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Although I do listen to Adam Gordon Bell's podcasts from time to time, I'm not sure if I should invest 40something minutes into hearing about why some rando lef

Although I do listen to Adam Gordon Bell's podcasts from time to time, I'm not sure if I should invest 40something minutes into hearing about why some rando left BigCorp. This may be an unpopular opinion, but isn't unprofessional to spill the beans about your past employment like this? As an external observer and hiring manager, I wouldn't touch this person with a 10-foot pole if they're in the hiring pool. I personally find this type of content to be mundane, basic and useless. This is the type of stuff most people run into if their engineering career spans more than a couple of years, touches large organizations, they can't handle conflicts and have the luxury of being more affluent than other employees. I don't understand why someone would go out of their way to share something like this.

chriskrycho 3y ago
This is, indeed the type of stuff most people run into if their career spans more than a couple years, touches large organizations, etc. That is why I thought it would be useful to share: it is the kind of thing that would’ve been really helpful for me in the first few years of my career to understand some of the dynamics, including what can go well, and what can go less well, and the kind of mistakes one might try to avoid, as well as what it means to stick with one’s convictions, even when that might be costly. Whether it is “unprofessional“ or not is something I thought about quite a bit. I think I walked the line of being fairly politic and avoiding dragging real people’s names through the mud, while still getting into some of what that kind of real world engineering and associated politics is like. At the same time, I can see how someone would take the view that none of this kind of thing should be shared outside the company. Your mileage may vary. I hope at a minimum you can understand why someone might choose to air a little bit of it while trying not to be nasty about it.
- maximinus_thrax 3y ago
  Thank you for the clarification, it seems you put a lot of thought into this. Let's agree to disagree here. You may find this valuable information that's worth sharing, I do not - I think the risks outweigh the benefits.

chriskrycho 3y ago

This is, indeed the type of stuff most people run into if their career spans more than a couple years, touches large organizations, etc. That is why I thought it would be useful to share: it is the kind of thing that would’ve been really helpful for me in the first few years of my career to understand some of the dynamics, including what can go well, and what can go less well, and the kind of mistakes one might try to avoid, as well as what it means to stick with one’s convictions, even when that might be costly. Whether it is “unprofessional“ or not is something I thought about quite a bit. I think I walked the line of being fairly politic and avoiding dragging real people’s names through the mud, while still getting into some of what that kind of real world engineering and associated politics is like. At the same time, I can see how someone would take the view that none of this kind of thing should be shared outside the company. Your mileage may vary. I hope at a minimum you can understand why someone might choose to air a little bit of it while trying not to be nasty about it.

maximinus_thrax 3y ago
Thank you for the clarification, it seems you put a lot of thought into this. Let's agree to disagree here. You may find this valuable information that's worth sharing, I do not - I think the risks outweigh the benefits.