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> When you apply for your next job as a manager they will ask you “How big was your team?”, and they won’t be impressed when you say “I managed to keep it down
by neilv 3y ago
> When you apply for your next job as a manager they will ask you “How big was your team?”, and they won’t be impressed when you say “I managed to keep it down to four people”
I had this same interaction when applying for Staff+ software engineer (not manager) at two FAANGs.
One of the recruiters sniffed, or maybe negged, and said they expected X number people under you for that role.
Highly effective small teams was considered small-time, not a selling point. Also not-OK was leading engineering for an early startup. Nor was a cross-company Principal role interfacing with everyone.
(However, both companies were still open to me doing their new-grad Leetcode hazing battery or Python grunting automated screening test. Which isn't a sign that their culture is otherwise good, other than the team size fixation.)
- rqtwteye 3y agoSame for technology used. You won’t get much credit for keeping costs down and keeping things simple. The real money is in developing super complex systems. That will give you respect.
- jurschreuder 3y agoYes, this is my mantra. Senior Only-Developers are attracted to complex problems and try to make things using as many language from the "advanced" book as possible. That's why I like all-round developers better, they have a bit less to prove by making "smart and complicated" code.
- matrix87 3y agothe benefit of complicated is that it filters out the people who suck so they can't fuck up the code
- lukan 3y agoThat would only work, if people had more accurate self assessment.
- WWLink 3y ago> That's why I like all-round developers better, they have a bit less to prove by making "smart and complicated" code. I thought we all agreed the best kinda code is the stuff you can debug at 3am. While drunk.
- lukan 3y agoFor sure, but if you forget to clean up afterwards in a sober state after your drunk session, that code won't stay that clean for long.
- marcosdumay 3y agoEvidently a lot of people disagree. Otherwise, we wouldn't see the recurrent explosion of overhyped technologies that create complexity without any providing any benefit at all. (I really don't understand the mechanism where reasonable ideas become those memes, but their existence is undeniable.)
- mattgreenrocks 3y ago> One of the recruiters sniffed, or maybe negged, and said they expected X number people under you for that role. Ridiculous. Essentially saying the staff role is management in all but name. > Highly effective small teams was considered small-time, not a selling point. Also not-OK was leading engineering for an early startup. Nor was a cross-company Principal role interfacing with everyone. Hilarious they insist on holding ICs feet to the fire for hiring while letting their own culture wither away to petty little fiefdoms.
- theptip 3y agoThe flex reply here is to say how much value you created with your small team. Everyone is familiar with Instagram being acquired for $1B at 13 employees, and that track record would be sufficient to carry you a long way even if you did nothing more after. If that doesn’t work for a given company, well, interviews go two ways :)