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I see the same thing, and the only way I can reconcile this is that the benefit to sr leadership in terms of treating SDEs as fungible is so massive that it is
by natalyarostova 7y ago
I see the same thing, and the only way I can reconcile this is that the benefit to sr leadership in terms of treating SDEs as fungible is so massive that it is still worth the massive productivity loss from assuming exchangability.
- amznthrowaway5 7y agoWhat are the benefits to treating SDEs as fungible? At Amazon, Sr. Leadership and HR love to pretend all SDEs at a given level are interchangeable, level actually indicates competence, and leetcoding external hires with zero domain knowledge have far more worth than internal promos. All of the above assumptions seem completely insane to me and have resulted in the destruction of many projects.
- natalyarostova 7y agoYeah me too. Also at amazon. And yet amazon is obscenely successful, as are other big tech companies which take similar strategies. It seems that matching expertise to projects is so fucking hard that just giving up at the start and accepting it’s impossible is the optimal strategy. Honestly I don’t know. I agree it’s weird. But these companies keep succeeding doing it this way, so I’m not sure what to make of it.
- amznthrowaway5 7y ago> But these companies keep succeeding doing it this way, so I’m not sure what to make of it. That doesn't necessarily mean anything. The fact that a system might be working, doesn't mean it's anywhere near optimal. I think these companies are successful in spite of these types of policies, not because of them.