5 ms·

Manish here. I don't know who you are or what your motivations are. Glassdoor Reviews are anonymous (read trolls) and a lot of them were created post the layof

by mrjn 5y ago

Manish here. I don't know who you are or what your motivations are. Glassdoor Reviews are anonymous (read trolls) and a lot of them were created post the layoffs, to create a story that would take the blame away from the hired CEO. Read between the lines about why the layoffs happened in the first place. If not, read this: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Dgraph-Labs-RVW56000221.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-Dgraph-Lab... When you have nothing to say about a leader, it always works to say, "he didn't give a shit about his employees." That's not how companies get built. These are the core values that we had created, which accurately reflect how I operate: https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/dgraph-core-values-v20-05-31/1402 https://discuss.dgraph.io/t/dgraph-core-values-v20-05-31/140... So, no. I'm NOT THAT person.

ignoramous 5y ago
A lot of shit will be flung but the fact that the core team is on board with you to create Outcaste, a Dgraph fork, is a strong enough signal for many. Hopefully, you folks make it work!
ctvo 5y ago
> I don't know who you are or what your motivations are. I'm a rubbernecker passing by a car crash. I have no other motivations. I don't know you personally or anyone who works at Dgraph. I'm piecing together a guess of the culture from what's available externally. I would love to read the details when you're ready to share. Editing to say that the only reason I remembered the blog was because there were multiple parts of it that made me cringe when I initially read it: > I can be a good CEO. I just can not be a good CEO, a good CTO, and the top engineer on the team for a highly technical product, all at the same time. If I could have found a true engineering replacement for me, I’d have stayed on as the CEO. > And two, we lost a couple of deals last quarter due to engineering challenges I can help solve in weeks but would take my team months on their own. Some of these problems wouldn’t get solved without my help. Publicly throwing your engineering team under the bus repeatedly isn't something you commonly see.
- threeseed 5y ago
  It sure seems like you used to work there since you're making specific critiques about company culture and decisions that only someone internal would know. And you're taking statements like "lost a couple of deals last quarter due to engineering challenges" as being a personal slight against the engineering team when an impassioned observer would not really see it that way. I don't know the specifics of Dgraph's failings but reading the Glassdoor reviews it sure looks like the main issue is that the CEO failed to organise a bridge round and that the disputes between the CEO and CTO and poor metrics meant the VCs didn't want to provide one. You can fix any problem at a company except running out of money.
  - JulianWasTaken 5y ago
    > And you're taking statements like "lost a couple of deals last quarter due to engineering challenges" as being a personal slight against the engineering team when an impassioned observer would not really see it that way. I have no opinion on this broader company, but you focused on the wrong part of the sentence. OP was focused on "I can help solve in weeks but would take my team months on their own" -- something that indeed is throwing your engineering team under the bus to me, an impassioned observer.
  - hitekker 5y ago
    The CEO's statements come across as insulting to anyone who isn't blinded by founder worship. I'm saying this as someone who did not even know about dgraph before today. Presuming the GP must be a disgruntled employee because he can read a Glassdoor review is just naive.
- randyrand 5y ago
  I read those snippets and thought the same thing. This guy thinks he is god. 1000x engineer.
  - throwaway4354 5y ago
    Deep familiarity with a complex code base is a thing and is not easily replicated. I have seen this first hand. In my day job - I work on a very popular but complex open source project and in my team there is a engineer who has been there since beginning and I am like second person after him. I have noticed that when we get certain class of bugs from customers(and customers want fix NOW) that spans 2-3 layers of the project, only me and him can pick those bugs. Some decisions are there in the code that is not easy to figure out(like why it was done this way) and I have also seen engineers who are founders of this project - point design issues that I could not have thought (and I am doing this for 5 years!). Can we hire someone new to provide design reviews that spans network, storage, kernel? May be - but engineers who created this thing and have been doing this for long time, have got really good at it. To me - some of them seem god like. I know they will probably suck same as me, if they had to start developing a new iOS app or write new game for Nintendo Switch.
redwood 5y ago
Don't take it to heart that people will happily create a narrative just to get karma points. Could you have better optimized your personal brand? Maybe. Could you have also done the engineering you've done if you had? Who knows. Don't over think it. State is hard
darkcoderrises 5y ago
Dude. I worked for you. You are that person. Your company didn't get built. It's a failure. Lol

