4 ms·

This is a tale as old as time: The Incumbents in the early 90s were challenged by newer culture, they sneered. Smart people went to work for the newer culture a

This is a tale as old as time: The Incumbents in the early 90s were challenged by newer culture, they sneered. Smart people went to work for the newer culture and industries and refused to conform to wearing suits and playing corporate house. Many of the tech firms that are bleeding out have become everything they fought against. The MBA-isation of big tech is so jarring when you land in the valley coming in from Florida, Colorado or many a foreign country where the rules of engagement and speech are still "normal" ie, casual, ie, ideas win respect not rank, ie there are perspectives outside of what the headlines in techmeme alone speak to. If you work at a large tech firm today, you will see this play out every 6 months in the promotion discussions that have essentially dissolved into political horse trading and are the single most important events to anyone not directly involved in very very senior roles (Where you speak to investors or are involved in company-level change) This is so strange to live through as a mid/mid-senior level VP, Manager, Lead what have you. Here you are, apparently at the pinnacle of your achievement, having beaten thousands of intelligent people in competitive exams and studied at the most prestigious institutions only to . . . spend a significant portion of your promotion cycle trying to play the Game of Thrones with a bunch of MBAs ? Compensation is not a significant differentiator anymore as it has been in the past, infact, one may argue, for the top 10-15% of the company that handles the most crucial products, quitting and starting up would easily get them overnight valuations orders of magnitude returns over their expected 20 year earnings were they to continue climbing the corp ladder (Nuvia, anyone?) So, in short, the environment externally has changed. The environment internally has absorbed a lot of the lifers and MBAs from "Successful" incumbents to the point where the internal culture reflects everything that was wrong with those guys that these firms "Disrupted" and there's plenty of money to go around.

Simon_O_Rourke 5y ago
This is as old as the dinosaurs, wherever there's money, or potential for high salaries, the talentless but highly vocal sociopaths will progressively rise to the top. It's not about MBA's or generational issues, it's all about your abilities to talk the talk, nothing more.
- DisjointedHunt 5y ago
  I have to add a correction there: "Wherever there's money . . .AND SUBJECTIVITY IN THE INTERPRETATION OF PERFORMANCE . . . " You don't see this in crucial roles in sport, for example, where athletes who once possessed the talent for glory can't hide it when they perform poorly or are past their prime. Thankfully, there are no deteriorations in performance for physical ability alone in tech, rather, mental abilities improve over time (Except for roles where the grind is important), but in the early tech days, "Winning" meant creating things that were measurable and clearly showed that.(Mostly at least, there will always be exclusions to the norm). The past decade and a half have been near unbearable with the progressions in tech culture at companies resembling what internet memes on corporate culture are made of. Heavily verbose emails and pointless discussions of low intellect for the most minor of issues or features. Power is concentrated not in software engineering ability, but in the boardrooms of clueless MBAs and while you say it isn't about that, what i see indicates it is largely because of that.

Simon_O_Rourke 5y ago

This is as old as the dinosaurs, wherever there's money, or potential for high salaries, the talentless but highly vocal sociopaths will progressively rise to the top. It's not about MBA's or generational issues, it's all about your abilities to talk the talk, nothing more.

DisjointedHunt 5y ago
I have to add a correction there: "Wherever there's money . . .AND SUBJECTIVITY IN THE INTERPRETATION OF PERFORMANCE . . . " You don't see this in crucial roles in sport, for example, where athletes who once possessed the talent for glory can't hide it when they perform poorly or are past their prime. Thankfully, there are no deteriorations in performance for physical ability alone in tech, rather, mental abilities improve over time (Except for roles where the grind is important), but in the early tech days, "Winning" meant creating things that were measurable and clearly showed that.(Mostly at least, there will always be exclusions to the norm). The past decade and a half have been near unbearable with the progressions in tech culture at companies resembling what internet memes on corporate culture are made of. Heavily verbose emails and pointless discussions of low intellect for the most minor of issues or features. Power is concentrated not in software engineering ability, but in the boardrooms of clueless MBAs and while you say it isn't about that, what i see indicates it is largely because of that.