You have to know how to drive the car

This is the second time I’ve seen Goedecke criticized as cynical and honestly it quite baffles me, I see it almost completely the opposite. His writing acknowledges the common cynical views of working at large companies but then works to rationalize them, in a pragmatic way.

The first two thoughts that came into my head were: 'Yep, learn the machine and you can climb' and 'I always want to ride a bike and not drive a car'.

I think the author nails a lot about different career paths but left out one, the gambler which I think a lot of people have an aspect of. The gambler is the person that is throwing crazy at every problem and the thing is that sometimes it actually pays off, but like a lotto scratcher the overall payoff is pretty low for most (unless you are this guy [1]. Like I said, most).

I think this is different from their person that 'wants to deliver real value'. This is a person that loves the idea, and that it could be the next big thing. That or I just -really- liked the name 'the gambler' and filled in the rest of the details for the fun of it. Really, who doesn't want to be the gambler? Honestly.

[1] https://www.wired.com/2011/01/cracking-the-scratch-lottery-c...

Yes, absolutely yes. But it's the price of playing in the big leagues. In exchange, you get to work on cutting edge tech used by millions.

Driving the car is surprisingly easy.

If there's a single hack for your career it is simply telling your manager when things happen. Shipped something? Tell them. Broke something? Tell them. Blocked on something? Keep that quiet. No, wait, tell them! Made a breakthrough on something? Tell them. Hit a milestone? Tell them. Got some bad news? Tell them, as early as you can, so they have time to fix things. And so on, for everything. Clear, open communication about the state of things is critical. Embrace stand-ups. Email people first. Put updates in Slack. Write docs. It doesn't matter how you do it so long as you do it.

If you get a reputation for being someone who communicates when things happen you can practically choose your own career path. Every manager will want you on their team. You can boost your way up the org chart or languish in a role so you have time with your kids, and any competent manager will happily and readily support you to do that.