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The guy may be a class A Ahole, but I really like that message. Like, really like it. He's essentially saying "yes, I know the shenanigans you play, and I'm not

The guy may be a class A Ahole, but I really like that message. Like, really like it. He's essentially saying "yes, I know the shenanigans you play, and I'm not going there." Though, I doubt it's a business that will "scale to tens of thousands of employees around the world". That seems like a reach.

jiveturkey 7y ago
The content is fine. It's obviously spurred by experience or by an influx of offers. The presentation is shite. Just have an autoresponder. It reeks of Netflix' culture deck.
- chao- 7y ago
  The term "reek" is normally negative in connotation. I have seen (at least on HN) the famous Netflix culture documents praised as straightforward method to assist in defining culture. Not that it "solves" culture in some magical, systemic way (i.e. naive founders saying "Look we have a culture deck, culture done!"), but still have only heard it referenced as a useful communication tool. So having never seen it spoken of poorly, I am interested in your perspective.
  - jiveturkey 7y ago
    Yes, I did mean to invoke the negative connotation of "reek". The netflix culture deck isn't a bad ideal, not at all. It may not suit some, but that's ok. I think it has some real problems but I won't go into that here. Anyway, let's not let perfect get in the way of good. If it were the reality, it would be better than the way most companies operate, by a long shot. But just like with Valve, the theory is different than the practice. So just as we (HN) hate the person with the fancy car, fancy watch, designer clothes, who are "obviously" just doing this to signal virtue, I loathe the type of org that engineers by blog and cultures by pushy slide deck. It's fine to desire that culture (even if it's impossible), but you look like a buffoon by insisting on being so pushy about it. And that's what Toptal is doing. I am not a netflix employee, but I know a few former and one current employee.
user5994461 7y ago
It's a recruiting agency. It's not scalable by design.

jiveturkey 7y ago

The content is fine. It's obviously spurred by experience or by an influx of offers. The presentation is shite. Just have an autoresponder. It reeks of Netflix' culture deck.

chao- 7y ago
The term "reek" is normally negative in connotation. I have seen (at least on HN) the famous Netflix culture documents praised as straightforward method to assist in defining culture. Not that it "solves" culture in some magical, systemic way (i.e. naive founders saying "Look we have a culture deck, culture done!"), but still have only heard it referenced as a useful communication tool. So having never seen it spoken of poorly, I am interested in your perspective.
- jiveturkey 7y ago
  Yes, I did mean to invoke the negative connotation of "reek". The netflix culture deck isn't a bad ideal, not at all. It may not suit some, but that's ok. I think it has some real problems but I won't go into that here. Anyway, let's not let perfect get in the way of good. If it were the reality, it would be better than the way most companies operate, by a long shot. But just like with Valve, the theory is different than the practice. So just as we (HN) hate the person with the fancy car, fancy watch, designer clothes, who are "obviously" just doing this to signal virtue, I loathe the type of org that engineers by blog and cultures by pushy slide deck. It's fine to desire that culture (even if it's impossible), but you look like a buffoon by insisting on being so pushy about it. And that's what Toptal is doing. I am not a netflix employee, but I know a few former and one current employee.

user5994461 7y ago

It's a recruiting agency. It's not scalable by design.