3 ms·

Ok, for the record, I haven't worked at a FAANG company so the stakes weren't as high. Just video game studios, so million dollar companies not billion. Even o

Ok, for the record, I haven't worked at a FAANG company so the stakes weren't as high. Just video game studios, so million dollar companies not billion. Even on our systems, we had so many redundancies and test servers run, that even when a mistake did run through (which was exceedingly rare, given the testing), the roll back was quick. A single dev, especially a new hire, was unable to make multi-million dollar mistakes. It had to be several systems to fail, in order to be released to the wild. I can't believe any of the FAANG companies got to where they are with such a "cowboy" attitude as to say, "it's your third day, push that untested code straight to prod". Edit: autocorrect hates me

sgustard 5y ago
> we had so many redundancies and test servers run How did you hire the developers who built those systems? Was the bar higher then? Lots of companies have institutional memory of how their first few hires were crucial to make the company successful. It's a tough decision whether to keep standards high, or risk losing the skills that got you this far. Eventually the early people leave. Where I work, the stuff they built is viewed as some kind of godlike crystalline shrine that you dare not touch.
- UnpossibleJim 5y ago
  It isn't just a one person show, is all I'm saying. The many are more capable than the one. Even if mistakes get made, there are processes (maybe a better word than systems) in place to keep it from turning into a failure in the wild, and if it does sneak through, it's a relatively simple roll back. When a new hire comes on, that institutional knowledge must get passed on - hopefully there is good documentation, though it's never as good as hoped. No matter how well a new hire does on their knowledge test, TBH, the most important thing I hope someone I get to work with is culture fit and the ability to learn fairly quickly =[ how to interview for that is pretty difficult, though.

sgustard 5y ago

> we had so many redundancies and test servers run How did you hire the developers who built those systems? Was the bar higher then? Lots of companies have institutional memory of how their first few hires were crucial to make the company successful. It's a tough decision whether to keep standards high, or risk losing the skills that got you this far. Eventually the early people leave. Where I work, the stuff they built is viewed as some kind of godlike crystalline shrine that you dare not touch.

UnpossibleJim 5y ago
It isn't just a one person show, is all I'm saying. The many are more capable than the one. Even if mistakes get made, there are processes (maybe a better word than systems) in place to keep it from turning into a failure in the wild, and if it does sneak through, it's a relatively simple roll back. When a new hire comes on, that institutional knowledge must get passed on - hopefully there is good documentation, though it's never as good as hoped. No matter how well a new hire does on their knowledge test, TBH, the most important thing I hope someone I get to work with is culture fit and the ability to learn fairly quickly =[ how to interview for that is pretty difficult, though.