3 ms·

I wonder how much that matters, and how uniformly it applies (primarily on the dimension of industry), when institutional inertia isn't perfectly aligned with e

I wonder how much that matters, and how uniformly it applies (primarily on the dimension of industry), when institutional inertia isn't perfectly aligned with employee preference. For example: Microsoft employees... lots of mixed signals. Supposedly their love of opensource has resulted in a Microsoft that no longer plots the destruction of free software, and everybody can rest assured that the bad old days are over. But when they openly protest DoD contract work, they suddenly find themselves impotent to stem the flow of HoloLens units going to the Army. Obviously there are a lot of different things at play - even within that single example, but you can find the same pattern all over the place. So I don't put a lot of weight on the employee sensibility side of the scale... despite the fact that it may diminish, to some degree, the accomplishments of the graybeards - who I venerate more than most.

touisteur 5y ago
I know what you mean and... I don't know. I work in a big company, in an industry where I ask myself moral questions quite often and I know if I'm faced with or if I learn of a sketchy or immoral thing, I'll be sure to talk loudly about it, and feel like I could be heard. But if it were to have no effect, I'd try to vote with my feet asap, but there's also kids to feed etc. I'd sure be less motivated and would be looking for an out. Bye bye Highly invested collaborator, hello 9-5-fuck-you-pay-me. I wasn't saying one team would steer the ship, but rather that the culture of opensource also lives inside Xilinx and I'll take any progress I can. Especially on such emergent tech and after the pains of closed-source AI toolkits and even inside Xilinx, the pain of using their DPU/VITIS-AI offer: oh you want to do X? Too bad, the IP can't be changed or touched (and is or will even be encrypted? Woa).
- sennight 5y ago
  That would be the absolute free market proposed solution for addressing social externalities in the absence of regulation: companies that make employees unhappy are rendered less competitive due to higher churn and a need for above market wage levels to act as a perpetual retention bonus. I expect that the more readily an industry can convert novel thinking into economic advantage, the greater the strength of that phenomenon, and the more challenging it is to find a global minimum for both individual and organization prosperity. My last 9-5, many years ago, involved writing logistics software in an industry that: didn't present moral dilemmas, didn't especially reward creativity, and certainly didn't leave one feeling any real sense of accomplishment - outside of occasionally conquering another rung on the corporate ladder. It did, however, regularly present interesting problems - so I was pretty happy getting paid to solve non-contrived puzzles. But as I assumed more responsibility I surrendered more independence, and it eventually got to the point were it was a job - so I asked for a pay bump large enough to compensate the loss of intellectually challenging problems. I found myself reading IRS guidance for independent contractors shortly thereafter. Over the years I've considered paths that would eventually necessitate hiring, but I haven't been able to come up with a solution for the problem of balanced interests. One that would have been able to retain my younger self while also maximizing utility. I'm not sure if such a financial instrument exists, one that incentivizes the execution of long term objectives in the company's interest, doesn't collect dead weight silent partners, doesn't leave anyone starving, and doesn't end in a coup.
  - touisteur 5y ago
    I'm with you here. Not found the solution yet. Though there's a strange thing going on lately with lots of my generation is leaving to do some public service mission, either encouraged by the company (military 'réserve' is what we call it around here, and I hear the missions are really great, and the influx of so much expertise and good will from individuals is - from what I'm hearing - received extremely well) or just f'in leaving to help solve a societal problem with whatever tools they can bring to the table (be it IT for a non-profit, setting video conf hw/sw, doing personal support, raiding ebay for cheapest most-solid HW for servers or other missions, connecting PR people to worthy causes to pour their cash in, teaching all kinds of basic modern skills like opsec, itsec, backups, event organisation tools, group communication tools, ...). Huge pay cut but I see it a lot, even more since COVID-19. I may be in a bubble but I was surprised.
    - sennight 5y ago
      I know a couple people in their late 20s who recently enlisted, which is very odd and makes me suspect that recruiters are selling it as a sort of pause button for adult responsibilities. I joined shortly after 9/11 and ended up fighting in Fallujah... I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I liked. After I got out I was living hand to mouth for a little over a year - which might have been the single most influential hardship in my life. If I were to do any real charity work (instead of a tax advantaged hobby project) it would be teaching personal finance, the need for it can't be overstated - as the financial system actively punishes the unwary. I would not relish the task of brush-up for certification though...
  - touisteur 5y ago
    One of the paths to me, to steer things in a way, is hiring, and even just internships. I'm REALLY upfront with the kinds of things we build and sell, and am trying to be systematically the 'first interviewer' they meet of my entity in bigco. And I go: shiny toys! But for uses that some may find hard to live with... Hot tech challenges! But most days are still filles with a lot of process and bureaucracy... Mission critical systems! But it means being beyond reproach so no slacking on allllll the boring tasks, especially documents and reviews (not 'just' code!) and tests. We do some R&D but we're an operational entity at heart. We're a leader in sales/installs in the industry, but that means you should read the Innovator's Dilemma. We work 'very hard' when we work but we like our family lives. I try to distill our culture (actual and the one I strive) as a first image of Corp X. And I always try to steer those who don't feel they'd fit in, but have a great CV or story, to other parts of the corp or to places I know would fit better. It all starts at first impressions and those who want to define the future of the company should invest energy in hiring and mentoring, mentoring and mentoring again. 'no we don't do that here' at the coffee machine, with a smile. 'oh I wouldn't do that, that's a breach of your customer's trust, if you want I can come to the next meetings with you or help you craft a written answer with the proper people in Cc... Yes that sounds like being an annoying busy body but the help seems usually very appreciated.

