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Comments talking about how Musk will look at those screenshots of code and somehow determine an employee's worth are hilarious. This obviously has nothing to d

Comments talking about how Musk will look at those screenshots of code and somehow determine an employee's worth are hilarious. This obviously has nothing to do with evaluating a developer's quality; this is a classic move dictators do to determine who has chugged the kool-aid all the way (who are the most loyal and subservient underlings willing to demean themselves to this level). Nothing more, nothing less.

MarkMarine 4y ago
That's an interesting take I hadn't considered, thank you.
curiousgal 4y ago
> demean themselves to this level I guess we have different definitions of what's actually demeaning.
- ncallaway 4y ago
  If you think Elon's behavior towards Twitter employees since the takeover isn't abusive and demeaning then we absolutely have different definitions of the word!
- hamburglar 4y ago
  As a 30 year software veteran, I'd find it pretty demeaning to be called into a lineup where my CEO was going to judge me based on a verbal quiz about my past 6 months of code and 10 screenshots, and likely fire people based on that assessment.
  - bb88 4y ago
    I'm in that range too. Not too many years ago, I was a fan of Elon. If I were a 5 year software veteran I might be a little different, particularly if I didn't personally know any VC's in the valley. It would literally be the opportunity of a lifetime. Unfortunately, I think this era of the "Big Ego" (Trump, etc) has been very detrimental to leaders, much in the way the Jobs biography was to leaders about a decade ago.
- guax 4y ago
  Your code must be very "salient" then.
- reader_mode 4y ago
  If I'm basically expected to prove my value to a loudmouth that walked in a few weeks ago in a place I've worked in for >year because he can't figure out how to evaluate people - I'd rather do that in an interview for another company - sounds healthier.
FireBeyond 4y ago
Yup. Elon is approaching Ye levels of losing the plot.
helen___keller 4y ago
He's trying to build a culture of engineer abuse. I'm sure he'll succeed in building it. The game industry manages it, for example. You can abuse and burn out engineers if that's what you really want. That said, I wouldn't say abused engineers are particularly more productive. He can work them 9/9/6 while he's at it, I don't think that'll help Twitter succeed.
- crooked-v 4y ago
  The problem for him here is that instead of boiling the frog, he's gone straight to chasing the frog around with a blowtorch.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - danesparza 4y ago
    Unless he didn't want frogs. Then he's right on schedule. But damn that's a lot of money to burn just to chase frogs away.
  - CoastalCoder 4y ago
    Apologies for this un-HN-like response, but that image is making me laugh out loud in the privacy of my home office. I'm glad nobody can hear me.
- JansjoFromIkea 4y ago
  The game industry manages it because a lot of people dream of making games, in the same way as I'm sure Tesla and SpaceX have a lot of extremely dedicated employees because the work they're doing is literally a life long dream. There's some very interesting things to solve and achieve at a platform like Twitter but I doubt very many people have had them as life long targets for themselves to achieve.
  - WrtCdEvrydy 4y ago
    That's the thing... Tesla and SpaceX were revolutionizing electric cars, batteries and launching humanity into the stars. Twitter allows hot takes and racism, not exactly comparable.
wnevets 4y ago
Screenshots of code, what a technical genius this man is!
tppiotrowski 4y ago
Interesting. I find git blame sufficient to assess engineering talent on a shared code base. Sometimes I read through a file and there's clarity and other times it's spaghetti. The ones who write with clarity are the ones I want my desk next to. Sometimes they are not even the ones that management is promoting.
- pmoriarty 4y ago
  > Sometimes they are not even the ones that management is promoting. According to The Gervais Principle[1]: "The Peter Principle states that all people are promoted to the level of their incompetence. It is based on the assumption that future promotions are based on past performance. The Peter Principle is wrong for the simple reason that executives aren’t that stupid, and because there isn’t that much room in an upward-narrowing pyramid. They know what it takes for a promotion candidate to perform at the to level. So if they are promoting people beyond their competence anyway, under conditions of opportunity scarcity, there must be a good reason. "Scott Adams, seeing a different flaw in the Peter Principle, proposed the Dilbert Principle: that companies tend to systematically promote their least-competent employees to middle management to limit the damage they can do. This again is untrue. The Gervais principle predicts the exact opposite: that the most competent ones will be promoted to middle management. Michael Scott was a star salesman before he become a Clueless middle manager. The least competent employees (but not all of them -- only certain enlightened incompetents) will be promoted not to middle management, but fast-tracked through to senior management. To the Sociopath level. "And in case you are wondering, the unenlightened under-performers get fired." [1] - https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...
- scarface74 4y ago
  Really? In every large tech company whose leveling guidelines I’ve seen (including my own), “being able to code well” only separates junior developers from mid level developers. After that it’s about “scope” and “impact”. Looking at the git blame tells you nothing about the skillset it takes to be successful at any large tech company at a senior level.
nadieyninguno1 4y ago
If you took a shit-pile of code I was involved in, I could intelligently discuss the code, why it is as it is, the history, the f(possible) future, and overall have a good discussion around it. This “code printout” talking point is just… obnoxious. I hire this way - I don’t care about a coding interview, I care about how you think about my your work and your ability to speak to it. I have yet to see concrete evidence of malfeasance here and yet… the circle jerk continues.

