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Emailing Steve the first time he was lucky it got handed off to someone in engineering. But to continue to pester the engineer and worse, Steve... What kind of
by rit 16y ago
Emailing Steve the first time he was lucky it got handed off to someone in engineering.
But to continue to pester the engineer and worse, Steve... What kind of response do you expect?
Further, does he think the software engineer has nothing to do but work on this project with him?
- jgg 16y agoFurther, does he think the software engineer has nothing to do but work on this project with him? No, but when he explicitly promises something, and then doesn't deliver, it's more than fair for him to e-mail until that demand is met.
- SamAtt 16y agoIt's fair for him to e-mail but looking over the discussion it was stupid for him to e-mail so much (and cross the line into pestering). On May 4th the Apple guy said he'd need a few days to catch up because he'd been sick. The author then e-mailed him exactly 3 days later. That pattern continues with him e-mailing every few days or so. I personally use the two week rule. If someone says they'll get back to me in a few days I give them a couple weeks before I e-mail a reminder. If they don't respond I wait another week and if I still get nothing I give up. This guy comes across as self important and nothing turns other people off more than that.
- jgg 16y agoI personally use the two week rule. If someone says they'll get back to me in a few days I give them a couple weeks before I e-mail a reminder. Oh, right. I forgot that in the business world, words suddenly don't have any fucking meaning whatsoever. You can bet your ass that if a corporation wanted something from you (i.e., payment) in a few days, they wouldn't leisurely wait a few weeks before e-mailing you. There seems to be this unspoken rule in the Apple world that if you happen to get an e-mail from Steve Jobs, even if he threatens to dig up your dead mother and defile her corpse, you'd better drop down on your knees and thank him for even speaking to you. Fuck that.
- megablast 16y agoYou seem to be getting confused about the relationship here. Getting a payment from someone is very different to trying to get something for free from a company, or trying to get acquired. I don't understand why everybody is emailing Steve Jobs all of a sudden, and I certainly wouldn't just start sending email to CEOs of companies.
- jgg 16y agoYou seem to be getting confused about the relationship here. No, I'm not. Getting a payment from someone is very different to trying to get something for free from a company, or trying to get acquired. You promise the company payment. The guy in the e-mail was promised continued discussion at a specific point in time. The point I'm making is that if you shortchange a company, they have more power to punish you than if they shortchange you. Thus, I don't understand this casual attitude with companies, where if you don't get a response you just "give up". I don't understand why everybody is emailing Steve Jobs all of a sudden, and I certainly wouldn't just start sending email to CEOs of companies. What's wrong with sending an e-mail to a CEO? I genuinely don't understand this. We saw the same thing with that prick from AT&T. Why is it so taboo to jerk the chain of the person in charge? Is their time just so valuable that they shouldn't even have to bother with the lowly proles?
- pyre 16y agoEmailing the CEO because some engineer isn't responding promptly enough to your emails isn't a good way to get him on your side. From your perspective, he promised you something and you are trying to get him to deliver. From his perspective, you've just alerted the CEO of the company (multiple times) that maybe he's not being productive enough. In general, it's not a good way to get this guy to give you a green light on getting hired/acquired.
- dcx 16y agoThat's so true! In fact I can sort of see the corporate pattern: 1. Steve -> Engineer: Whats with the delay? At this point, almost nothing the engineer could say shows him in a good light - "sick" doesn't cut it at the power difference here. You only talk to the CEO once in a decade, and his experience of you is "doesn't deliver"? 2. Engineer -> Steve: I evaluated it. It sucks. I haven't written back yet as it's not a high priority. 3. Email from Steve -> Unfortunate dude: No interest.
- pinstriped_dude 16y agoIn reading the email communication and also paying attention to the timeline, I did not get the impression that the OP was "pestering" the Apple Manager. He was cordial and gently reminding that he was promised a response and had not received one. If anything, I got the impression that the Apple Manager was stalling (or maybe he really was ill and it really took him 10 days - from May 4 to May 14 - to "get back on his feet")
- hugh3 16y agoIf anything, I got the impression that the Apple Manager was stalling (or maybe he really was ill and it really took him 10 days - from May 4 to May 14 - to "get back on his feet") Or else he's just a busy guy with a lot on his plate apart from this one project which he's not that interested in with some guy who keeps pestering him.
- robosox 16y agoEspecially considering the timeframe - right around WWDC. This eng manager was likely scrambling like crazy to get ready for that. Also, if the manager was considering hiring this guy, he was probably looking not just at his code, but evaluating what kind of a person he is and culture fit. If they're hustling to get ready for WWDC while this guy keeps emailing and pointing out what competitors like Google are doing (as if they don't know this), he may have concluded that this is someone he just doesn't want to work with, regardless of the guy's algorithm.