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VC Says Half of Google Staff Do 'No Real Work'

businessinsider.com

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Re: VC Says Half of Google Staff Do 'No Real Work'

#61

Post by hot_gril »

FredPret wrote: post #55
hot_gril wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but stockholders aren't necessarily retired.

True but - everybody should have the opportunity to retire - that means they have to save & invest - that means corporations have a moral duty to do their best - if an old person entrusted my company with the financial results of their life's work, I'd feel a lot of pressure to make good on the implied promise that I won't just take the money and put my feet up

I don't see why retirement is relevant here. Company's duty is to its shareholders either way.

Re: VC Says Half of Google Staff Do 'No Real Work'

#64

Post by FredPret »

hot_gril wrote: post #61
FredPret wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True but - everybody should have the opportunity to retire - that means they have to save & invest - that means corporations have a moral duty to do their best - if an old person entrusted my company with the financial results of their life's work, I'd feel a lot of pressure to make good on the implied promise that I won't just take the money and put my feet up

I don't see why retirement is relevant here. Company's duty is to its shareholders either way.

Agreed but in the case of retired people, that duty hits different. They don't have the ability to go back and earn more money; many are also in cognitive decline.

Re: VC Says Half of Google Staff Do 'No Real Work'

#65

Post by tech_ken »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #58
tech_ken wrote: post #47

Things going well: all these engineers are just wasting salary dollars and not contributing anything, layoffs for everyone! Things going badly: all these engineers are incompetent and just wasting salary dollars, layoffs for everyone! Now where's my 7 figure consulting fee...

> all these engineers I doubt they're referring to engineers.

Sure feel free to swap in whatever job role you like, my main point is that I’d rather hear an analysis from someone embedded in the problem space than from someone whose ‘job’ is to squeeze profit off other people’s work. I’m sure there are a few decent and prudent managers of giant capital stacks, but honestly at this guy’s level of removal from the realities of building literally anything I am extremely skeptical of any advice he has to offer outside of recommending me an expensive restaurant or a nice resort somewhere.

Re: VC Says Half of Google Staff Do 'No Real Work'

#66

Post by hindsightbias »

What percentage of goggle engineers are:

- Maintaining old stuff

- Rewriting old stuff

- Writing new stuff

You can't do w/o most of the first, most of the second is a waste, and maybe a quarter of the last is worthwhile. I've always had the feeling google isn't filled with a lot of the first, as it's just not cool.

Re: VC Says Half of Google Staff Do 'No Real Work'

#67

Post by JumpCrisscross »

tech_ken wrote: post #65
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> all these engineers I doubt they're referring to engineers.

Sure feel free to swap in whatever job role you like, my main point is that I’d rather hear an analysis from someone embedded in the problem space than from someone whose ‘job’ is to squeeze profit off other people’s work. I’m sure there are a few decent and prudent managers of giant capital stacks, but honestly at this guy’s level of removal from the realities of building literally anything I am extremely skeptical…

> I’d rather hear an analysis from someone embedded in the problem space than from someone whose ‘job’ is to squeeze profit off other people’s work

Everyone believes someone else is squeezing off their work. In tech, I've heard it from founders and sales about engineers; engineers about everyone else, including every other engineer; the person who keeps the shitshow of a culture hanging by a thread; the lawyers who keeps the company from being fined into oblivion; et cetera.

If there is a summary to draw from it, it's that the uselessness is probably concentrated in the person complaining and doing nothing about it (whether due to impulse or ability).

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