Please post the full text, Medium asks for a sign up
Just block their JS. All of their dark patterns disappear.
Why is this idiot running my engineering org?
51–60 of 176 posts
Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?
#52> “ How much are you getting paid? How much equity do you have? All that shit becomes very important because it is often all you have.“
Yeah, “all that shit” like the way you can buy food or send your kid to college...
Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?
#53Please post the full text, Medium asks for a sign up
Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?
#54Sorry, the story totally lost me after she was describing the interaction with the FBI. I did not easily take away some conclusion about what she had done wrong or what deep pile of shit she had just created for herself, or what on 2 paths she had just chosen incorrectly, or daringly? (The paragraph ending, "I trusted the FBI to be good at their jobs." The next paragraph jumps right to generalizations, and I didn't c…
I don't see how the title or the concluding statements are justified by this story whatsoever. And publicly blasting a former manager for this when their described behavior doesn't support it at all? I don't know who the author is so maybe there's some context I'm supposed to know, but this just seems distasteful, on top of the confusing writing
Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?
#55It's a fresh take on "The Peter Principle" [1] and the author even references the formulaic expressions of it (if not by name). I found the article refreshing because it kind of backs into the topic by pondering an inquiry that might sloppily be expressed as, "I wonder why I have not yet succumbed to complacent fiefdom-ism?"
Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?
#56Because capitalism is broken. And the SV work ethos always has been, to a large extent, part collective hallucination, part massive con game. Whereby the vast majority of us are shoehorned into donating our souls, our creative potential and time away from our families -- for the benefit of the comparatively very few who actually call the shots.
In this context, the real question to ask is: why are you still working there?
Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?
#57This hit home: I worked over a decade at IBM. > When you are in a work situation where you are respected and admired, that is often its own reward. If you don’t have that, the components of your job that give you a sense of value and satisfaction are all connected directly to the career ladder. What is your title? What is the prestige value of your projects? My current official job title is "Code Contributor". I was…
About 20 years ago I was a newly minted CS grad and a new software engineer. I told someone a lot older than me what I do and she said "Oh, that's a great start!". Which threw me because I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do next. That's what I wanted to do. Today I am a "programmer", because I realized software isn't really engineering. That's still what I want to be doing today, and I still don't know what she thinks I'm supposed to do next.
Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?
#58She contacted the FBI to initiate an active investigation without informing her boss? Did I misread or misunderstand that?
I think she contacted the FBI in the expectation that they would just do a preliminary, informal assessment of whether an investigation should be started, without realizing they would immediately start one upon her contact.
Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
And who is the idiot? It was really interesting until it became extremely general and vague. It almost makes it sound like Matt Cutts is the idiot since he's the only specific manager mentioned.
>And who is the idiot? Short summary: Woznaik vs Jobs. The technical guy vs. the smooth talker. Longer summary: Some people are perpetual resume builders. They want quick promotion, bigger job titles, higher salary... The ladder growth is their reward. And they'll avoid anything that jeopardizes their career path. They'll grab the glory for good stuff and push the blame for bad stuff. The hacker, risk taker on the ot…
I don't get that at all. Woz vs Jobs is not an apt analogy at all. Jobs was never risk averse. He saw what could be done and how to make money off of it. Apple is a Trillion dollar company as a result and Woz is a billionaire.
Re: Why is this idiot running my engineering org?
#60Sorry, the story totally lost me after she was describing the interaction with the FBI. I did not easily take away some conclusion about what she had done wrong or what deep pile of shit she had just created for herself, or what on 2 paths she had just chosen incorrectly, or daringly? (The paragraph ending, "I trusted the FBI to be good at their jobs." The next paragraph jumps right to generalizations, and I didn't c…
I know what you mean, but no. It wasn't that she had done something wrong, it was just amazing (to her manager) that she had done something so (apparently) brave as reaching out to the FBI. The point of the essay is -- some people are brave in this way, and some aren't. I'm not sure if it's a good essay, but what I loved was the way she described connecting people as "just" doing her job. She didn't see it as brave.…
> it was just amazing (to her manager) that she had done something so (apparently) brave as reaching out
I don't think that's the case, since Matt Cutts kinda had the same role in Google before joining USDS. Or maybe he's gotten used to unexceptional employees there.