Google has R&D ADHD. They get halfway to refining good ideas and then drop them for the new shiny. From the interviews with engineers in the article it seems like it comes from senior management.
Google promotes people who ship successful projects. So your managers are all people who have previously shipped something that was well received.
So they are very sure of their ability to ship the next thing and their ability to choose what’s important. Amplify that each step further up you go.
My skip level was overall fairly levelheaded but had a wildly out of sync estimation on team inertia. (she got let go shortly after the layoffs from what I’ve heard). The further up the chain you got and it was clear that she was constantly getting pressure to ship.
This makes sense but I’m surprised about the pressure to ship, we saw pressure to deliver but also idiots kept having “brilliant ideas” about the requirements so whatever you were doing was obsolete before it was halfway to completion.
Job satisfaction is super important if you want to go the distance. Sometimes you get that through good wlb. Sometimes it’s interesting problems. Other times it’s a lot of money.
I’m willing to endure a lot of suck if it means I can retire younger. I want to teach but am the sole breadwinner. Can’t take that step down.
It’s not senior, or at least not just senior, it’s the process.
You’re doing it for your promotion packet, once you’ve got that in place you leave and your project falls apart because there is absolutely 0 interest or understanding for Sustaining engineering or really anything except “I Made this”.
The smart people hop around while the slow ones try to milk out some promotions to keep going.
It’s a catastrophe, and with the current downturn the politics is turning nasty.
Google has R&D ADHD. They get halfway to refining good ideas and then drop them for the new shiny. From the interviews with engineers in the article it seems like it comes from senior management.
It definitely comes from up the chain.
Google promotes people who ship successful projects. So your managers are all people who have previously shipped something that was well received.
So they are very sure of their ability to ship the next thing and their ability to choose what’s important. Amplify that each step further up you go.
My skip level was overall fairly levelheaded but had a wildly out of sync estimation on team inertia. (she got let go shortly after the layoffs from what I’ve heard). The further up the chain you got and it was clear that she was constantly getting pressure to ship.
This makes sense but I’m surprised about the pressure to ship, we saw pressure to deliver but also idiots kept having “brilliant ideas” about the requirements so whatever you were doing was obsolete before it was halfway to completion.
Google was just like God spilled a person.
Yeah we were pretty focused on a specific app rework that had full buy-in and a lot of focus.
Then January happened and afaik all progress has basically stopped according to my old team.
Not my problem anymore. Got that sweet severance package and a new job that pays better.
Wow, I left shortly after but I was still fresh.
Went to a startup with a xoogler boss who was brilliant but without all the stupid bits of Google, he’s awesome and we’re rocking.
The pay cut was worth the massive decrease in BS, I enjoy my job and being productive.
Job satisfaction is super important if you want to go the distance. Sometimes you get that through good wlb. Sometimes it’s interesting problems. Other times it’s a lot of money.
I’m willing to endure a lot of suck if it means I can retire younger. I want to teach but am the sole breadwinner. Can’t take that step down.
I retired once, very young, it felt stupid.
Job satisfaction makes working feel better than retirement, and you have an excuse for not doing things.
It’s not senior, or at least not just senior, it’s the process.
You’re doing it for your promotion packet, once you’ve got that in place you leave and your project falls apart because there is absolutely 0 interest or understanding for Sustaining engineering or really anything except “I Made this”.
The smart people hop around while the slow ones try to milk out some promotions to keep going.
It’s a catastrophe, and with the current downturn the politics is turning nasty.