Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
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Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
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Re: Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
#2With all due respect, I think the author has to be careful not to be jaded. While burnout and echo chambers are a real problem in the valley, an engineer who genuinely enjoys short sprints and hackathons, or staying up all night occasionally to prototype something they're excited about is not necessarily a bad hire.
Some of my fondest memories are of building something alone, or with colleagues, all night because it was time-sensitive or something we were really passionate about. That does not inherently make me bad at thinking strategically, working "normal" hours, or building long-term successful projects.
They are different skill sets, but one person can be great at both. The author seems to imply that's not true, which is a common misconception, IMHO.
Re: Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
#3The author makes some good points about hiring and working, but what's with this fixation on diversity? If you're a small start up (i.e. 5 or 10 people in his words), your goal should be to build a product and get it to market. And if you happen to be a 30s something white male workaholic who knows a few other 30s something white male workaholics who will work with you to get it out, why shouldn't you just throw diversity out the window and work with what you have to get a project to completion.
Re: Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
#4In a situation where companies underpay, and the only way to get a raise is jump shit, how could you not expect a mercenary culture?
Re: Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
#5The author makes some good points about hiring and working, but what's with this fixation on diversity? If you're a small start up (i.e. 5 or 10 people in his words), your goal should be to build a product and get it to market. And if you happen to be a 30s something white male workaholic who knows a few other 30s something white male workaholics who will work with you to get it out, why shouldn't you just throw dive…
Diversity is very useful because companies pivot and having a diverse* team allows you to better consider more options.
Note: By diversity I don't mean a team of 30 year old workaholic that graduated from Stanford and then worked at Google/MS for a few years that happen to have different skin colors. I mean a diversity of experience, fresh college student, a 60 year old near retiree, and someone that just spent six months backpacking in South America etc. It might seem like having a bind person on your team will slow you down, but plenty of dumb products get created because everyone has the same exact background and can't see just how tiny the market is.
PS: The world has ~7 billion people and most of them are not like you.
Re: Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
#6With all due respect, I think the author has to be careful not to be jaded. While burnout and echo chambers are a real problem in the valley, an engineer who genuinely enjoys short sprints and hackathons, or staying up all night occasionally to prototype something they're excited about is not necessarily a bad hire. Some of my fondest memories are of building something alone, or with colleagues, all night because it…
It seems the author is discouraging the practice of staying up all night but not throwing it out entirely. In my reading the article suggests that this shouldn't be the rule but leaves space for times when it may be required, or not so bad.
I wonder how the author would respond to having people, say once every few months or so, do an intense overnight hack session. I would guess he'd be fine with it, but suggest keeping a close eye out so that it doesn't become the rule.
Re: Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
#7The author makes some good points about hiring and working, but what's with this fixation on diversity? If you're a small start up (i.e. 5 or 10 people in his words), your goal should be to build a product and get it to market. And if you happen to be a 30s something white male workaholic who knows a few other 30s something white male workaholics who will work with you to get it out, why shouldn't you just throw dive…
As an ethnic person who evaluates a company's demographics before joining, I want to say diversity is unnecessary for being financially successful. Working with people who are different can even be difficult.
But at the end of the day, what is the founder trying to achieve? His or her personal and broader definition of success might include being inclusive.
Anecdote: working in a homogenous environment can suck for minorities. Maybe starting out diverse makes it easy to stay that way?
Re: Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
#8With all due respect, I think the author has to be careful not to be jaded. While burnout and echo chambers are a real problem in the valley, an engineer who genuinely enjoys short sprints and hackathons, or staying up all night occasionally to prototype something they're excited about is not necessarily a bad hire. Some of my fondest memories are of building something alone, or with colleagues, all night because it…
There's a difference between being willing to stay up all night to finish something and being proud of that kind of thing. I got the impression the author understood the difference.
Re: Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
#9The author makes some good points about hiring and working, but what's with this fixation on diversity? If you're a small start up (i.e. 5 or 10 people in his words), your goal should be to build a product and get it to market. And if you happen to be a 30s something white male workaholic who knows a few other 30s something white male workaholics who will work with you to get it out, why shouldn't you just throw dive…
Diversity is very useful because companies pivot and having a diverse* team allows you to better consider more options. Note: By diversity I don't mean a team of 30 year old workaholic that graduated from Stanford and then worked at Google/MS for a few years that happen to have different skin colors. I mean a diversity of experience, fresh college student, a 60 year old near retiree, and someone that just spent six m…
No diversity = blind spots. How many startups aren't serving needs because they're simply not the needs of those founding the company? And how many are missing the bigger picture on the product because they don't have someone on staff who sees things differently?
Taking a slightly roundabout example: AFAIK Pinterest was founded by men and the core team is the standard valley profile, however it has primarily a female userbase. In that case the user demographic doesn't match the initial team's demographic. However, one has to wonder whether Pinterest would have happened sooner if there were more women in the startup community, and whether there are other similar opportunities that address a huge need for a demographic not usually represented in the valley. Another example: pigeonly. A really cool company, an idea that springs forth from a different experience in the world.
Re: Fixing Engineering's Loyalty and Longevity Problem
#10The author makes some good points about hiring and working, but what's with this fixation on diversity? If you're a small start up (i.e. 5 or 10 people in his words), your goal should be to build a product and get it to market. And if you happen to be a 30s something white male workaholic who knows a few other 30s something white male workaholics who will work with you to get it out, why shouldn't you just throw dive…
Perhaps because building a diverse workforce that gives everyone opportunities regardless of culture/ethnicity/sex/gender/sexuality is the right thing to do? I mean, having a culture of shipping is great and all, but it shouldn't trump ethical and moral concerns.