John Carmack Leaves Meta • Hacker News Board

Re: John Carmack Leaves Meta

#291

Post by yuppie_scum » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 3:48 AM UTC

csande17 wrote: post #267

harrisonjackson wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I interpreted this as coerced positivity and forced happiness. Not organic actual emotion from feeling fulfilled and successful within their role.

Yes, the atmosphere at most big tech companies is this way. Everyone writes their emails with a plastered-on fake smile. The worst part is when people pretend that things are difficult. You can't just suggest that someone not waste time on an obviously bad idea; you must acknowledge that the team's development strategy is a complex, multifaceted governance problem, and many quarters of sync meetings will be necessary…

No post body was provided.

Re: John Carmack Leaves Meta

#292

Post by chihuahua » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 3:49 AM UTC

howinteresting wrote: post #277

yawnxyz wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's so wild to me that FAANG has these hiring walls set up — like crazy coding challenges — only for the best engineers to then do work equivalent to what you see at gov't or consulting jobs. Why do they make it so hard to work for them, just for their employees to play status games?

The coding challenges are basically IQ tests that have been laundered into something tangentially relevant to the job, since actual IQ tests for employment are on shaky legal ground in the US.

That's the best explanation for Leetcode interviews that I've seen.

Re: John Carmack Leaves Meta

#293

Post by jjtheblunt » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 3:52 AM UTC

Arjuna wrote: post #111

”It has been a struggle for me. I have a voice at the highest levels here, so it feels like I should be able to move things, but I'm evidently not persuasive enough. A good fraction of the things I complain about eventually turn my way after a year or two passes and evidence piles up, but I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it. I…

Perhaps he hated bureaucrats meddling with engineering and user experience.

Maybe he’s condescending in a team of bright people, and sees the world as him and then everyone lesser?

It’s hard to say what blend of reasons, other than what he explains.

Re: John Carmack Leaves Meta

#294

Post by osigurdson » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 3:53 AM UTC

mathgladiator wrote: post #244

dmix wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a classic middle management malaise where everyone gets paid so well they don’t want to stir the pot? The bureaucracy and protection of today’s money cows which only clouds them from seeing tomorrow’s cows that will rescue them from certain obscurity? The Clayton M Christensen solution to big companies ignoring obvious problems is to have isolated small teams “infrapreneurship” who aren’t under the pressures…

This is it. No one is restless, and ruthless pragmatism runs things. I was fortunate as I joined a team that was growing and had heat under them which gave me opportunities to go ham in a space I care about.

>> ruthless pragmatism

I hadn't heard this this term before but I think it is pretty accurate in many organizations. Nothing is worth doing as its impossible to prove ROI conclusively - just do what the boss says instead.

Re: John Carmack Leaves Meta

#295

Post by philistine » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 3:55 AM UTC

bombcar wrote: post #268

solardev wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you just turn on auto updates?

I don’t know what it is but those don’t seem enough. Maybe it fights with sleep somehow but my Xbox is supposed to keep games updated and if I haven’t played in a week I seem to have a download. Annoying.

On Xbox One and Series S/X you can turn on sleep mode, which uses far more energy but makes sure the console never goes without an update. I'm like you, I can go long periods without opening it and this mode keeps my system always up-to-date.

https://support.xbox.com/en-US/help/hardware-network/power/l...

Re: John Carmack Leaves Meta

#296

Post by klabb3 » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 3:56 AM UTC

Redoubts wrote: post #142

Arjuna wrote: post #111

”It has been a struggle for me. I have a voice at the highest levels here, so it feels like I should be able to move things, but I'm evidently not persuasive enough. A good fraction of the things I complain about eventually turn my way after a year or two passes and evidence piles up, but I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it. I…

> This was admittedly self-inflicted – I could have moved to Menlo Park after the Oculus acquisition and tried to wage battles with generations of leadership, but I was busy programming, and I assumed I would hate it, be bad at it, and probably lose anyway.

I interpret this as strong circumstantial evidence that companies who start out as engineering centric and claims to be meritocratic eventually deteriorate into good ole nepotistic power play and a sea of bureaucracy. It’s quite entertaining to observe even John Carmack go through this very relatable frustration.

Re: John Carmack Leaves Meta

#297

Post by ipaddr » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 3:57 AM UTC

philistine wrote: post #233

chubot wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish Elon didn't get sucked into culture wars, because slimming down Twitter's workforce wasn't a bad idea I fantasized about someone buying Google and slimming it down too, because it used to be a great place to work (I worked there for over a decade). There were lots of great builders but they got drowned out by careerists In fact I worked in the SF office around "fail whale" times at Twitter (2009), and there wa…

Slimming down Twitter's workforce is indeed a valid choice. But perhaps Elon should have spent six weeks meeting every team and asking what they did before acting, like Steve Jobs did at Apple. As it stands, it didn't seem like it helped focus the company in any way shape or form.

At least we know what social media would say about Jobs.

Re: John Carmack Leaves Meta

#298

Post by abraxas » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 3:58 AM UTC

I think he probably just watched his own keynote that he was forced to give through that Metaverse avatar. It was a much better experience as pure audio.

Re: John Carmack Leaves Meta

#299

Post by CamperBob2 » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 3:59 AM UTC

astrange wrote: post #169

slimginz wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh Meta 100% has some sort of non-compete in writing, especially after his lawsuit with Bethesda when he left Id to work at Oculus[1]. [1] https://www.pcgamer.com/zenimax-accuses-john-carmack-of-thef...

There is absolutely no such thing as a non-compete in California.

There is when equity changes hands, which will have been the case with Carmack.

Re: John Carmack Leaves Meta

#300

Post by roland35 » Sat, Dec 17, 2022, 4:00 AM UTC

lolinder wrote: post #126

throwabayhay wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I left FAANG basically because you had to play the politics and self-promotion game to get promoted. I have no reason to doubt that in the particular corner of your organization that may well have been the case, but you cannot generalize this over the whole field. As stated elsewhere, I never played any game to be promoted, I simply never consciously sought the goal of promotion, and I was promoted anyway just beca…

We have multiple people giving their anecdotes saying big tech positions emphasize self-promotion, and one anecdote (yours) saying they don't. So, sincere question: for those of us who haven't worked at a FAANG, why should we believe that your experience is the norm while the other people's is the "corner"?

I am a staff engineer at meta. I can certainly relate to Carmack's pain in getting things done on a large scale, there are I think about 9 levels between me and Zuck (so a lot of ladder climbing to reach my goal of CEO)!! But I don't feel like I have to be good at politics. You would probably be surprised at the level of snark which is openly published!

I don't see my colleagues self-promote very much at all. I am in a very practical and focused team though, there is certainly a variety of team cultures. I will say that the performance review process is a pain, I feel like it is a lot of work documenting everything I have worked on...

Literally every single company I've worked at has had loads of bullshit to deal with. Some BS was easier to handle than others! Overall I feel like things are interesting and there are good opportunities to grow in a big tech company, so I am happy for now. I've learned more in one year at meta than multiple years at other places.