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Things I want to say to my boss

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Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#91

Post by venturecruelty »

marcinzm wrote: post #48
reallymental wrote: post #3

I think y'all (i.e. who've contributed anonymously to the article), have taken these words too literally. I think we're finally seeing the culmination of around 15+ years (post '08) of leadership mindset finally reap its rewards. Over the last decade (last 3+ decades realistically, I'm around 35, so that's all my personal anecdotal data goes back to), these "leaders" have all thrown away the facade of "mentorship", "…

As I've seen it younger engineers simply focus a lot more on money and their career growth versus the product or whatever their own sense of "the right thing is". That makes the stock go up and everyone is happy more or less. At the same time a lot of experienced engineers get very upset at the suggestion that they should do likewise.

Well, it's hard to do anything else when management doesn't let you, and when your entire life is on the line. Nobody's going to risk homelessness (or worse: a lack of health insurance) on principles that are simply not rewarded anymore. There is an entire generation of programmers who wouldn't recognize software quality if it bit them on the Electron app. It's not their fault, but it's the way things are now. Unless and until this relentless obsession with hoarding wealth changes, we will continue to get the software we deserve. Selah.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#92

Post by AnimalMuppet »

> I hope you learn that if you focus on making money instead of the team lining your pockets, you will end up with a broken team and no money.

Very much this. If you don't actually care about us, don't expect us to care about you or your company or the work. You're going to be left with automatons rather than creative, energetic people (even if the bodies haven't changed).

And the fact is that automatons don't make the line go up nearly as well as people who care. So the really ironic thing is, if all you care about is money, then you better care about the team. And not just care with lip service, but really care.

My current job has problems, but I'll give them this: When I wound up in the ER the weekend before a business trip, nobody was worrying about the effect on the trip.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#93

Post by [deleted] »

parliament32 wrote: post #65
forbiddenvoid wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a construct that long predates AI. And using it with such intensity and frequency is more likely a sign that this _wasn't_ AI generated, since AI writing tends to _not_ repeat things quite so often.

I doubt a human would use it repetitively, even if it is common. This was most likely written paragraph-by-paragraph by AI, causing the repetition, if I had to guess. I can't wait for the EU AI Act to require mandatory labelling for AI-generated content.

[deleted]

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#94

Post by everdrive »

xnorswap wrote: post #69
everdrive wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A very good observation, and true of nearly any contemporary fiction set in the past. People just seem unable to avoid this flaw.

"contemporary fiction set in the past" Nitpick, but this is a contradiction. Contemporary fiction doesn't mean "current" (or least it didn't used to) it means "set in the time it was written". I guess the word contemporary has been misused to the point of just meaning current or modern and I shouldn't nitpick it!

Ah, thanks -- I was just trying to capture the weirdness that happens when a work is set in the past, and then that work itself becomes old. For instance, if you watch Braveheart right now you're getting two views of the past: you're getting a (not-very-realistic) view of medieval England, and then in addition you're getting a view into how people in the 90s felt about history and social issues.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#95

Post by kermatt »

Something I _should_ have said to my boss, and their boss the CEO:

"Shut up for 5 minutes and listen:

You have been repeating the same things for a full year, yet nothing is different or better. This is because while the message has been consistent, if vacuous, your weekly changes in direction prevent any initiatives from being successful. We won't become a "Billion Dollar Company" running like squirrels on a highway. Pick a plan, and stick with it. Grow 10% each fiscal year instead of hoping to grow 10X in a single leap.

In other words, grow up."

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#96

Post by psychoslave »

This year I started to have the background ideas popping up in my mind about a future where societies put care as the main goal.

More precisely "la société du soin" comes to my mind. It's a bit different as in french the term as a very large semantic network. Sure care is the closest general translation.

Anyway, we really are making much more progresses on technological side than on relevant careful social organisation, human inter-help, environmental and moral sides.

Technology is easier to track continuously with proxy metrics which regularly move up some scale. In many other areas, tracking can be more an hindrance, an inhibitor or even a cause of total extinction.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#97

Post by slashdave »

amarant wrote: post #40
slashdave wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't blame this on MBAs. The fault lays in the culture of the Board Room. There used to be a time that the board cared about the welfare of employees and the good of society as a whole. I know this is hard to believe in contemporary times.

Aren't contemporary boardrooms generally stuffed to the brim with MBA's though? Or is that just my preconceptions talking?

The Board represents shareholders, at least in principle. More celebrities really.

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#98

Post by lentil_soup »

firefoxd wrote: post #30

I know this will sound a bit cynical, but I've stopped putting too much care into my employer's product. I'll deliver work and perform my best, but I'm not killing myself over it. I've built viable products where I poured my soul into it just for it to be tossed aside [0]. I've optimized processes that went from 12 hours job to 17 minutes, I was fired shortly after [1]. I even wrote on HN to get advice when I felt I…

I agree with you, but lately, given the state of my industry and my personal situation I've started to fear that my company is just going to burn if we don't succeed and I need to do as much as possible to prevent that as finding a similar role is going to be pretty damn hard, I also don't have the leverage I used to have a few years ago to just change jobs. All of that has lead me to break my back and confront my boss which is extremely uncomfortable and pushing me closer to burnout. Unsure what my point is other than I wish I had the space to not care

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#99

Post by gdulli »

arevno wrote: post #55
marcinzm wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I've seen it younger engineers simply focus a lot more on money and their career growth versus the product or whatever their own sense of "the right thing is". That makes the stock go up and everyone is happy more or less. At the same time a lot of experienced engineers get very upset at the suggestion that they should do likewise.

That's because many of us older developers got into the profession when it didn't pay well, and had negative status associated with it, because we loved doing it. So yes, there is very little tolerance from us toward those who are in it for money/status/prestige, and not for the love of it.

Why does having different values imply intolerance?

Re: Things I want to say to my boss

#100

Post by AnimalMuppet »

ArcHound wrote: post #21

As with all issues of power abuse, the real question is: "what are you going to do about it?" If the answer from the workers is an overwhelming "nothing", then there's no reason to change. And I am not blaming workers. Bills need to be paid, mouths need to be fed. Staying low and taking it might be better than speaking up and risking homelessness. Please tell me how I am wrong, I struggle to see how the situation cou…

What are we going to do about it? Many of us are withdrawing, just putting in the time without real effort, "quiet quitting". Companies still get us, but they don't get our best.

Some instead turn into... well, in the sports world, they would be called "locker room cancers". People who bring a bad attitude, and communicate it to others.

Either way, companies wind up harmed by this - harmed, eventually, in terms of their bottom lines.

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