touisteur 5y ago

I know what you mean and... I don't know. I work in a big company, in an industry where I ask myself moral questions quite often and I know if I'm faced with or if I learn of a sketchy or immoral thing, I'll be sure to talk loudly about it, and feel like I could be heard. But if it were to have no effect, I'd try to vote with my feet asap, but there's also kids to feed etc. I'd sure be less motivated and would be looking for an out. Bye bye Highly invested collaborator, hello 9-5-fuck-you-pay-me. I wasn't saying one team would steer the ship, but rather that the culture of opensource also lives inside Xilinx and I'll take any progress I can. Especially on such emergent tech and after the pains of closed-source AI toolkits and even inside Xilinx, the pain of using their DPU/VITIS-AI offer: oh you want to do X? Too bad, the IP can't be changed or touched (and is or will even be encrypted? Woa).

sennight 5y ago
That would be the absolute free market proposed solution for addressing social externalities in the absence of regulation: companies that make employees unhappy are rendered less competitive due to higher churn and a need for above market wage levels to act as a perpetual retention bonus. I expect that the more readily an industry can convert novel thinking into economic advantage, the greater the strength of that phenomenon, and the more challenging it is to find a global minimum for both individual and organization prosperity. My last 9-5, many years ago, involved writing logistics software in an industry that: didn't present moral dilemmas, didn't especially reward creativity, and certainly didn't leave one feeling any real sense of accomplishment - outside of occasionally conquering another rung on the corporate ladder. It did, however, regularly present interesting problems - so I was pretty happy getting paid to solve non-contrived puzzles. But as I assumed more responsibility I surrendered more independence, and it eventually got to the point were it was a job - so I asked for a pay bump large enough to compensate the loss of intellectually challenging problems. I found myself reading IRS guidance for independent contractors shortly thereafter. Over the years I've considered paths that would eventually necessitate hiring, but I haven't been able to come up with a solution for the problem of balanced interests. One that would have been able to retain my younger self while also maximizing utility. I'm not sure if such a financial instrument exists, one that incentivizes the execution of long term objectives in the company's interest, doesn't collect dead weight silent partners, doesn't leave anyone starving, and doesn't end in a coup.
- touisteur 5y ago
  I'm with you here. Not found the solution yet. Though there's a strange thing going on lately with lots of my generation is leaving to do some public service mission, either encouraged by the company (military 'réserve' is what we call it around here, and I hear the missions are really great, and the influx of so much expertise and good will from individuals is - from what I'm hearing - received extremely well) or just f'in leaving to help solve a societal problem with whatever tools they can bring to the table (be it IT for a non-profit, setting video conf hw/sw, doing personal support, raiding ebay for cheapest most-solid HW for servers or other missions, connecting PR people to worthy causes to pour their cash in, teaching all kinds of basic modern skills like opsec, itsec, backups, event organisation tools, group communication tools, ...). Huge pay cut but I see it a lot, even more since COVID-19. I may be in a bubble but I was surprised.
  - sennight 5y ago
    I know a couple people in their late 20s who recently enlisted, which is very odd and makes me suspect that recruiters are selling it as a sort of pause button for adult responsibilities. I joined shortly after 9/11 and ended up fighting in Fallujah... I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I liked. After I got out I was living hand to mouth for a little over a year - which might have been the single most influential hardship in my life. If I were to do any real charity work (instead of a tax advantaged hobby project) it would be teaching personal finance, the need for it can't be overstated - as the financial system actively punishes the unwary. I would not relish the task of brush-up for certification though...
- touisteur 5y ago
  One of the paths to me, to steer things in a way, is hiring, and even just internships. I'm REALLY upfront with the kinds of things we build and sell, and am trying to be systematically the 'first interviewer' they meet of my entity in bigco. And I go: shiny toys! But for uses that some may find hard to live with... Hot tech challenges! But most days are still filles with a lot of process and bureaucracy... Mission critical systems! But it means being beyond reproach so no slacking on allllll the boring tasks, especially documents and reviews (not 'just' code!) and tests. We do some R&D but we're an operational entity at heart. We're a leader in sales/installs in the industry, but that means you should read the Innovator's Dilemma. We work 'very hard' when we work but we like our family lives. I try to distill our culture (actual and the one I strive) as a first image of Corp X. And I always try to steer those who don't feel they'd fit in, but have a great CV or story, to other parts of the corp or to places I know would fit better. It all starts at first impressions and those who want to define the future of the company should invest energy in hiring and mentoring, mentoring and mentoring again. 'no we don't do that here' at the coffee machine, with a smile. 'oh I wouldn't do that, that's a breach of your customer's trust, if you want I can come to the next meetings with you or help you craft a written answer with the proper people in Cc... Yes that sounds like being an annoying busy body but the help seems usually very appreciated.