they're not necessarily 0.1x programmers. at big companies risks and their impact are disproportionately higher than at startups, which unfortunately causes most engineers to be overly cautious. every change is almost non-trivial. it also doesn't help that sometimes even long tenured engineers can't inspire confidence that a change could be safely made. of course there are legitimate cases of 'coasters' but my general experience at bigco with a proper bigco culture is one of people avoiding catastrophe at all cost.
Ask HN: How to deal with 0.1X programmer colleagues?
31–40 of 108 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with 0.1X programmer colleagues?
#32It sucks. I don't have your experience, nor the answer, but I'd search for a different work environment to avoid degrading.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with 0.1X programmer colleagues?
#33>>> No one inside or outside the team seems to be batting an eyelid about this
So, everything looks good from a org stand point. Maybe you are looking at the wrong metric, or maybe you are not a good fit for them.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with 0.1X programmer colleagues?
#34You need to find another team. It sounds like the culture you work in is not for you.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with 0.1X programmer colleagues?
#35You are asking how to change the culture at a big organization. It is not possible unless you are C-Suite. This is true of most smaller organizations as well, though in smaller organizations the C-Suite may be more accessible. This is the time to work on yourself. Do not let your team change you or slow you down. Do the work required, improve your skills, and go find a better team.
By the way, it sounds like you are frustrated with how companies work in general. You should read this excellent essay: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-....
Under this loser/clueless/sociopath framework, the skilled engineers at many organizations (including yours, it seems) simply are highly paid "losers" with cushy benefits (I do not mean this as a personal insult!). Your colleagues may have an experience-driven grasp of this and are acting rationally, in a way.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with 0.1X programmer colleagues?
#36I worked at tech-team-of-one startups for years.
I wonder if you picked up any bad habits, like forgetting how to work on a team.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with 0.1X programmer colleagues?
#37How long have you been there? Perhaps not long enough to run out of steam pushing so hard.
You need to work sustainably at a big company. Because there's lots of road blocks to frustrate you. Managing frustration is a skill. Working at 50% capacity is a tactic.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with 0.1X programmer colleagues?
#38"It's a marathon, not a sprint". I've only ever heared this phrase working for a big corp during my first large incident response engagement.
Having worked both at startups and large organizations, I can tell that there are two extremes and neither are healthy.
It seems like you got used to the constant crunch time that startups use to burn faster through their usually young human resources. From my experience, noone can sustain that pace without getting burned out or/and (willingly) compromising on their spouses and personal connections outside work.
Looking at the bigger picture you might realize that there are different point of views what progress means. In big corp it's usually about getting rid of/around obstacles, while startups focus on growth, happy VCs and other metrics that mean very little to a big corporate machine that by itself got enough intertia to keep moving even if it doesn't hit those metrics.
Conversely if your current business is running on billable hours. Finishing earlier and providing unrealistic client expectations might activly hurt your employer.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with 0.1X programmer colleagues?
#39Your reward for shovelling the most shit is a bigger shovel.
Frankly, it sounds like you're the problem here.
Re: Ask HN: How to deal with 0.1X programmer colleagues?
#40Leave. Email me nico@ramp.com