by mrjn 5y ago

ignoramous 5y ago

A lot of shit will be flung but the fact that the core team is on board with you to create Outcaste, a Dgraph fork, is a strong enough signal for many. Hopefully, you folks make it work!

ctvo 5y ago

> I don't know who you are or what your motivations are. I'm a rubbernecker passing by a car crash. I have no other motivations. I don't know you personally or anyone who works at Dgraph. I'm piecing together a guess of the culture from what's available externally. I would love to read the details when you're ready to share. Editing to say that the only reason I remembered the blog was because there were multiple parts of it that made me cringe when I initially read it: > I can be a good CEO. I just can not be a good CEO, a good CTO, and the top engineer on the team for a highly technical product, all at the same time. If I could have found a true engineering replacement for me, I’d have stayed on as the CEO. > And two, we lost a couple of deals last quarter due to engineering challenges I can help solve in weeks but would take my team months on their own. Some of these problems wouldn’t get solved without my help. Publicly throwing your engineering team under the bus repeatedly isn't something you commonly see.

threeseed 5y ago
It sure seems like you used to work there since you're making specific critiques about company culture and decisions that only someone internal would know. And you're taking statements like "lost a couple of deals last quarter due to engineering challenges" as being a personal slight against the engineering team when an impassioned observer would not really see it that way. I don't know the specifics of Dgraph's failings but reading the Glassdoor reviews it sure looks like the main issue is that the CEO failed to organise a bridge round and that the disputes between the CEO and CTO and poor metrics meant the VCs didn't want to provide one. You can fix any problem at a company except running out of money.
- JulianWasTaken 5y ago
  > And you're taking statements like "lost a couple of deals last quarter due to engineering challenges" as being a personal slight against the engineering team when an impassioned observer would not really see it that way. I have no opinion on this broader company, but you focused on the wrong part of the sentence. OP was focused on "I can help solve in weeks but would take my team months on their own" -- something that indeed is throwing your engineering team under the bus to me, an impassioned observer.
- hitekker 5y ago
  The CEO's statements come across as insulting to anyone who isn't blinded by founder worship. I'm saying this as someone who did not even know about dgraph before today. Presuming the GP must be a disgruntled employee because he can read a Glassdoor review is just naive.
randyrand 5y ago
I read those snippets and thought the same thing. This guy thinks he is god. 1000x engineer.
- throwaway4354 5y ago
  Deep familiarity with a complex code base is a thing and is not easily replicated. I have seen this first hand. In my day job - I work on a very popular but complex open source project and in my team there is a engineer who has been there since beginning and I am like second person after him. I have noticed that when we get certain class of bugs from customers(and customers want fix NOW) that spans 2-3 layers of the project, only me and him can pick those bugs. Some decisions are there in the code that is not easy to figure out(like why it was done this way) and I have also seen engineers who are founders of this project - point design issues that I could not have thought (and I am doing this for 5 years!). Can we hire someone new to provide design reviews that spans network, storage, kernel? May be - but engineers who created this thing and have been doing this for long time, have got really good at it. To me - some of them seem god like. I know they will probably suck same as me, if they had to start developing a new iOS app or write new game for Nintendo Switch.

redwood 5y ago

Don't take it to heart that people will happily create a narrative just to get karma points. Could you have better optimized your personal brand? Maybe. Could you have also done the engineering you've done if you had? Who knows. Don't over think it. State is hard

darkcoderrises 5y ago

Dude. I worked for you. You are that person. Your company didn't get built. It's a failure. Lol