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Things I learned from building a production database

maheshba.bitbucket.io

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Re: Things I learned from building a production database

#11

Post by ajcp »

tyingq wrote: post #7

There was a comment asking what an "IC" was, but the comment was flagged and now dead. Guessing by the context, I'm pretty sure it means "individual contributor", or "person that is not a manager".

"Interface directly with customer ICs"

I've only ever seen it to mean "individual contributor", but then this would make it odd/bad advice. There should only be 1 "customer". Sure, that customer may have a whole team that actually needs the product, and may provide them for clarification or what not, but to avoid unrecorded/incorrect handshake agreements, specs, or pet requirements that have nothing to do with the initial product ordered there should only be 1 POC for the product unless otherwise specified.

Re: Things I learned from building a production database

#13

Post by Lucasoato »

tyingq wrote: post #7

There was a comment asking what an "IC" was, but the comment was flagged and now dead. Guessing by the context, I'm pretty sure it means "individual contributor", or "person that is not a manager".

Why was it flagged? I entered the comment section for that reason and I don't think I'm the only one.

Re: Things I learned from building a production database

#14

Post by bebop »

otras wrote: post #9
nzgrover wrote: post #6

Nowhere does it say what an "IC" is. Is it so hard to provided the Full Name(FN) and the abbrevation the first time you use it?

IC is a commonly used acronym (at least at some of the big tech companies) for Individual Contributor. For instance, when the author says "customer ICs", I imagine that means the internal engineers that would be using the database they created (individual contributors on other teams who would be customers/clients of this service). (Vouched for this flagged comment after seeing the other comment)

Thanks, I had never heard this term until I started working at my current employer. It seems like bay area lingo is assumed to be understood by everyone, even though it may not be used in the industry as widely as some folks assume.

Re: Things I learned from building a production database

#15

Post by taddevries »

cmg wrote: post #12

Assuming I'm not the only one who's never heard of Delos or Cubby: https://engineering.fb.com/2019/06/06/data-center-engineerin...

Thanks for this link. I could not tell from the post what this product was or what issues it specifically solved.

Re: Things I learned from building a production database

#16

Post by Avalaxy »

tyingq wrote: post #7

There was a comment asking what an "IC" was, but the comment was flagged and now dead. Guessing by the context, I'm pretty sure it means "individual contributor", or "person that is not a manager".

Where does the whole Individual Contributor terminology suddenly come from? I've suddenly seen it pop up many times over the last months and tbh the term doesn't make any sense. We just used to call them developers, engineers, or whatever.

Re: Things I learned from building a production database

#17

Post by Avalaxy »

otras wrote: post #9
nzgrover wrote: post #6

Nowhere does it say what an "IC" is. Is it so hard to provided the Full Name(FN) and the abbrevation the first time you use it?

IC is a commonly used acronym (at least at some of the big tech companies) for Individual Contributor. For instance, when the author says "customer ICs", I imagine that means the internal engineers that would be using the database they created (individual contributors on other teams who would be customers/clients of this service). (Vouched for this flagged comment after seeing the other comment)

> IC is a commonly used acronym for Individual Contributor

Its not though. Outside of hacker news I have literally never heard this term before, nor does it make any sense. If I'd start talking about "Individual Contributors" to my colleagues they would all be confused wth I'm talking about and wondering what's wrong with me. Who even coined this stupid term, and why do we pretend we need a new name for "engineers"?

Re: Things I learned from building a production database

#18

Post by Twisol »

ajcp wrote: post #11
tyingq wrote: post #7

There was a comment asking what an "IC" was, but the comment was flagged and now dead. Guessing by the context, I'm pretty sure it means "individual contributor", or "person that is not a manager".

"Interface directly with customer ICs" I've only ever seen it to mean "individual contributor", but then this would make it odd/bad advice. There should only be 1 "customer". Sure, that customer may have a whole team that actually needs the product, and may provide them for clarification or what not, but to avoid unrecorded/incorrect handshake agreements, specs, or pet requirements that have nothing to do with the in…

Despite all that, I still find it absolutely necessary to get in the same headspace with someone on the other "side". We can and should always float any outcomes to the primary points of contact on either side, but a POC is a primary point of contact, not the only point of contact.

Put differently, interfacing directly with customer ICs is good and necessary, so long as it's done with the go-ahead and oversight of each POC.

Re: Things I learned from building a production database

#19

Post by kzrdude »

otras wrote: post #9
nzgrover wrote: post #6

Nowhere does it say what an "IC" is. Is it so hard to provided the Full Name(FN) and the abbrevation the first time you use it?

IC is a commonly used acronym (at least at some of the big tech companies) for Individual Contributor. For instance, when the author says "customer ICs", I imagine that means the internal engineers that would be using the database they created (individual contributors on other teams who would be customers/clients of this service). (Vouched for this flagged comment after seeing the other comment)

IC means integrated circuit. Obviously it can have many meanings, but.. maybe they are not obvious.

Re: Things I learned from building a production database

#20

Post by maheshba »

tyingq wrote: post #7

There was a comment asking what an "IC" was, but the comment was flagged and now dead. Guessing by the context, I'm pretty sure it means "individual contributor", or "person that is not a manager".

author of the post here: apologies for the acronyms! I code-switched from academia/research to industry via FB a few years back and just picked up a bunch of terms that I thought were universal in industry. IC does mean Individual Contributor or "person that is not a manager" -- I'll add a definition on top!
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