Live data from Hacker News

Developer won’t get hit by a bus, they’ll get hired by Netflix

neomindlabs.com

11–20 of 441 posts

Re: Developer won’t get hit by a bus, they’ll get hired by Netflix

#11
FAANG companies can certainly offer more money, but there are lots of things other companies can offer too (besides Ruby on Rails apparently).

- ownership of the product and process

- less red tape and politics

- good work life balance

- location other than Silicon Valley

- boss who pays attention to engineer needs and wants

Money is a huge factor but it isn't the only one!

Re: Developer won’t get hit by a bus, they’ll get hired by Netflix

#12
When working on a project, I would title my documentation something like "Bus Document," aiming for a soup-to-nuts file describing how the project came to be all the way out with appendices describing each file format, etc. I spent a lot of time talking about the Bus Factor, to little avail. A pity.

Re: Developer won’t get hit by a bus, they’ll get hired by Netflix

#15
Instead of "hit by a bus," I prefer the term "win the lotto."

Any member of your team could win a life-changing amount of money in the lottery, inherit it, win a gambling bet, etc. Frame it as a good thing rather than a death or a change of hire - somebody might just flat out retire because they don't financially need your employment anymore.

Re: Developer won’t get hit by a bus, they’ll get hired by Netflix

#16
post #4

The "hit by a bus" thing is used for the most dramatic effect: there's nothing you can do, there's no grace period where a "poached" developer can give some wisdom to his/her successor etc. Managers know that it's not the most likely case, but it's still possible.

Yeah I think "hit by a bus" generally means there is 0 chance of knowledge transfer and is more a disaster recovery term than a talent retention term.

Unless you really burn a bridge with your workers they should have at least a week or 2 to transfer knowledge!

Re: Developer won’t get hit by a bus, they’ll get hired by Netflix

#17
The author makes it sound like Rails is the recommended way to build software that is maintained by a revolving door of junior developers whom you don't have to motivate or compensate, because you can just hire another cog-in-the-machine when the old ones inevitably wise up to your game.

Not sure if that was the intended message.

Re: Developer won’t get hit by a bus, they’ll get hired by Netflix

#18
post #4

The "hit by a bus" thing is used for the most dramatic effect: there's nothing you can do, there's no grace period where a "poached" developer can give some wisdom to his/her successor etc. Managers know that it's not the most likely case, but it's still possible.

yah, terminated with no possibility of knowledge transfer.

Re: Developer won’t get hit by a bus, they’ll get hired by Netflix

#20
post #7
post #3

> never underestimate the amount of money the FAANGs have to poach your talent. I really wish we'd stop using the word "poach". It's a loaded word with negative connotations, but what it really means here is "offer someone a better situation than you offered them". Employees have agency, they aren't wild elephants who need your "protection" from "predators" who just want to pay them more.

Another way of saying it: > Never underestimate how much better a person's life can be by working for a FAANG instead of working for you Edit: For those who are downvoting, I'm simply saying this is what's implied by the quote. I'm not making a statement about FAANGs.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN