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Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

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Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#91

Post by taway_1212 »

jabagonuts wrote: post #81
taway_1212 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With few exceptions, engineers aren't hired for a specific team; they go through bootcamp where they get exposure to all parts of the stack and tasks from different teams. How is that good? You essentially don't know what you sign up for.

I'm assuming that after the bootcamp they would put you on a team based on your interests and aptitudes. For me, having a choice - or at least feeling like I have a choice - over teams and projects is empowering and exciting.

In other companies, you have that choice during recruitment. Here, you need to basically trust that they won't screw you over ("Look, it turns out that the only opening we have that matches your skills is maintaining this internal CRUD app for HR - but no worries, stick with it for a year and maybe something better comes along!").

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#92

Post by jacques_chester »

coldcode wrote: post #80
jacalata wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because they do 100% pair programming. When you rely on someone else being there at the same time as you, you need predictable hours. It's possible they don't need to be as fixed as they are, but that's how they've chosen to do it.

Basically they hire 2 people to do 1 person's work. I guess its a nice employment policy. But I would never work there.

> Basically they hire 2 people to do 1 person's work.

Pivotal is a for-profit company. We pair program because we think it's more effective for most engineering activities (not all: most) than soloing.

I'm vastly more productive in a pair. I don't take 3 hour "5 minute" Facebook breaks. If I get stuck, my pair usually has an idea, so rather than spending a day fighting I spend minutes. Usually the discussion with a pair comes to a better design, sooner, than nutting it out by myself. Working with a pair makes me accountable -- I am far less tempted to take shortcuts with tests, code, readability, design or other important properties.

Many folk will say well gosh, they don't need a pair for these things. I envy you, brave superhuman. I have ADHD and the crippling disability of being merely mortal, so pairing is awesome for me.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#93

Post by jacques_chester »

sporkenfang wrote: post #87
EngineerBetter wrote: post #4

Pivotal. I've had the pleasure of working with many Pivots, and Rob Mee has built a great XP culture.

Pair programming all day, every day I thought I could handle. Turns out, I'm in no state to interface with any other human being, including my SO, at the end of a day of that. I think it's a good fit for a select group of folks who are both extroverted and technical. I also prefer having a tiny corner of my own space at work. It's comforting. At the office where I worked, everyone shared desks (you sit wherever your…

In fairness, pairing is not for everybody. We fret about whether we select for extroverts. In my experience, no, but pairing certainly takes a lot out of me.

On the flipside, we absolutely smash out the work here. I love being able to finish stuff every day, every week.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#94

Post by dimva »

fdsfsaa wrote: post #57
Vinnl wrote: post #36

Reading the Netflix engineering blog now and then, I do appreciate how many of their engineering decisions also take into account the effect it will have on their colleagues, i.e. "does this change affect how quickly/independently our engineers can do stuff"?

Netflix's stack ranking is a huge turnoff though. Netflix's philosophy is that it has no loyalty to employees and expects none in return. Regardless of Netflix's other attributes, this policy is a huge turn-off. https://www.fastcompany.com/3056662/the-future-of-work/she-c... If I wanted great pay and cutthroat competition, why wouldn't I just work in finance? The finance industry isn't stupid. They have developer eff…

Every company has no loyalty to its employees, they just pretend they do and thus expect loyalty from their employees. At least Netflix is honest about the lack of loyalty being a two-way street.

I think it is more enjoyable to work with people who are competent and performing well, so keeping poor performers around hurts the morale of other employees. Plus, the caliber of people Netflix hires can easily find another job where they'll be a better fit, so showing them "loyalty" by keeping them around probably hurts them as well.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#95

Post by g12mcgov »

Etsy. I don't work there, but I've interviewed there twice and know lots of contacts who work there, and it's a great engineering culture.

The overwhelming majority of the company are engineers, and they have a large commitment to OSS, which was one of the initial selling points for me. Not to mention, Rasmus Lerdorf works there, and several of their engineers contribute to HHVM.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#97

Post by driverdan »

taway_1212 wrote: post #63
United857 wrote: post #22

I'm biased, but I'd say out of all the "big" tech companies, FB has the best engineering culture. * With few exceptions, engineers aren't hired for a specific team; they go through bootcamp where they get exposure to all parts of the stack and tasks from different teams. * Ideas usually come from engineers. Managers are there to be a sounding board/connect you with people resources as needed. * Moving fast is valued…

> With few exceptions, engineers aren't hired for a specific team; they go through bootcamp where they get exposure to all parts of the stack and tasks from different teams. How is that good? You essentially don't know what you sign up for.

Exactly! The people you work with are far more important than the tech.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#98

Post by DerpyBaby123 »

EngineerBetter wrote: post #4

Pivotal. I've had the pleasure of working with many Pivots, and Rob Mee has built a great XP culture.

I got referred to Pivotal by an employee I used to work with. After passing the pairing interview it seems that I was denied further hiring progress because of a nonpoaching agreement with my current employer (a competing consultancy).

I'd love to work there but dont know what I can do.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#99

Post by kj01a »

taway_1212 wrote: post #91
jabagonuts wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming that after the bootcamp they would put you on a team based on your interests and aptitudes. For me, having a choice - or at least feeling like I have a choice - over teams and projects is empowering and exciting.

In other companies, you have that choice during recruitment. Here, you need to basically trust that they won't screw you over ("Look, it turns out that the only opening we have that matches your skills is maintaining this internal CRUD app for HR - but no worries, stick with it for a year and maybe something better comes along!").

But that would be evidence of a bad engineering culture. Which is United has said is not true. So we can probably assume they meant FB's bootcamp is more about placing their engineers on teams they would enjoy and are good at, most of the time.

Re: Ask HN: What current companies have the best software engineering culture?

#100

Post by ggregoire »

bluebknight wrote: post #41
United857 wrote: post #22

I'm biased, but I'd say out of all the "big" tech companies, FB has the best engineering culture. * With few exceptions, engineers aren't hired for a specific team; they go through bootcamp where they get exposure to all parts of the stack and tasks from different teams. * Ideas usually come from engineers. Managers are there to be a sounding board/connect you with people resources as needed. * Moving fast is valued…

It sounds like a great place to work at. Kinda sucks that, they only interview new grads from top schools unlike the other Big 4.

I'm quite sure it's not true. There are at least 2 engineers from the React team who have dropped out of "normal" schools/colleges in their first years.
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