27 ms·

this is literally impossible at most companies due to politics, incentive alignments, OKRs etc

by asdev 2y ago

EasyMark 2y ago
Right, most companies just want you cranking out the code their marketing department has determined as necessary, they don’t care if you grow, prosper, are happy, or any of those things.
- theflyinghorse 2y ago
  Im not sure why there is even a single downvote, the comment is absolutely right on the money.
- zeroCalories 2y ago
  Innovating is all of those, and many managers will be open to cool new ideas and let you try stuff out if there's real promise. You might need to only spend a fraction of your time on it, or do it after hours. The problem is that many developers have bad ideas, or they can't market those ideas effectively. Remember that they will be able to claim a part of any success you find.
vineyardmike 2y ago
You probably won’t launch an entire product line out of your own sheer will, but you can totally push for smaller scale work. Push for creating a tool to improve your team’s processes, or push for a few feature within an existing product. Focus less on the “entrepreneur” aspect and more on the “build fun and autonomy into your work” aspect. If you’re trusted and respected within your organization, you’ll probably be able to push through ever-larger projects (assuming they’re not net-negative). This probably isn’t a working strategy if you’re within your first year, but if you’re a respected senior engineer who wants to scratch an itch, you’ll probably have much more success. Or, if you work at Google, push for a new chat app. It’ll probably be approved.
- htrp 2y ago
  >push for a new AI chat app ftfy
- david-gpu 2y ago
  I once heard a conversation between an engineering manager and a very senior leader at NVidia. The manager was sharing how challenging it was for his team to debug a certain type of code that they were responsible for. Without missing a beat, this very senior leader replied: "What do we need in order to make it fun? What kind of tooling or other improvements would make it enjoyable and easy?". I'm paraphrasing because I can't recall the exact words, but I was flabbergasted to hear how he framed the problem as a lack of "fun". Interactions like that are why I left NVidia with enormous respect for their managers and not just the very bright individual contributors I had the privilege to meet. I bet people who have been on the inside can guess who the very senior guy was. Absolute legend.
  - justinclift 2y ago
    > Interactions like that are why I left NVidia with enormous respect for their managers ... Um, you're being sarcastic yeah? (just checking) ;)
    - david-gpu 2y ago
      I left NVidia because I retired, not because I was unhappy with the managers or my coworkers. They were exceptionally good. You do realize there are all sorts of reasons why people leave a job, right? I left Qualcomm perfectly satisfied with my managers and coworkers, too. If somebody always leaves because of being unhappy with their coworkers, they may want to do some introspection to find out what those disagreements have in common.
      - justinclift 2y ago
        > I left NVidia because I retired, not because I was unhappy with the managers or my coworkers. They were exceptionally good. No worries at all. Asked because the comment about the manager asking how to make it "fun" could also have been read along the lines of "see how out of touch the managers are", and I wasn't sure which meaning you were going for. :)
jnwatson 2y ago
I've started something new at every company I've worked for, except the startup, which was already a new thing. My current employer, Google, seems particularly amenable to internal entrepreneurship. After all, they're essentially paying you not to create new external businesses.
agumonkey 2y ago
That's how it goes at mine. I regularly whine about the amount of waste in there.. insane. I was more productive, creative and happier when jobless. In group you have to navigate all the hurdles, egos, fears around .. Makes me wonder how Xerox PARC managed to exist all (beyond the fact that they had a lot of money of course)

this is literally impossible at most companies due to politics, incentive alignments, OKRs etc

by asdev 2y ago

this is literally impossible at most companies due to politics, incentive alignments, OKRs etc

Right, most companies just want you cranking out the code their marketing department has determined as necessary, they don’t care if you grow, prosper, are happy, or any of those things.

theflyinghorse 2y ago
Im not sure why there is even a single downvote, the comment is absolutely right on the money.
zeroCalories 2y ago
Innovating is all of those, and many managers will be open to cool new ideas and let you try stuff out if there's real promise. You might need to only spend a fraction of your time on it, or do it after hours. The problem is that many developers have bad ideas, or they can't market those ideas effectively. Remember that they will be able to claim a part of any success you find.

vineyardmike 2y ago

You probably won’t launch an entire product line out of your own sheer will, but you can totally push for smaller scale work. Push for creating a tool to improve your team’s processes, or push for a few feature within an existing product. Focus less on the “entrepreneur” aspect and more on the “build fun and autonomy into your work” aspect. If you’re trusted and respected within your organization, you’ll probably be able to push through ever-larger projects (assuming they’re not net-negative). This probably isn’t a working strategy if you’re within your first year, but if you’re a respected senior engineer who wants to scratch an itch, you’ll probably have much more success. Or, if you work at Google, push for a new chat app. It’ll probably be approved.

htrp 2y ago
>push for a new AI chat app ftfy
david-gpu 2y ago
I once heard a conversation between an engineering manager and a very senior leader at NVidia. The manager was sharing how challenging it was for his team to debug a certain type of code that they were responsible for. Without missing a beat, this very senior leader replied: "What do we need in order to make it fun? What kind of tooling or other improvements would make it enjoyable and easy?". I'm paraphrasing because I can't recall the exact words, but I was flabbergasted to hear how he framed the problem as a lack of "fun". Interactions like that are why I left NVidia with enormous respect for their managers and not just the very bright individual contributors I had the privilege to meet. I bet people who have been on the inside can guess who the very senior guy was. Absolute legend.
- justinclift 2y ago
  > Interactions like that are why I left NVidia with enormous respect for their managers ... Um, you're being sarcastic yeah? (just checking) ;)
  - david-gpu 2y ago
    I left NVidia because I retired, not because I was unhappy with the managers or my coworkers. They were exceptionally good. You do realize there are all sorts of reasons why people leave a job, right? I left Qualcomm perfectly satisfied with my managers and coworkers, too. If somebody always leaves because of being unhappy with their coworkers, they may want to do some introspection to find out what those disagreements have in common.
    - justinclift 2y ago
      > I left NVidia because I retired, not because I was unhappy with the managers or my coworkers. They were exceptionally good. No worries at all. Asked because the comment about the manager asking how to make it "fun" could also have been read along the lines of "see how out of touch the managers are", and I wasn't sure which meaning you were going for. :)

jnwatson 2y ago

I've started something new at every company I've worked for, except the startup, which was already a new thing. My current employer, Google, seems particularly amenable to internal entrepreneurship. After all, they're essentially paying you not to create new external businesses.

agumonkey 2y ago

That's how it goes at mine. I regularly whine about the amount of waste in there.. insane. I was more productive, creative and happier when jobless. In group you have to navigate all the hurdles, egos, fears around .. Makes me wonder how Xerox PARC managed to exist all (beyond the fact that they had a lot of money of course)