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What would she have done there? Would it simply have been time-filling for the sake of time-filling? It's a job, not a prison sentence. I've been on a PIP. It

What would she have done there? Would it simply have been time-filling for the sake of time-filling? It's a job, not a prison sentence. I've been on a PIP. It was a place with an "up or out" mentality as a legit part of the business culture. The only mistake they had made was not being brutally honest about that when I'd gone there in the first place. And some of that was probably on me. You either went into essentially program management or out. I'd been looking for a job for about a year before I got laid off. It was disruptive, but it was for the best. I could have gone for a Masters degree and possibly stayed, but towards what end? I'm already "overqualified" as it is. The logistics of that alone meant 120 mile round trips and there were actual financial risks involved. Nearly everybody in the hiring cohort I was part of was let go. I'd actually told a boss, face to face, that I wanted to stay technical - that my value-add wasn't in the more... clerical emphasis they were trying to pivot me to. I worked a few contracts after that and made some of the best networking contacts to date. This worked out just fine. Maybe Netflix could have figured out a way to make it work, maybe not. You pays your money and you takes your chances. They took a way out and at least ended it. The only thing that is suspicious about the story is that she wasn't perceived to be of value to the new automation scheme ( which I presume is the legendary Chaos Monkey ).

tostitos1979 10y ago
The mentality described in the article, and frankly this describes most startups I've seen in the Bay area is that people can't be trained fast enough to pick up new skills. I call BS on this. The most important thing I learned from a University education is how to learn new stuff, and when coupled with online educational sources, I feel competent enough to delve into completely foreign technologies, platforms and stacks. The phrase that ticks me off the most is "fire fast". Like seriously? You spent all this time on hiring the best candidate and now are going to get rid of them fast because they don't pass your smell test? I think many experienced/older people in tech have been burned by this at some point, and it makes them vary of working for startups. But there are exceptions. I have a friend who is fairly senior ... he quit a cushy corp job for a well funded startup. My friend was working like crazy for some interim deadline .. the CEO saw what he was doing and said "this is a marathon, not a sprint. don't burn yourself out". Now, that is the kind of leader you want in a company. Hire self-motivated and technically competent people and realize that employees are humans. Tech is about speed but as an industry, we are letting quality and humanity slip in favor of speed. And that is wrong and foolish IMHO.
- ArkyBeagle 10y ago
  I can believe that - there is always the risk of what amounts to (hopefully mild) narcissism ( and the inevitable insecurity that narcissism spawns ). There's always a missing subtext to something like this - this really does have a "John Henry and the steam drill" feel to it. "Chaos Monkey is now the story. You are not of the body. GTFO." Bummer, man :) I love your last paragraph. The Thing is the only one what knows when it will come to be. Over-grinding is a definite anti-pattern. There is probably not a general theory of this - it's just going to be wrong a lot.
- macavity23 10y ago
  My understanding of 'fire fast' is different; it's rather that if you make a mistake and hired someone who isn't a good fit, then you should cut your losses and fire them ASAP. Really just a specific case of Failing Fast.

tostitos1979 10y ago

The mentality described in the article, and frankly this describes most startups I've seen in the Bay area is that people can't be trained fast enough to pick up new skills. I call BS on this. The most important thing I learned from a University education is how to learn new stuff, and when coupled with online educational sources, I feel competent enough to delve into completely foreign technologies, platforms and stacks. The phrase that ticks me off the most is "fire fast". Like seriously? You spent all this time on hiring the best candidate and now are going to get rid of them fast because they don't pass your smell test? I think many experienced/older people in tech have been burned by this at some point, and it makes them vary of working for startups. But there are exceptions. I have a friend who is fairly senior ... he quit a cushy corp job for a well funded startup. My friend was working like crazy for some interim deadline .. the CEO saw what he was doing and said "this is a marathon, not a sprint. don't burn yourself out". Now, that is the kind of leader you want in a company. Hire self-motivated and technically competent people and realize that employees are humans. Tech is about speed but as an industry, we are letting quality and humanity slip in favor of speed. And that is wrong and foolish IMHO.

ArkyBeagle 10y ago
I can believe that - there is always the risk of what amounts to (hopefully mild) narcissism ( and the inevitable insecurity that narcissism spawns ). There's always a missing subtext to something like this - this really does have a "John Henry and the steam drill" feel to it. "Chaos Monkey is now the story. You are not of the body. GTFO." Bummer, man :) I love your last paragraph. The Thing is the only one what knows when it will come to be. Over-grinding is a definite anti-pattern. There is probably not a general theory of this - it's just going to be wrong a lot.
macavity23 10y ago
My understanding of 'fire fast' is different; it's rather that if you make a mistake and hired someone who isn't a good fit, then you should cut your losses and fire them ASAP. Really just a specific case of Failing Fast.