snap Leadership see…

1M per year?

Re: My Time at Snap

#214

Post by spookthesunset » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 5:21 PM UTC

derwiki wrote: post #153

Timberwolf wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked with a "John", with the added bonus that I was expected to be the hatchet man telling developers that they couldn't use any language features introduced post Java 5 or that they had to restructure all of their solutions in line with the latest edict. Thankfully we had some very good teams who saw exactly what was happening, and were able to schedule a round table so we could talk about how this was both demo…

I haven’t worked with Java in over a decade. What is the rationale for not allowing newer language features? Thanks in advance!

> What is the rationale for not allowing newer language features?

"They aren't proven"

"They aren't mature enough"

"They are bloat"

"They make the code too complex"

"They don't scale"

"They are slow"

"They make it hard to read the code"

"The language vendor might pull the plug on them"

"They have bugs"

"They aren't any easier than "

If you read between the lines, people that object to new language features are almost always doing it for a single reason, which they may not even admit to themselves:

"I'm not a competent enough developer to understand the language feature, so nobody should use the feature"

Re: My Time at Snap

#215

Post by Topgamer7 » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 5:24 PM UTC

corebit wrote: post #203

kalkin wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even the supposedly nightmarish engineering director could, from another angle, possibly be seen in a good light: Insisting on proper analysis and design before a project commences, taking a deep interest in the technical part of the project. In what world is it a good idea for an engineering director to take a deep interest in technical details of a project? Suppose that the director was right and author was wrong…

Good managers are good leaders, which means they sometimes need to teach. There's nothing wrong with an engineering manager teaching someone about the proper type for a database column as an exercise in actual leadership and mentorship of their development team.

But forcing you to change tests from using sqlite to mysql because of int vs smallint is an overreaction. If I was to prioritize moving tests from sqlite to mysql, over getting functional requirements done, I'd be nuts. Especially if the tests catch 99.9999999% of issues. Its very unlikely to have an issue with this type of thing. That's not a good manager, that's a moron.

Re: My Time at Snap

#216

Post by anonsnap » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 5:28 PM UTC

teen wrote: post #22

Tough break. I also spoke w/ a Snap Recruiter around the same time as you, and was offered that ridic amount of equity- they were talking about 600k for L5, or over 1m for L6. I felt like this was a huge red flag that their equity was bullshit. And that vesting schedule is an obvious scam. Reading Glassdoor is nothing but stories like this one. Sorry you went through it. None of this surprises me, Snap Leadership see…

its 25/25/25/25 with no cliff and quarterly investment as of jan 2018

Re: My Time at Snap

#217

Post by tombert » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 5:32 PM UTC

radlad wrote: post #151

ordinaryperson wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We have all worked for a "John" in the industry. Agreed. But since so many middle managers are twits isn't it incumbent on the employee to learn a set of skills to deal with Johns? Managing people is hard. Being a good manager is really hard, which is why there are so few of them. Rather than rail against how terrible Person X is as a manager I feel like it's more productive to say, "Unless I start my own company t…

> Agreed. But since so many middle managers are twits isn't it incumbent on the employee to learn a set of skills to deal with Johns? It's much easier to simply find a better job without a John, or where you're shielded from John. (My name breaks this analogy a bit.)

I largely agree with you.

My current manager where I work is pretty cool. We get along pretty well, and I don't mind working for them. However, I think my manager's manager is...umm, well, let's just say "not very good at their job", fairly close to the "John" in this story.

If my current manager quit or was fired or died, and I had to work for their manager, I probably would quit before I learned to effectively work with "John"; the job market is pretty good for engineers right now, why the hell not?

Re: My Time at Snap

#218

Post by DoreenMichele » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 6:10 PM UTC

tomp wrote: post #160

DoreenMichele wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it make sense to spend 1% of GDP on something that helps 0.5% of the population (I'm making up numbers here)? Some not made up numbers for you: Roughly 15-20% of people self-identify as handicapped. At least one study suggests that up to 60% of the population has some degree of impairment and would benefit from more accessible design in the world generally. This fits with my observations. Most people who are onl…

I'm all for "more accessible design" as it also correlates with "easier to use", but otherwise I think you're making my point for me. Do your family members with dysgraphia (difficulty writing) benefit from ramps, larger phone booths and hearing-impaired accessibility features?

Lots of people benefit from ramps. For example, people pushing a baby stroller. People who walk with a cane. People who walk with a permanent limp but don't yet need a cane (like me).

Public phones are going the way of the dinosaur. Most folks have a smartphone these days. I feel like that's largely irrelevant.

Hearing impaired accessibility features in, for example, computer-based games came in very handy when we were homeless and spending our entire day at a library where you needed to either keep the sound off or wear headphones. None of us can wear headphones due to health issues that promote ear infections, so we just kept the sound off all day and relied on the visual cues intended for deaf or hearing-impaired people.

Re: My Time at Snap

#219

Post by ajnin » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 6:11 PM UTC

somishere wrote: post #130

Wow, nothing like a massive whinge to start the day! Don't take a lot of pleasure in saying it, but am highly suspicious of the author's role in all this. While there's no doubt John plagued our friend's life (as are Johns' wont); how said friend played everything else, the relationship handling, the motivation (!) ... culminating in this ego-driven, embittered rant. I mean, the situation definitely sucks. But my big…

So, if you're not a "Tetris piece" that stacks well (i.e. bends the whims of your superiors at the expense of your private life and mental health), then you're a "shit hire" ? Yes, that situation sucks, but not for the reasons you imply.

Re: My Time at Snap

#220

Post by thothamon » Tue, Oct 01, 2019, 6:25 PM UTC

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #185

radlad wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Agreed. But since so many middle managers are twits isn't it incumbent on the employee to learn a set of skills to deal with Johns? It's much easier to simply find a better job without a John, or where you're shielded from John. (My name breaks this analogy a bit.)

I don't think it's easier, because: a) It's hard to identify a good manager ahead of time. b) People change; circumstances change. c) Your team and manager will change sooner than you expect, especially if they are a good team or manager.

d) Constantly changing jobs every time some jerk floats into your circle doesn’t speak well of your character or look good on your resume.