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For anyone reading this, please don’t subscribe to this level of cynicism. For SWEs at Google and almost anywhere else, the wind has blown very favorably for y

For anyone reading this, please don’t subscribe to this level of cynicism. For SWEs at Google and almost anywhere else, the wind has blown very favorably for you and that’s something to be celebrated. The direction of the wind has shifted, but we can never expect it to stay blowing in one direction forever, even if others get lucky and catch one like that. You will no doubt set your sail and take it to new and wonderful places. Let’s take a minute and be grateful for how good SWEs have it - we are frequently so insanely disconnected from the realities and struggles of the normal working class and we should remember and express some gratitude for it regularly.

hotpotamus 3y ago
If this is merely the result of a change in weather, then Sundar Pichai must be the god of the winds.
- pas 3y ago
  at Alphabet he[0] most certainly is [0] well, probably not he alone, but he is the figurehead of a group that put him there and keeps him there, and at Alphabet that group shits the wind
rkachowski 3y ago
Are you seriously saying that people should express gratitude for being fired without ceremony, whilst the company at hand makes record profits? All the "wind", "sails" and boat metaphors won't change the fact that loyalty is a virtue that fits very poorly on both sides of employment.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  That wasn't how I read that comment. What I heard him say was that we should be grateful for having been able to take advantage of an unusually favorable environment, while at the same time recognizing that it's been an unusually favorable environment that will, sooner or later, regress closer to the mean.
  - I_ 3y ago
    Agreed. But both interpretations stand I guess.
avensec 3y ago
This is well-stated and appreciated positivity. It is disheartening to see the detractor/logic-leaping replies that followed. Thank you for writing it.
ParetoOptimal 3y ago
Its not that SWE's have it so good, its more that everyone else has an unacceptably bad situation with workers rights.
confidantlake 3y ago
And funnily enough, the wind for the C suite just keeps blowing in that same direction.

hotpotamus 3y ago

If this is merely the result of a change in weather, then Sundar Pichai must be the god of the winds.

pas 3y ago
at Alphabet he[0] most certainly is [0] well, probably not he alone, but he is the figurehead of a group that put him there and keeps him there, and at Alphabet that group shits the wind

rkachowski 3y ago

Are you seriously saying that people should express gratitude for being fired without ceremony, whilst the company at hand makes record profits? All the "wind", "sails" and boat metaphors won't change the fact that loyalty is a virtue that fits very poorly on both sides of employment.

JohnFen 3y ago
That wasn't how I read that comment. What I heard him say was that we should be grateful for having been able to take advantage of an unusually favorable environment, while at the same time recognizing that it's been an unusually favorable environment that will, sooner or later, regress closer to the mean.
- I_ 3y ago
  Agreed. But both interpretations stand I guess.

avensec 3y ago

This is well-stated and appreciated positivity. It is disheartening to see the detractor/logic-leaping replies that followed. Thank you for writing it.

ParetoOptimal 3y ago

Its not that SWE's have it so good, its more that everyone else has an unacceptably bad situation with workers rights.

confidantlake 3y ago

And funnily enough, the wind for the C suite just keeps blowing in that same direction.