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This tale of super talented engineers having no one under them, being individual contributors, feels too common. Im sure Netflix had some idea how valuable, how

This tale of super talented engineers having no one under them, being individual contributors, feels too common. Im sure Netflix had some idea how valuable, how much money Brendan was saving/making them, but I still would not be surprised to hear organization impedance was sometimes an issue.

rektide 5y ago
Interesting & telling (& not at all what i meant!) is most replies celebrating IC's. It's a simplifcation for sure but "autonomy, mastery, & purpose" being the elements of fulfilment rings true however hou dice this. Personally I'd really like to see a lot of really good engineers given direct unfettered access to talent, given authority while trying to minimize their personell and management overheads: let the humam resources go wild, synergize, make good things. And stand the frak back. It's a gaping vast culutral loss that Brendan hasnt had a team of 10 under him. There are people missing from the world who would be way awesome & have done great things if Brendan had simply been tossed some people. Byt usually corporations statt having political games, attachments, commitments, things other than the work itself that comes with authority. Im fascinated by & not sure this world will ever get to grapple with just how core & essential a problem creating "low-drag" organizations is. Allowing itself to acknowledge that much of what it does is far more excellent & powerful than those in the chain of command can really.tap, harvest, understand, much less take credit for or manage. Orgs need an anti-gravity force, a depolitical defence, of stand the f back. Brendan's go do it figure it out brilliance needs a chance & positiom in this world, needs to be shareable. Or the idea of an organization is actually a hazard, is ossified & unworthy of being the thing that has overgrown this planet loke it has. Human dignity & potential should not remain so shadowed & bound.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
birdyrooster 5y ago
Just keep heaping on the responsibility if they don't get burned out. Let's put these people to work. Better than me having to get off my ass.
gotaquestion 5y ago
It is impossible to remain an individual contributor at Intel. This will last about a year. There are simply too many employees to maintain a flat hierarchy. People dream of this, but in reality, if you're really that good, you will absolutely become a manager, there's just not enough hands on deck. Plus there is also social pressure: while you're cavorting about as an individual contributor, many other peers will be crushed under management pressure, and will start to resent you, and demand to the VPs that you share the load. That being said, Intel is really taking a hard turn back to engineering. I might even consider going back there, assuming Gelsinger doesn't go back to the old school ranking-and-ratings that forces you up or out, or the "you must give 120%" bullshit. Being forced to work in "dungeon mode" for months at a time is what drove me out. "Dungeon mode" is supposed to be a 1-2 week thing to fix a serious bug. (DM is spending 14 hours a day in a conference room 7 days a week.) YOu can only do that so many years in a row before saying enough. That's why Intel lost so many people to Apple a few years ago.
- pstuart 5y ago
  Per the recent story about Jony Ive burning out at Apple I wonder how well Brendan will be protected from the miasma of managing a staff in a highly political environment. I'd think a smart move would be to hire a personnel manager for him to deal with all administrivia and let him focus on leveraging his talents with other like minds.
- summerlight 5y ago
  > It is impossible to remain an individual contributor at Intel. This will last about a year. There are simply too many employees to maintain a flat hierarchy. People dream of this, but in reality, if you're really that good, you will absolutely become a manager, there's just not enough hands on deck. This is right. In most big techs, even if you manage to "technically" remain as a individual contributor at a principal/distinguished level, but you're very likely going to lead/manage a bunch of technical projects which will effectively give you tens of informal reports. Even without external social pressures, I saw many people voluntarily choose to become a manager because it's nearly impossible to handle the workload.
- georgeburdell 5y ago

rektide 5y ago

Interesting & telling (& not at all what i meant!) is most replies celebrating IC's. It's a simplifcation for sure but "autonomy, mastery, & purpose" being the elements of fulfilment rings true however hou dice this. Personally I'd really like to see a lot of really good engineers given direct unfettered access to talent, given authority while trying to minimize their personell and management overheads: let the humam resources go wild, synergize, make good things. And stand the frak back. It's a gaping vast culutral loss that Brendan hasnt had a team of 10 under him. There are people missing from the world who would be way awesome & have done great things if Brendan had simply been tossed some people. Byt usually corporations statt having political games, attachments, commitments, things other than the work itself that comes with authority. Im fascinated by & not sure this world will ever get to grapple with just how core & essential a problem creating "low-drag" organizations is. Allowing itself to acknowledge that much of what it does is far more excellent & powerful than those in the chain of command can really.tap, harvest, understand, much less take credit for or manage. Orgs need an anti-gravity force, a depolitical defence, of stand the f back. Brendan's go do it figure it out brilliance needs a chance & positiom in this world, needs to be shareable. Or the idea of an organization is actually a hazard, is ossified & unworthy of being the thing that has overgrown this planet loke it has. Human dignity & potential should not remain so shadowed & bound.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

birdyrooster 5y ago

Just keep heaping on the responsibility if they don't get burned out. Let's put these people to work. Better than me having to get off my ass.

gotaquestion 5y ago

It is impossible to remain an individual contributor at Intel. This will last about a year. There are simply too many employees to maintain a flat hierarchy. People dream of this, but in reality, if you're really that good, you will absolutely become a manager, there's just not enough hands on deck. Plus there is also social pressure: while you're cavorting about as an individual contributor, many other peers will be crushed under management pressure, and will start to resent you, and demand to the VPs that you share the load. That being said, Intel is really taking a hard turn back to engineering. I might even consider going back there, assuming Gelsinger doesn't go back to the old school ranking-and-ratings that forces you up or out, or the "you must give 120%" bullshit. Being forced to work in "dungeon mode" for months at a time is what drove me out. "Dungeon mode" is supposed to be a 1-2 week thing to fix a serious bug. (DM is spending 14 hours a day in a conference room 7 days a week.) YOu can only do that so many years in a row before saying enough. That's why Intel lost so many people to Apple a few years ago.

pstuart 5y ago
Per the recent story about Jony Ive burning out at Apple I wonder how well Brendan will be protected from the miasma of managing a staff in a highly political environment. I'd think a smart move would be to hire a personnel manager for him to deal with all administrivia and let him focus on leveraging his talents with other like minds.
summerlight 5y ago
> It is impossible to remain an individual contributor at Intel. This will last about a year. There are simply too many employees to maintain a flat hierarchy. People dream of this, but in reality, if you're really that good, you will absolutely become a manager, there's just not enough hands on deck. This is right. In most big techs, even if you manage to "technically" remain as a individual contributor at a principal/distinguished level, but you're very likely going to lead/manage a bunch of technical projects which will effectively give you tens of informal reports. Even without external social pressures, I saw many people voluntarily choose to become a manager because it's nearly impossible to handle the workload.
georgeburdell 5y ago