MarkMarine 4y ago

That's an interesting take I hadn't considered, thank you.

curiousgal 4y ago

> demean themselves to this level I guess we have different definitions of what's actually demeaning.

ncallaway 4y ago
If you think Elon's behavior towards Twitter employees since the takeover isn't abusive and demeaning then we absolutely have different definitions of the word!
hamburglar 4y ago
As a 30 year software veteran, I'd find it pretty demeaning to be called into a lineup where my CEO was going to judge me based on a verbal quiz about my past 6 months of code and 10 screenshots, and likely fire people based on that assessment.
- bb88 4y ago
  I'm in that range too. Not too many years ago, I was a fan of Elon. If I were a 5 year software veteran I might be a little different, particularly if I didn't personally know any VC's in the valley. It would literally be the opportunity of a lifetime. Unfortunately, I think this era of the "Big Ego" (Trump, etc) has been very detrimental to leaders, much in the way the Jobs biography was to leaders about a decade ago.
guax 4y ago
Your code must be very "salient" then.
reader_mode 4y ago
If I'm basically expected to prove my value to a loudmouth that walked in a few weeks ago in a place I've worked in for >year because he can't figure out how to evaluate people - I'd rather do that in an interview for another company - sounds healthier.

FireBeyond 4y ago

Yup. Elon is approaching Ye levels of losing the plot.

helen___keller 4y ago

He's trying to build a culture of engineer abuse. I'm sure he'll succeed in building it. The game industry manages it, for example. You can abuse and burn out engineers if that's what you really want. That said, I wouldn't say abused engineers are particularly more productive. He can work them 9/9/6 while he's at it, I don't think that'll help Twitter succeed.

crooked-v 4y ago
The problem for him here is that instead of boiling the frog, he's gone straight to chasing the frog around with a blowtorch.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- danesparza 4y ago
  Unless he didn't want frogs. Then he's right on schedule. But damn that's a lot of money to burn just to chase frogs away.
- CoastalCoder 4y ago
  Apologies for this un-HN-like response, but that image is making me laugh out loud in the privacy of my home office. I'm glad nobody can hear me.
JansjoFromIkea 4y ago
The game industry manages it because a lot of people dream of making games, in the same way as I'm sure Tesla and SpaceX have a lot of extremely dedicated employees because the work they're doing is literally a life long dream. There's some very interesting things to solve and achieve at a platform like Twitter but I doubt very many people have had them as life long targets for themselves to achieve.
- WrtCdEvrydy 4y ago
  That's the thing... Tesla and SpaceX were revolutionizing electric cars, batteries and launching humanity into the stars. Twitter allows hot takes and racism, not exactly comparable.

wnevets 4y ago

Screenshots of code, what a technical genius this man is!

tppiotrowski 4y ago

Interesting. I find git blame sufficient to assess engineering talent on a shared code base. Sometimes I read through a file and there's clarity and other times it's spaghetti. The ones who write with clarity are the ones I want my desk next to. Sometimes they are not even the ones that management is promoting.

pmoriarty 4y ago
> Sometimes they are not even the ones that management is promoting. According to The Gervais Principle[1]: "The Peter Principle states that all people are promoted to the level of their incompetence. It is based on the assumption that future promotions are based on past performance. The Peter Principle is wrong for the simple reason that executives aren’t that stupid, and because there isn’t that much room in an upward-narrowing pyramid. They know what it takes for a promotion candidate to perform at the to level. So if they are promoting people beyond their competence anyway, under conditions of opportunity scarcity, there must be a good reason. "Scott Adams, seeing a different flaw in the Peter Principle, proposed the Dilbert Principle: that companies tend to systematically promote their least-competent employees to middle management to limit the damage they can do. This again is untrue. The Gervais principle predicts the exact opposite: that the most competent ones will be promoted to middle management. Michael Scott was a star salesman before he become a Clueless middle manager. The least competent employees (but not all of them -- only certain enlightened incompetents) will be promoted not to middle management, but fast-tracked through to senior management. To the Sociopath level. "And in case you are wondering, the unenlightened under-performers get fired." [1] - https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-...
scarface74 4y ago
Really? In every large tech company whose leveling guidelines I’ve seen (including my own), “being able to code well” only separates junior developers from mid level developers. After that it’s about “scope” and “impact”. Looking at the git blame tells you nothing about the skillset it takes to be successful at any large tech company at a senior level.

nadieyninguno1 4y ago

If you took a shit-pile of code I was involved in, I could intelligently discuss the code, why it is as it is, the history, the f(possible) future, and overall have a good discussion around it. This “code printout” talking point is just… obnoxious. I hire this way - I don’t care about a coding interview, I care about how you think about my your work and your ability to speak to it. I have yet to see concrete evidence of malfeasance here and yet… the circle jerk continues.