391–396 of 396 posts
I think the author had unrealistic expectations from working at a large company. He expected doing something meaningful that will change the world. He expected to be applauded like a hero for his efforts. But things don't work like that. If you work your ass out, don't expect more than a pat on the back. Managers won't care about your efforts, your mental state or your sleepless nights. They care about looking good i…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The goal with any of these icebreakers is to encourage the team to be humble and approach work related problems in a thoughtful manner. It's easy for someone to assume you are asked to open up about non-work related stories, but it's never the intention. For example, talking about how your Aunt passing away being the reason you got into software engineering, is not really going to help the team in any meaningful way.…
That's fair, but that's not how the author presented this request from their manager. Judging from the stories shared, people seemed to believe that they were being asked to share stories from their personal lives. It doesn't really matter what the manager intended; if they were primarily looking for vulnerable professional moments, they should have said so. And if they were indeed looking for personal stories, that'…
I imagine at some leadership training, they were probably encouraged to get their direct reports to open up and misunderstood the scope of that.
I think it might help to focus on staying grounded and regulating your emotions, especially when it comes to thinking about Patrick and his success. While it’s natural to admire someone who has built an impressive company and achieved significant financial success, remember that people are often respected for being authentic and secure in who they are, rather than for how much they admire others. I think a good appro…
My attempt with the article was to simply reflect how things have felt and leave analysis largely absent. I realize it's left folks with a lot of questions and rightly worried about me.
I'm in a much better place now.
Thank you for taking the time to write this comment.
thank you for sharing your story and experience through all of this
My email admired by a billionaire? Bliss. Hoping this is satire
It's the painful truth of how I felt. I'm not saying it's good. In fact, it's _very bad_.
Hey Jon, Kudos for having courage to write it up. Enjoyed my time with you at Stripe. Large company cog syndrome is very real. Especially when performance reviews are not tied to reality but someone’s inner monologue that you have no access to. Take care. Time heals most wounds. Oregon is a beautiful place.