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I found the opening metaphor distasteful because it suggests MegaCorp programmers currently suck, even if it's because of their environment. It sounded like PG

I found the opening metaphor distasteful because it suggests MegaCorp programmers currently suck, even if it's because of their environment. It sounded like PG can, at a glance, see programmers who seem "smart enough" but lack fundamental qualities that YC founders possess. As nuanced as human beings can be, as varied in skill and manner as they are over time, PG fairly quickly saw the "startling" differences and attributed it to the employee environment instead of their being hung-over, for example. The summary could be slightly modified and be truer to the essay: "Oh... you aren't working for yourself? You currently suck." [Disclaimer: I currently work for myself, and still suck.]

pg 19y ago
As nuanced as human beings can be, as varied in skill and manner as they are over time, PG fairly quickly saw the "startling" differences and attributed it to the employee environment instead of their being hung-over, for example. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=142465 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=142465
- jaydub 19y ago
  I would just like to say I feel I can relate to what pg is referring to. Last summer I worked as an intern for a fairly well respected and very large company. I must say that I feel the experience was rewarding and that I learned quite a bit. But I did feel a little bit like the caged animal in zoo that Paul described. One small example: You couldn't just push your work from dev(elopment) to prod(uction) - regardless of the thoroughness of testing, we had to go through the company's bureaucratic change management system which, while I understand its purpose theoretically, in fact only wasted time. Perhaps its just that I'm still a bit young and would like the ability to roam more freely. Getting to the other item pg mentioned, the team building excursions, I experienced that last summer in the form of a scavenger hunt. Granted this company is well respected, and that many of the students came from top colleges, I got the feeling that somehow people felt "accomplished" through their sheer acceptance to the internship program. One fellow intern commented to me as we were passing random people on the street. "We work for X. We're better than you." It sounds pretty ridiculous but he was simply voicing the same sentiment that many of the interns passively expressed through body language. There was this atmosphere of complacency (particularly outside the office) that bothered me. I think this took away from the drive to succeed. The same drive that got many of these smart students to this point.
  - m0nty 19y ago
    I was struck by this comment: "We work for X. We're better than you." Forget lions and zoos; that's the real difference between people who make good employees and those who don't. I know people I was at school with who wanted to work (for example) for IBM (because their dad did), achieved their ambition and are still there over 20 years later. I've had literally a dozen jobs in the same time. Whenever I've worked for companies like IBM or KPMG, etc, I got bored pretty damned fast, and soon left for more interesting work. But if you feel validated by your employer's credentials, you're probably never going to move on, and you'll put up with masses of crap in the meantime. We're all wired up different.

pg 19y ago

As nuanced as human beings can be, as varied in skill and manner as they are over time, PG fairly quickly saw the "startling" differences and attributed it to the employee environment instead of their being hung-over, for example. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=142465 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=142465

jaydub 19y ago
I would just like to say I feel I can relate to what pg is referring to. Last summer I worked as an intern for a fairly well respected and very large company. I must say that I feel the experience was rewarding and that I learned quite a bit. But I did feel a little bit like the caged animal in zoo that Paul described. One small example: You couldn't just push your work from dev(elopment) to prod(uction) - regardless of the thoroughness of testing, we had to go through the company's bureaucratic change management system which, while I understand its purpose theoretically, in fact only wasted time. Perhaps its just that I'm still a bit young and would like the ability to roam more freely. Getting to the other item pg mentioned, the team building excursions, I experienced that last summer in the form of a scavenger hunt. Granted this company is well respected, and that many of the students came from top colleges, I got the feeling that somehow people felt "accomplished" through their sheer acceptance to the internship program. One fellow intern commented to me as we were passing random people on the street. "We work for X. We're better than you." It sounds pretty ridiculous but he was simply voicing the same sentiment that many of the interns passively expressed through body language. There was this atmosphere of complacency (particularly outside the office) that bothered me. I think this took away from the drive to succeed. The same drive that got many of these smart students to this point.
- m0nty 19y ago
  I was struck by this comment: "We work for X. We're better than you." Forget lions and zoos; that's the real difference between people who make good employees and those who don't. I know people I was at school with who wanted to work (for example) for IBM (because their dad did), achieved their ambition and are still there over 20 years later. I've had literally a dozen jobs in the same time. Whenever I've worked for companies like IBM or KPMG, etc, I got bored pretty damned fast, and soon left for more interesting work. But if you feel validated by your employer's credentials, you're probably never going to move on, and you'll put up with masses of crap in the meantime. We're all wired up different.