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Why I have left Samsung

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Re: Why I have left Samsung

#121

Post by peacemaker »

hkmurakami wrote: post #54
throwaway1979 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another reasonable explanation I've come across is that employees keep getting promoted until they hit a job where they aren't competent. I always attributed that to the Dilbert comics but maybe I was mistaken.

The Peter Principle: The Peter Principle is a proposition that states that the members of an organization where promotion is based on achievement, success, and merit, will eventually be promoted beyond their level of ability. The principle is commonly phrased, "Employees tend to rise to their level of incompetence." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle

If you liked The Office, I think the Gervais Principle is an even better explanation of this: http://www.ribbonfarm.com/the-gervais-principle/

Re: Why I have left Samsung

#122

Post by hurfdurferson »

mikecane wrote: post #67

I have a question as a user to devs: Do you consider fixing code a bad job, as he did? The Net is filled with complaints about things that require fixing in lots of software that's been around a while. Yet it never seems to get done. Is this more because dev hate to fix old code by someone else -- what in the book world would be termed an editor's function -- or is this the nature of the corporate beast, to just keep…

I'm glad you asked that. I actually really like maintenance coding. I like taking an application that was acting like garbage, identifying the good intentions within, and helping those good intentions to be expressed more explicitly in the actual function of the application. I like turning screams of rage into screams of delight. It's satisfying!

Re: Why I have left Samsung

#123

Post by michaelochurch »

praptak wrote: post #120
michaelochurch wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Warsaw software developers' job market has gotten really interesting since Google opened an engineering center here some umpteen months ago. There is just no reason to stick to crappy jobs at this time. What makes you think Google is better? Google pays decently, but the work isn't interesting unless you have social access. Being in an Eastern European satellite office, you're not going to get the machine learning wo…

> What makes you think Google is better? Statements from friends who work there plus knowledge from seminars they sometimes organize with Warsaw University. Example (Polish language warning :-) ): http://students.mimuw.edu.pl/SR/rok12-13/Google.html Short translation of the above link: cluster management, availability management, load balancing. OS-level things, definitely not maintenance of a legacy ticketing system…

You could be right, but my experience at Google is that even on the projects that seem interesting, the microallocation comes down to rank. For example, on my team of ~15 people there were plenty of individuals doing interesting stuff, but if you were SWE 2-3 you were fucked. Your boss could take advantage of the fact that SWE 3's are pretty much considered to be parasites not worthy of consideration as humans. You'd never get to work on a green field and actually have an opportunity to prove yourself.

The only thing that matters at Google is your rank and your "calibration score". That, and nothing else, determines what projects are available to you. If you're willing to spend 5+ years playing politics and trading favors in order to get promo story you need, then you can get something passably interesting.

Re: Why I have left Samsung

#124

Post by hawat »

As I know, (from my own sources inside) Samsung Poland is - as for Corporation - nice place to work. There are many, many worse employers here in Poland. Most big players treat polish workforce as second grade (better than those in 3rd world, worse than in "better world"). It`s funny to hear not that someone who spend 9 months in Korean origin corporation don`t know that in Korea ActiveX is some kind of "standard" for webapps (long and painful story, someone with grater knowledge in this topic should write some word about it - is interesting how they tied themselves in closed and problematic ecosystem)

Re: Why I have left Samsung

#126

Post by obviouslygreen »

yesimahuman wrote: post #97
ozim wrote: post #23

What have you been expecting as Junior Developer? Especially in large company, there are lots of smarter people there, you are just starting. Sometimes people need to be a little more humble, than thinking that on start they will be doing new android features right away. I've worked for similar big cos as junior, did not like it also and runned away. But someone has to do the dishes...

I think humility is even more important in a startup than a big co, since being a stubborn arrogant fool doesn't help you respond to reality. However, the fact that young developers are making such amazing things right now pretty much disproves that "moving up the ladder" is necessary for great software product work in 2013. Times are seriously changing.

I think humility is even more important in a startup than a big co, since being a stubborn arrogant fool doesn't help you respond to reality.

