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>> Offer assistance to the lead and do your best to make your team successful. A rising tide lifts all ships. It doesn't work like that in practice. If you're

>> Offer assistance to the lead and do your best to make your team successful. A rising tide lifts all ships. It doesn't work like that in practice. If you're much more skilled than the tech lead and the CEO/CTO is not promoting you. You need to leave ASAP because they will never promote you and you're wasting your time; if that situation ever happens in a company, it means that the company doesn't value talent. Maybe the CEO/CTO is friends with the tech lead or there is some other reason but whatever that reason is, there should be no substitute for talent. If you're truly talented, then find another company which follows this philosophy.

freedomben 7y ago
I very much agree with this. I started out (and remained for years) in the camp of "a rising tide lifts all boats," but after repeated sessions in the school of life I see that it really isn't the case. There are political reasons for the current structure, and it would take a mountain of technical evidence to overturn it, assuming even that would get it done. The best thing to do is find a new company, and get hired into the role you actually want.
bradleyjg 7y ago
It's not either/or. Unless you are suggesting s/he quit while looking for the next role, there's still the question of what to do meanwhile. In my experience it's never a bad idea to do a good job at your job while you're there.
- cryptica 7y ago
  Why do a good job for a company which is headed by jerks who don't give a crap about you? Ultimately the proceeds of your great work will go directly into their pockets. If they're real jerks, I'd much rather dedicate my energy to screwing them over on my way out. These sociopaths never reciprocate good deeds no matter what anyway, so the cost of burning the bridge is 0. However, the satisfaction from watching them fail after you leave and the added self-respect you get out of it is priceless.
awinder 7y ago
So I am actually speaking from personal experience so this does 100% happen, we could have a discussion about the relative occurrences, but I don’t even know that those numbers exist. I understand that certain personality types really latch onto this idea of the ladder climbing thing as a battleground where you need to shove people off to move up. Shit, I was that person once upon a time! But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can do what I say, and things will work out more often than not. When they don’t work out you’ll have accumulated good will & tradable skills along the road. And you may even feel like a better person for it.
- cryptica 7y ago
  My experience with many different companies for over a decade is very different. Most of the companies I worked with were cut-throat and treated everyone as disposable; even their top talent.
jghn 7y ago
While I agree with this, one should also make sure to consider that they're not as talented as they believe themselves to be. In my experience most folks who would proclaim that they're clearly better than their tech lead clearly aren't.

freedomben 7y ago

I very much agree with this. I started out (and remained for years) in the camp of "a rising tide lifts all boats," but after repeated sessions in the school of life I see that it really isn't the case. There are political reasons for the current structure, and it would take a mountain of technical evidence to overturn it, assuming even that would get it done. The best thing to do is find a new company, and get hired into the role you actually want.

bradleyjg 7y ago

It's not either/or. Unless you are suggesting s/he quit while looking for the next role, there's still the question of what to do meanwhile. In my experience it's never a bad idea to do a good job at your job while you're there.

cryptica 7y ago
Why do a good job for a company which is headed by jerks who don't give a crap about you? Ultimately the proceeds of your great work will go directly into their pockets. If they're real jerks, I'd much rather dedicate my energy to screwing them over on my way out. These sociopaths never reciprocate good deeds no matter what anyway, so the cost of burning the bridge is 0. However, the satisfaction from watching them fail after you leave and the added self-respect you get out of it is priceless.

awinder 7y ago

So I am actually speaking from personal experience so this does 100% happen, we could have a discussion about the relative occurrences, but I don’t even know that those numbers exist. I understand that certain personality types really latch onto this idea of the ladder climbing thing as a battleground where you need to shove people off to move up. Shit, I was that person once upon a time! But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can do what I say, and things will work out more often than not. When they don’t work out you’ll have accumulated good will & tradable skills along the road. And you may even feel like a better person for it.

cryptica 7y ago
My experience with many different companies for over a decade is very different. Most of the companies I worked with were cut-throat and treated everyone as disposable; even their top talent.

jghn 7y ago

While I agree with this, one should also make sure to consider that they're not as talented as they believe themselves to be. In my experience most folks who would proclaim that they're clearly better than their tech lead clearly aren't.