4 ms·
Whether something is worthwhile or not is usually up for debate - not all projects are equally worthwhile. Having more "worthwhile" projects than engineering re
by ein0p 2y ago
Whether something is worthwhile or not is usually up for debate - not all projects are equally worthwhile. Having more "worthwhile" projects than engineering resources gives engineers a choice of work. That too is a good signal for whether or not something is worthwhile, because then you get motivated people to work on those things, rather than people doing things because they have nothing better available to them. Idk about others, but I feel trapped when I don't have a good degree of autonomy/choice. And when I feel trapped, I leave.
- surgical_fire 2y ago> Having more "worthwhile" projects than engineering resources gives engineers a choice of work. This is pure fantasy, except maybe if you work on a startup environment where engineers have a lot of autonomy. In any sufficiently large organization, you will be assigned to a team, and the scope of work will be sort of defined in some level of hierarchy above you as an individual engineer. You may have some autonomy to pick up some initiative here and there, but that will be somewhat limited. You may also try to switch to different teams where work may be more attractive to you.
- ein0p 2y agoIt's not a "fantasy" at all. That's how Google was for me circa 2008-2009 when I joined it and until I left in 2015. In fact this made it difficult for me to accept anything less than that. There was so much opportunity, it took me about 6 months to get used to working there - I came from a rather rigid, large company where everyone just stabs each other in the back for scraps all the time.