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Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

matthewgrohman.substack.com

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Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#161

Post by mixmastamyk »

nixpulvis wrote: post #38
SassyGrapefruit wrote: post #30

I travelled to Yellowstone National Park. I wandered into the back country office and spoke with the ranger. She was super friendly and informative. One interesting fact she shared is that Yellowstone is almost 4,000 sq. miles and receives 5 million visitors a year. 99.9% of those visitors never travel more than 50 feet from the main road. This means that most of those visitors experience less than 1/10th of 1% of th…

But just like at state parks, tread lightly. I've gotten in trouble before while exploring and then being accused of putting my nose where it shouldn't be. It can look like you're wasting your time looking for distractions, or trying to dig up dirt. Not everyone in all parts of your company is going to like you poking around. You also risk picking up new responsibilities if people catch wind that you might be offerin…

I used to attempt this often as well. Had a few minor wins, but typically I was met with polite indifference, told it was their department. Which is fortunately better than active sabotage.

One group was even bewildered I was able to integrate a department client app with their ticket database. Reduced necessary clicks by 95% or so. They didn't think it was possible. Yes, this is the caliber of folks working at a big corporation.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#162

Post by moosedev »

groby_b wrote: post #16
tmnstr85 wrote: post #8

The PowerShell Podcast had Doug Finke on back in mid February of this year, he made a great point at the end of the discussion. Don't be afraid to drive in another lane. Take the opportunity when you see it. In a previous life, I had a management who told me to, "stay in my lane" and this led to a series of events where I ultimately left. Anybody who tries to keep you down or limit you ability to learn and think need…

As a manager who told folks that maybe they should consider what their main lane is: There's nothing wrong with learning a different lane. There's a lot wrong with showing up in a different lane as if you had all the answers. Our industry is prone to the latter. By all means, explore other lanes, but don't be that guy. By all means, learn, but please do this from a place of curiosity and humility. Ask people who live…

> As a manager who told folks that maybe they should consider what their main lane is: There's nothing wrong with learning a different lane. There's a lot wrong with showing up in a different lane as if you had all the answers.

Also beware of neglecting to fulfil the responsibilities and expectations of the lane you are ultimately being evaluated in, especially earlier in your career. I've given the (common) advice to junior engineers to become the team expert in one thing relevant to the team (something akin to this was even in the SDE1-2 promotion rubric at Amazon), but occasionally that advice needs tempered by subsequent advice on not tunnel-visioning on that one thing (and/or choosing a more relevant thing).

Broadly agree with the article and the general advice here though!

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#163

Post by throwawaysleep »

tengbretson wrote: post #149
throwawaysleep wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I little reorganization yielded a $385,000/yr cost optimization. And your reward for that was? Were you rewarded? Did they give you 30K as a bonus? Or was it just the weasel words of "this will be considered favourably at performance review time." I am aware of about a 50K a year in cloud waste. But in my org, I know I won't get anything for reporting it as I am not going for a promo (promos pay a lot less than job…

Do you find value in having a good reputation?

A reputation as a capable drone? Yes. A reputation as a go getter? No.

Reputation also includes playing a lot of games. You can casually claim credit in interviews for things you didn't do.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#164

Post by flangola7 »

throwawaysleep wrote: post #48
SassyGrapefruit wrote: post #30

I travelled to Yellowstone National Park. I wandered into the back country office and spoke with the ranger. She was super friendly and informative. One interesting fact she shared is that Yellowstone is almost 4,000 sq. miles and receives 5 million visitors a year. 99.9% of those visitors never travel more than 50 feet from the main road. This means that most of those visitors experience less than 1/10th of 1% of th…

> I little reorganization yielded a $385,000/yr cost optimization. And your reward for that was? Were you rewarded? Did they give you 30K as a bonus? Or was it just the weasel words of "this will be considered favourably at performance review time." I am aware of about a 50K a year in cloud waste. But in my org, I know I won't get anything for reporting it as I am not going for a promo (promos pay a lot less than job…

It really is strange that the people doing the actual work don't automatically get most/all of the profits. If 10 of my friends were to dig, plant, and maintain a garden and then I gave them only them a small portion of its fruits and kept the rest for myself they would rightly be very upset with me.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#165

Post by gardenhedge »

