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> I'm just imagining this dude quitting and his manager suddenly realizing that no one else knows anything about the parts he worked on and how fucked they are

> I'm just imagining this dude quitting and his manager suddenly realizing that no one else knows anything about the parts he worked on and how fucked they are now. I would bet its rarely a case. We like to think that we are irreplacable, but after our quit company/project is still moving on.

SQueeeeeL 4y ago
A lot of times they move on with larger technical debt, less understanding of their own systems, and less resiliency when things start to break. These issues accumulate over time especially if smooth transitions between technical knowledge isn't kept (like when employees are constantly jumping ship), and lead to places eventually hiring consultants for $1600 an hour to fix their technical mess. It also depends how regimented the team is, places like Amazon have large numbers of coders on the same project, watching over each other. But they also compensate their employees well.
- imtringued 4y ago
  You are right but this just increases the cost of hiring a replacement and you can only ask for a raise if you show them a counter offer.
crispyambulance 4y ago
> I would bet its rarely a case. I agree that life goes on, but it's not rare at all. It happens all the time. People leave and things are f-d up for a while. The thing is, it's not a permanent condition. People adapt, new hires are eventually found to fill the gap, or others who were thought of as not up to the task take the opportunity left by someone's absence to step up in their career. One person leaving won't sink a company that is large enough. That doesn't mean it won't hurt, however. And how the company handles things after the departure is very critical. Perhaps more important (and dangerous) is the morale hit that the others will feel as their peers start leaving. There very much can be a "rats-leaving-the-sinking-ship" effect that can be precipitated by a key person leaving.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- KptMarchewa 4y ago
  >There very much can be a "rats-leaving-the-sinking-ship" effect that can be precipitated by a key person leaving. Oh, yes. One person does not sink a ship, but I've seen cases where whole teams leaving destroyed companies.
redditor98654 4y ago
100%. I recently quit a job (FAANG) after 13 years and I thought I have so much institutional knowledge that mu departure would be impactful for at least a little while. And while I was under no illusion of my importance and did not expect any breakdown of the team or anything like that, I did think I would get at least ONE question after I left from my previous teammates about some obscure thing that I thought only I knew. Nada. No one asked me anything - they had no issues for which they had to reach out to me. Team did a re-org and things just kept moving. It was a humbling realization to say the least.
- SQueeeeeL 4y ago
  Your knowledge is now arcane black magic. The reorg probably shuffled away the people who knew that you knew what you knew, you should be proud.
  - Twisol 4y ago
    Having left and (briefly) returned to the same team, absolutely this, 100%. People typically avoid touching functionality they don't understand, for (legitimate) fear of breaking it in unknown ways. New features and changes are built up on top of the existing edifice, rather than trying to change the edifice itself. You end up with an unstable tower of layers in which it's more and more difficult to get anything done -- but not impossible, and not suddenly more difficult all at once. It's a slow boil.
- p1esk 4y ago
  No one asked me anything - they had no issues for which they had to reach out to me. More likely no one cared.

SQueeeeeL 4y ago

A lot of times they move on with larger technical debt, less understanding of their own systems, and less resiliency when things start to break. These issues accumulate over time especially if smooth transitions between technical knowledge isn't kept (like when employees are constantly jumping ship), and lead to places eventually hiring consultants for $1600 an hour to fix their technical mess. It also depends how regimented the team is, places like Amazon have large numbers of coders on the same project, watching over each other. But they also compensate their employees well.

imtringued 4y ago
You are right but this just increases the cost of hiring a replacement and you can only ask for a raise if you show them a counter offer.

crispyambulance 4y ago

> I would bet its rarely a case. I agree that life goes on, but it's not rare at all. It happens all the time. People leave and things are f-d up for a while. The thing is, it's not a permanent condition. People adapt, new hires are eventually found to fill the gap, or others who were thought of as not up to the task take the opportunity left by someone's absence to step up in their career. One person leaving won't sink a company that is large enough. That doesn't mean it won't hurt, however. And how the company handles things after the departure is very critical. Perhaps more important (and dangerous) is the morale hit that the others will feel as their peers start leaving. There very much can be a "rats-leaving-the-sinking-ship" effect that can be precipitated by a key person leaving.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
KptMarchewa 4y ago
>There very much can be a "rats-leaving-the-sinking-ship" effect that can be precipitated by a key person leaving. Oh, yes. One person does not sink a ship, but I've seen cases where whole teams leaving destroyed companies.

redditor98654 4y ago

100%. I recently quit a job (FAANG) after 13 years and I thought I have so much institutional knowledge that mu departure would be impactful for at least a little while. And while I was under no illusion of my importance and did not expect any breakdown of the team or anything like that, I did think I would get at least ONE question after I left from my previous teammates about some obscure thing that I thought only I knew. Nada. No one asked me anything - they had no issues for which they had to reach out to me. Team did a re-org and things just kept moving. It was a humbling realization to say the least.

SQueeeeeL 4y ago
Your knowledge is now arcane black magic. The reorg probably shuffled away the people who knew that you knew what you knew, you should be proud.
- Twisol 4y ago
  Having left and (briefly) returned to the same team, absolutely this, 100%. People typically avoid touching functionality they don't understand, for (legitimate) fear of breaking it in unknown ways. New features and changes are built up on top of the existing edifice, rather than trying to change the edifice itself. You end up with an unstable tower of layers in which it's more and more difficult to get anything done -- but not impossible, and not suddenly more difficult all at once. It's a slow boil.
p1esk 4y ago
No one asked me anything - they had no issues for which they had to reach out to me. More likely no one cared.