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That might be how Valve works, but I’m quite sure it’s not how Apple / Facebook / Google do. Just move your shit to another desk and join whatever team you wan

That might be how Valve works, but I’m quite sure it’s not how Apple / Facebook / Google do. Just move your shit to another desk and join whatever team you want with out talking to your manager or hr or updating your goals? Yeah... nah.

m0zg 8y ago
Well yeah, you have to tell your manager of course, but _they can't stop you_ from moving to another team. Don't know about Apple or Amazon but Google/FB are like that. If you're very senior, a few months (no more than 6 no matter how senior) delay might be imposed so that you hand off your stuff, if you're less senior, a few weeks is usually enough. It is also expected (at Google, don't know about FB) that you'll stay on each team for at least a year, and that you'll wind down your obligations in an orderly fashion, which I think you'll agree is not unreasonable. But _nobody_ will force you to do work you really don't like to do. In contrast, at most other companies it's easier to get a job _at another company_ than to move to another team.
- NovaX 8y ago
  There are many ways at Google to stop people from moving teams. For me it was a code yellow. I am hazy, but it was either referred to as indentured servitude or more politely stated as such by our senior director who expected 3 year stints. This was at MTV, probably a toxic environment due to CxO visibility.
  - m0zg 8y ago
    Code yellow is by its very nature a finite-duration thing. I've never been a part of one that was longer than a month. It's reasonable to not allow transfers for the duration, if it helps to resolve the code yellow IMO.
    - NovaX 8y ago
      We had 4-6 month cyclical code yellows. It's not unlike the game where 20% projects could only be within the same team without significant blowback. Things are only reasonable when used as designed, which is not how all of Google operates for everyone. You can talk in the general sense, but you cannot speak definitively especially when such actions are blessed by the executive team.
joshuamorton 8y ago
It's certainly been my experience. I mean not exactly that level, but yeah. I told my manager the work I was doing was boring, and that I'd consider switching teams, and he worked to find work that was more interesting to me. Then I also started working with one of the other teams I find interesting, and I now spend (more than) 20% of my time working with that team on various things.
jowday 8y ago
Googler here. This is how it works. If you find a team with an open position you want to work on, and you and the teams hiring manager agrees it's a good fit, your manager can't do anything to stop it. I did something like this myself. I found the team I liked, talked to the team a bit about the work I'd be doing, and at my next one on one with my manager I told him I'd be leaving the team in two weeks.
- wokwokwok 8y ago
  There’s a difference between an orderly discussion leading to change of team/focus in a timely manner and just doing whatever you want whenever you want, which is the point I was making. You can certainly find yourself a better team fit and organise to move to it proactively, that’s true of any organisation, with greater or lesser degrees of red tape. ...but the parent assertion was basically, if you don’t like your job, just get up and walk off and drop your stuff on some other interesting teams table. Job done! Don’t do that.
  - m0zg 8y ago
    Nah dear HN reader, don't move the goalposts now. That's not what I said at all. And it's not true of _any_ organization. It's actually _not_ true of most companies I worked for.

m0zg 8y ago

Well yeah, you have to tell your manager of course, but _they can't stop you_ from moving to another team. Don't know about Apple or Amazon but Google/FB are like that. If you're very senior, a few months (no more than 6 no matter how senior) delay might be imposed so that you hand off your stuff, if you're less senior, a few weeks is usually enough. It is also expected (at Google, don't know about FB) that you'll stay on each team for at least a year, and that you'll wind down your obligations in an orderly fashion, which I think you'll agree is not unreasonable. But _nobody_ will force you to do work you really don't like to do. In contrast, at most other companies it's easier to get a job _at another company_ than to move to another team.

NovaX 8y ago
There are many ways at Google to stop people from moving teams. For me it was a code yellow. I am hazy, but it was either referred to as indentured servitude or more politely stated as such by our senior director who expected 3 year stints. This was at MTV, probably a toxic environment due to CxO visibility.
- m0zg 8y ago
  Code yellow is by its very nature a finite-duration thing. I've never been a part of one that was longer than a month. It's reasonable to not allow transfers for the duration, if it helps to resolve the code yellow IMO.
  - NovaX 8y ago
    We had 4-6 month cyclical code yellows. It's not unlike the game where 20% projects could only be within the same team without significant blowback. Things are only reasonable when used as designed, which is not how all of Google operates for everyone. You can talk in the general sense, but you cannot speak definitively especially when such actions are blessed by the executive team.

joshuamorton 8y ago

It's certainly been my experience. I mean not exactly that level, but yeah. I told my manager the work I was doing was boring, and that I'd consider switching teams, and he worked to find work that was more interesting to me. Then I also started working with one of the other teams I find interesting, and I now spend (more than) 20% of my time working with that team on various things.

jowday 8y ago

Googler here. This is how it works. If you find a team with an open position you want to work on, and you and the teams hiring manager agrees it's a good fit, your manager can't do anything to stop it. I did something like this myself. I found the team I liked, talked to the team a bit about the work I'd be doing, and at my next one on one with my manager I told him I'd be leaving the team in two weeks.

wokwokwok 8y ago
There’s a difference between an orderly discussion leading to change of team/focus in a timely manner and just doing whatever you want whenever you want, which is the point I was making. You can certainly find yourself a better team fit and organise to move to it proactively, that’s true of any organisation, with greater or lesser degrees of red tape. ...but the parent assertion was basically, if you don’t like your job, just get up and walk off and drop your stuff on some other interesting teams table. Job done! Don’t do that.
- m0zg 8y ago
  Nah dear HN reader, don't move the goalposts now. That's not what I said at all. And it's not true of _any_ organization. It's actually _not_ true of most companies I worked for.