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The author didn't seem work with devs (who were on the other side of the country) or investors, so I have trouble fully accepting their generalizations of tech

The author didn't seem work with devs (who were on the other side of the country) or investors, so I have trouble fully accepting their generalizations of tech startups as a whole. Sure, they experienced a lot of tech-specific phenomena like free drinks at the office, but it sounds like most of the problems were just due to interacting with a lot of obnoxious young salesmen. The part where they act surprised at the use of normal business acronyms (they're 40 and weren't familiar with the term "ROI" ??) kind of hurts credibility too

sethammons 8y ago
Yeah, ROI and KPIs. Real cult stuff there. </s> And the part against "teammates" in favor of "co-workers." Some of this is really stretching. There were some toxic stuff going on there for sure, but there is a lot of padding going on to get that article long. I'm from a unicorn. Employee lower 30s. Still there. Free beer, trips to Mexico, all that. Stand ups, acronyms, etc. At no time have I perceived the environment as toxic.
- Annatar 8y ago
  I'm from a unicorn. Employee lower 30s. Still there. Free beer, trips to Mexico, all that. Stand ups, acronyms, etc. At no time have I perceived the environment as toxic. Wow, that is horrid. Why the hell would any self-respecting, experienced and successful professional who loves what they do and are good at it put up with "trips to Mexico"? All that college nonsense is utter bullshit. If I want to go to Mexico, it better be of my own accord on the company's paid vacation time that I earned and nobody better give me any lip, not because of some "brogrammer" or "bromarketing" "team building" exercise... What. The. Hell!
  - sethammons 8y ago
    If I said that a company wants to get employees on the same page for company strategic goals and initiatives, would you think that utter BS? What if it were put forth that it was better to do this in a all-hands style but with presentations, and everyone physically in the same venue? BS? I don't think so. Now, what if I told you this was more affordable to do away from the home office due to geography distributed offices, and that it was more affordable to do in Mexico than in the US? Naw, just horrid.
    - Annatar 8y ago
      "If I said that a company wants to get employees on the same page for company strategic goals and initiatives, would you think that utter BS?" I work at a very large multinational company. I worked at such companies for roughly two thirds of my career. The other one third I worked at a mid-size company which later on became a multinational conglomerate. Based on those experiences, I would absolutely say that it's utter bullshit. You bet I would.
ppeetteerr 8y ago
It would appear that the marketing department in these companies was focused in helping the sales people push more product, rather than work with product to highlight new functionality. This does make sense: most companies are sales driven, not product driven.

sethammons 8y ago

Yeah, ROI and KPIs. Real cult stuff there. </s> And the part against "teammates" in favor of "co-workers." Some of this is really stretching. There were some toxic stuff going on there for sure, but there is a lot of padding going on to get that article long. I'm from a unicorn. Employee lower 30s. Still there. Free beer, trips to Mexico, all that. Stand ups, acronyms, etc. At no time have I perceived the environment as toxic.

Annatar 8y ago
I'm from a unicorn. Employee lower 30s. Still there. Free beer, trips to Mexico, all that. Stand ups, acronyms, etc. At no time have I perceived the environment as toxic. Wow, that is horrid. Why the hell would any self-respecting, experienced and successful professional who loves what they do and are good at it put up with "trips to Mexico"? All that college nonsense is utter bullshit. If I want to go to Mexico, it better be of my own accord on the company's paid vacation time that I earned and nobody better give me any lip, not because of some "brogrammer" or "bromarketing" "team building" exercise... What. The. Hell!
- sethammons 8y ago
  If I said that a company wants to get employees on the same page for company strategic goals and initiatives, would you think that utter BS? What if it were put forth that it was better to do this in a all-hands style but with presentations, and everyone physically in the same venue? BS? I don't think so. Now, what if I told you this was more affordable to do away from the home office due to geography distributed offices, and that it was more affordable to do in Mexico than in the US? Naw, just horrid.
  - Annatar 8y ago
    "If I said that a company wants to get employees on the same page for company strategic goals and initiatives, would you think that utter BS?" I work at a very large multinational company. I worked at such companies for roughly two thirds of my career. The other one third I worked at a mid-size company which later on became a multinational conglomerate. Based on those experiences, I would absolutely say that it's utter bullshit. You bet I would.

ppeetteerr 8y ago

It would appear that the marketing department in these companies was focused in helping the sales people push more product, rather than work with product to highlight new functionality. This does make sense: most companies are sales driven, not product driven.