SassyGrapefruit wrote: post #30

I travelled to Yellowstone National Park. I wandered into the back country office and spoke with the ranger. She was super friendly and informative. One interesting fact she shared is that Yellowstone is almost 4,000 sq. miles and receives 5 million visitors a year. 99.9% of those visitors never travel more than 50 feet from the main road. This means that most of those visitors experience less than 1/10th of 1% of th…

Wow, what are you going to spend that $385,000/yr on? /s

I don't see the point of your recommendation.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#166

Post by giantg2 »

SassyGrapefruit wrote: post #30

I travelled to Yellowstone National Park. I wandered into the back country office and spoke with the ranger. She was super friendly and informative. One interesting fact she shared is that Yellowstone is almost 4,000 sq. miles and receives 5 million visitors a year. 99.9% of those visitors never travel more than 50 feet from the main road. This means that most of those visitors experience less than 1/10th of 1% of th…

"It is a tremendous advantage to explore your organization fully."

This hasn't been my experience. I've moved around a lot and have exposure to many aspects of the business and how things operate. I'm 10 years in and still a midlevel. Being more linear would have resulted in faster promotions.

"You can literally write your own ticket."

Not in many large orgs. Poking your nose in other areas is a good way to get your hand slapped.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#167

Post by throwawaysleep »

flangola7 wrote: post #164
throwawaysleep wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I little reorganization yielded a $385,000/yr cost optimization. And your reward for that was? Were you rewarded? Did they give you 30K as a bonus? Or was it just the weasel words of "this will be considered favourably at performance review time." I am aware of about a 50K a year in cloud waste. But in my org, I know I won't get anything for reporting it as I am not going for a promo (promos pay a lot less than job…

It really is strange that the people doing the actual work don't automatically get most/all of the profits. If 10 of my friends were to dig, plant, and maintain a garden and then I gave them only them a small portion of its fruits and kept the rest for myself they would rightly be very upset with me.

I get why, as the organizing of the work is a critical task for any of that to happen. This is no small task to be fair, as you may notice in how few community gardens exist. Employees also get enormous risk reduction.

But in most of the work world, I get the same pay whether the crops I grow are bountiful and valuable or scarce and full of worms. I certainly don't get more converting a wormy field into a bountiful one.

So I just won't.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#168

Post by giantg2 »

gardenhedge wrote: post #165
SassyGrapefruit wrote: post #30

I travelled to Yellowstone National Park. I wandered into the back country office and spoke with the ranger. She was super friendly and informative. One interesting fact she shared is that Yellowstone is almost 4,000 sq. miles and receives 5 million visitors a year. 99.9% of those visitors never travel more than 50 feet from the main road. This means that most of those visitors experience less than 1/10th of 1% of th…

Wow, what are you going to spend that $385,000/yr on? /s I don't see the point of your recommendation.

CEO bonus

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#169

Post by giantg2 »

nickvanw wrote: post #5

I would put it even more simply: just knowing Engineering isn't enough if you want to excel past a certain point, unless you're going to go extremely deep and become a subject matter expert in something (storage, hardware, etc). That is something most people are not going to do, because it requires dedication and to be extremely intelligent. Instead, you can go very far by understanding a job one "hop" from your own…

"because it requires dedication and to be extremely intelligent."

I'm a dumb-dumb. Being a dumb-dumb in two domains isn't very helpful either. Everyone wants experts.

Re: Want an unfair advantage in your tech career? Consume content for other roles

#170

Post by gardenhedge »

ren_engineer wrote: post #151
scarface74 wrote: post #11

Maybe I’m either a cynic or a realist. But in my old age (49) I would tell in CS grad who wanted to optimize their compensation 1. “Grind LeetCode and work for BigTech” (c) r/cscareerquestions 2. Read through the leveling guidelines and figure out the politics of the organization. 3. Get on the right teams so you can show “scope” and “impact” 4. Get good at system design and behavioral interviews while you keep your…

AI might make this advice outdated, if AI is able to handle a decent chunk of common coding tasks then the people who understand business impact and where to focus efforts will be the most valuable engineers, not the leetcode grinders. Google's huge issue with launching stuff nobody wants and then shutting it down is a prime example of what happens when you keep rewarding algorithm/CS specialists over engineers who d…

Actually I think that is more of an issue with Google's MBA and Product/Project manager culture than rewarding algorithm/CS specialists
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