While I'd agree with your logic on its own, the reality of (east coast) startups does not seem to match, at least based on the articles and accounts we most often see here. Humility, a very valuable trait, seems almost totally absent -- unless the bulk of those doing the actual work are so humble as to cower under their viciously self-promoting cofounders. Which I suppose is entirely possible.

Re: Why I have left Samsung

#127

Post by RivieraKid »

mikecane wrote: post #77
RivieraKid wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it really seems that at least some of them are idiots, otherwise their Android customization (TouchWiz) wouldn't be as tasteless and shitty. With their resources, they could do so many amazing things, but they seem to completely lack creativity.

>>>With their resources, they could do so many amazing things, but they seem to completely lack creativity. They brought Multi-View to Android. I wish Android had that baked in.

Android should have a good window manager, not just something like MultiView. MW causes problems with one of my apps and I don't have plan to fix it, my apps target Android, not Android customizations like TouchWiz.

Re: Why I have left Samsung

#129

Post by mrkipling »

heidar wrote: post #79
mrkipling wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly what I was going to say. Writing a blog post riddled with grammatical errors (and emoticons!) slagging off your former employer is not a good look as far as future employers are concerned.

Are we honestly that concerned with formality in this industry? I'd be more concerned with the contents and less with how formal they are. And what is wrong with using emoteicons in personal blog posts? I don't necessarily agree with slagging off your former employer but his criticisms are still valid. The only thing that I didn't like was: "First of all I did this because this job was terrible boring for me (fixing…

> And like someone pointed out, English is not his first language.

I didn't register that part, no. In that case his use of English is fine. The emoticons, not so much for a blog post.

I still don't agree that writing this sort of post is professional or will do him any favours.

Re: Why I have left Samsung

#130

Post by michaelochurch »

Dystopian wrote: post #108
PavlovsCat wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whining? Where? Or was that an attempt at irony? Child? I would call it "rather wise for that age". Have you ever worked on a farm, by the way? Unprofessional? Define "professional", then.

It's unprofessional because in the real-world you're OFTEN (of not most of the time) tasked with tasks that you believe are below your skill-set (or non-world changing as the author put it). The reward for the hard work is usually being elevated to a project you're proud of, or work you enjoy (sometimes this happens, sometimes it doesn't - that's the workforce - if you're in a situation where you don't see upward mob…

It's unprofessional because in the real-world you're OFTEN (of not most of the time) tasked with tasks that you believe are below your skill-set (or non-world changing as the author put it). The reward for the hard work is usually being elevated to a project you're proud of, or work you enjoy (sometimes this happens, sometimes it doesn't - that's the workforce - if you're in a situation where you don't see upward mobility, you usually switch out from Co. A to Co. B that'll grant you what you're looking for).

Do you realize how disgusting and condescending an arrangement this is? It's "you're a prole, so if you really grovel I'll throw you a bone now and then, if I feel like it; if not, too bad, and that's what you get for being a prole". Fuck that.

By the way, I don't think you're one of the bad guys. I think you're too young to realize that you're defending the bad guys, or at least it comes off that way. At your age, I don't think you've been burned badly enough to know what you're talking about. You may have been laid off, but you haven't had the CEO of a 100-person company spend years stalking you and trying to ruin your reputation. Once you start having experiences like that, you'll know the assholes running this game for what they really are.

the difference is we don't write negative, public posts against the company that we worked for (especially considering Samsung's probably recruiting, and there's a "talent shortage" in mobile development at-the-moment).

Speaking honestly about a negative work experience is a good thing for society, because it allows talented people to allocate their energy to more appreciative companies that will give them better work, rather than wasting their talents on low-level, parochial people-pleasing.

This is like the refusal of some newspapers to print Bush's involvement in the wiretapping scandal of 2004 because it "might affect the election". That's the fucking point! You're supposed to give people information that will help them make better (political and economic) decisions. The prohibition against "bad-mouthing" previous employers by being honest about them is the same thing. It's just fucking oppression and intimidation at this point, not "professionalism". Back when the professions meant something because companies took care to be decent to their people, it was different. But now "bad-mouthing" is almost always second-strike. People don't disparage ex-employers lightly. In all the cases I know about, the ex-employers deserve much worse than they got.

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