Why Good People Leave Large Tech Companies

Post by chrisbennet » Sat, Jul 22, 2017, 10:45 AM UTC

lovich wrote: post #167

chrisbennet wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed that but I didn't understand what he was getting at. Was he saying that the CEO/former student was: A) Repeating what Steve told him and Steve had changed his mind about that advice? B) Repeating what Steve told him but in the wrong context?

To me it sounded like the author had truly believed that advice at the startup stage but now in a large company he saw how those words rang hollow as the employees were no longer benefiting from the companies growth. He seemed embarrassed that his words were being used to justify adding 45 ×70 minutes of commute time to a team that wasn't getting early employee equity

Post by RodericDay » Sat, Jul 22, 2017, 11:10 AM UTC

ehnto wrote: post #137

RealityNow wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You like people telling you what to do and having no control over those decisions? Personally I absolutely loathe such environments, especially when the decisions are made haphazardly without proper rationale, which they often are (executives are human too). At the end of the day, the "subordinates" are the ones actually doing the far majority of the work, and they far outnumber the managers. I don't see why the work…

That would be the idea behind a technical lead no? Having a voice for the tehcnical team. Everyone should have a voice but not everyone needs to literally be at the table. Seeing companies go from small to larger and seeing how the flat structure begins to show caveats as a team grows, I agree everyone should have a voice, but ultimately a decision needs to be made and a big group of people are never going to agree o…

Post by renolc » Sat, Jul 22, 2017, 11:47 AM UTC

andrey_utkin wrote: post #195

ck425 wrote: post #193

The company I work for at the moment has two values/myths that have worked really well at preventing situations like this. Early on, just before I joined at around the 150 person stage, the employees self organized values. One of these was Daytime is Precious. Interestingly it was applied equally to the idea of don't waste time (meetings etc) and to the idea that everyone has a life outside of work. The second was th…

> teams are anonymous, and decide themselves what they work on. Could you please elaborate how that worked technicall? Does that affect git log authorship metadata? What about discussions on company chat/maillist about the issues being worked on, are they also anonymous? Does this make tracking real contributions of individuals impossible?

Post by pmontra » Sat, Jul 22, 2017, 11:51 AM UTC

danek wrote: post #119

jmspring wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a boss like this. Talked with his bosses multiple times, no change. When I left a couple of weeks prior to my one year vest and another colleague did the same a couple of months later (both of us key/senior people), they noticed a little bit. Eventually said individuals behavior and reputation impacted his own goals when seeking funding. That said, upper management didn't do anything until after the fact.

Yeah I've noticed that usually you need at least 4 people to quit before anything happens to the boss. Even if they know he sucks they're gonna try and keep him on. No idea why, but it has the appearance of "he's part of the mgmt club and you aren't"

Post by rdtsc » Sat, Jul 22, 2017, 12:10 PM UTC

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #163

e59d134d wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too many companies have eroded employees trust by lying that something is anonymous when it is not. I personally will never trust any such survey at work.

I've seen anonymous surveys that ask for the team you're on. Way to narrow down the possibilities management.