8 ms·

Life lessons from the first half-century of my career

419 points by zdw 2y ago

shipp02 2y ago
Some great stuff here's my thoughts on 3 of the 16 points >Choose happiness This one stuck out to me because recently I've been struggling with some stuff but making sure I had some routines that made me happy (having food at consistent times, a little morning routine with a walk/yoga) has made me more composed and lets me go after things. >It’s not how many projects you start; it’s how many you finish. Juggling a few too many open projects right now. Some of them that would be quite cool to show off are just stuck because I don't find the time and they aren't in a presentable state yet. >Look for the positive opportunities Surprisingly enough this is about how he got together with his wife even though it's in the career-focused segment. The story is sweet though and repeats the oft-repeated advice of making up after arguments.
bruce511 2y ago
My career isn't quite as long as his, but I concur with all the sentiments. I will note that some of these are easier to say in hind-sight than do at the time.for example There's a lot of pressure on you in your early career to prioritize work over family. I would add the following; if you have the choice, work at a place you like to go to, doing work you like to do, either people you can grow to work. I know that's not practical advice for most, but if you are in such a place don't trade it away just for money or status. And if you come across such an environment and are offered a spot the consider it carefully, even if it isn't the highest paying offer.
qq66 2y ago
For those who may not know, Patterson is the father of RISC CPU architecture and with John Hennessey (former Stanford president) the author of the standard intro computer architecture text.
gunian 2y ago
very cool read although I wish one of these days I click on a link and it talks about how someone overcame a cult, being doxxed etc and finished their project or ended up getting a PhD so I can believe there is hope
- sudohackthenews 2y ago
  Hey bro I was looking through your profile and it seems like you’re in a rough spot. Send me an email, I want to see if I can help. It’s in my profile
- erikerikson 2y ago
  I can't help you with belief and I struggle with it myself at times but there is always hope. Next focus on manifesting your hopes into reality and modifying then in response to everything you learn doing so! :)
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
matt_daemon 2y ago
> The cost of praise is small. The value to others is inestimable. Cannot overstate this point. Many people I've worked with (myself included) have suffered from imposter syndrome at one point or another. Hearing from your manager or someone you respect that you've done a good job often makes a world of difference.
- theletterf 2y ago
  I often wonder why it's so hard for some managers to provide praise. It's almost as if they didn't want to feed egos out of fear.
  - vvanders 2y ago
    Fear and a scarcity mindset, many people treat things as a zero-sum game when in practice the sum is usually greater than the individual parts. The advice in the article is great, and much of it resonates with what I have seen over my career as well.
    - closewith 2y ago
      Praise is only valuable when scarce. US-style "great job" praise for fulfilling basic tasks devalues actual positive feedback and should be avoided. Failing to acknowledge actual great work is also detrimental. There's a balancing act and it's hard to get right. It also depends on the person.
      - silvestrov 2y ago
        I would say: Praise is only valuable when honest (rather than scarce). Praise should not be seen as "money": the problem is not the amount. Praise should be seen as a feedback tool, i.e. getting to know the truth of how valuable the work is. Feedback without honesty is not usable.
        closewith 2y ago
bytescrafter 2y ago
Nice article. Thanks for posting. I'm almost 15 years into my work and my favorites are, > “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” > Fortune favors the bold If you're not naturally born with it, it requires you to push yourself out of your comfort zone, but once you experience it working, you'll feel Übermensch, as Friedrich Nietzsche describes it.
rawgabbit 2y ago
Numbers 8 and 14 resonated with me. I worked with people who thought so highly of themselves and with those who actively undermined me. For the first I learned to let them rant and I might ask a clarification but after their lengthy polemic I make it a point to say I disagree. Albeit in a monotone non confrontational voice as possible. For the later, I can only pray to keep my composure as the ridiculousness of their attacks is an affront to logic, civility, and basic decency. I also remind myself there is a reason why this person was hired and I will only be wasting my health trying to fight the powers that be. I can only hope to avoid being collateral damage as their behavior will eventually cause their career to self destruct.
- javaunsafe2019 2y ago
  Sounds like you are thinking of yourselves highly as well. Early in my career as a tech lead I had some junior with your mindset in my team. Maybe my ideas weren’t perfect at that times but that junior sabotaged everything with I guess the mindset you described above. So my takeaways is nowadays to identify such non team players as early as possible and get them off the team asap.
  - mlvljr 2y ago
    [dead]
matsemann 2y ago
My best leaders have been those who "share their Legos", so to say. That don't hoard information, but instead step aside and let others take on more responsibility. My first tech lead when I started working had a great reputation. Everyone in the company knew him. I looked up to him. He knew everything! Whatever feature I worked on and needed to ask details about our integration partner, he could answer. Only later did I realize it was more because he had put himself in the middle, than it actually being helpful. I was the one working on something, but he was the one going to all meetings and talking with others. It made it harder for me, never being directly involved. Maybe it made him feel more useful, enjoying being the goto-guy etc? Then I got a new tech lead, and she was the one that made me realize what a manager could be. She encouraged me to own the stuff I was working on completely, and joined meetings more as a backup for me but wanted me to be the main point of contact. Instead of being the middleman of everything, she instead enabled me and mentored me. So I've always aimed to be like her. Now that I'm at 10 yeo experience, can I enable those "under" me and let them learn by allowing them to take on some of my responsibility? It's a constant conscious decision, because the default is to keep feeling important.
- ulnarkressty 2y ago
  That's an interesting viewpoint, since the usual mantra is 'a good manager protects the engineer' by going to meetings and letting them do deep work without distraction. Maybe in your case she saw the potential of a future lead/manager and wanted to push you in that direction?
  - small_scombrus 2y ago
    I imagine it depends on the type of meeting and how many pointless busywork meetings a company mandates
  - PaulRobinson 2y ago
    (Good) meetings are deep work. Too many engineers think that engineering work is sat in front of the thing they're building, building it. You need to know what to build. You need feedback on how to build it (no matter how experienced you are, you want other perspectives to help improve your thinking). You need feedback on iterations. You need to discuss and get ideas on problems. These are all done with other people. The best way to discuss them with other people is not to swing by and have a chat. It's to block out some time. If you spend too much time in meetings, the balance is wrong. But so is too little. If your manager is going to the meetings, you're not being a good engineer, and they're not letting you be a good engineer. I'd recommend to try and block these up a bit, have meeting free days and the like, but if you're the kind of engineer who thinks meetings are not work, you're going to lose out to those engineers who want to collaborate and engage with colleagues, partners and other stakeholders.
fumeux_fume 2y ago
[flagged]
- mandmandam 2y ago
  Glad someone said it (lesson 4!). Trite, insipid, self-centered, self-congratulating; and wholly lacking in perspective or self-awareness of where computing, academia, Google, the US, and nature really are right now. > Embracing these 16 life lessons and remembering to say (all of) the nine magic words may, and hopefully will, help you have a blissful, lifelong relationship and a happy, successful career. Ignorance is bliss - but only for the ignorant. Glad Jack's alright, but he might do well having a look outside his bubble.
  - zeeed 2y ago
    Care to elaborate what perspective the author has been missing and why these lessons or words are ignorant?
    - mandmandam 2y ago
      > Care to elaborate what perspective the author has been missing Not really, no. If you have to ask, then it's practically guaranteed to be a painful conversation for both of us. It is fair to ask though, since I brought it up. So, without writing a book on the topic, here are a few points: * When Mr. Patterson sent his draft out to be reviewed by ten people (lesson 5!), how many of those people do you think were in the bottom 80% of household net worth? If it was more than 1, I would be shocked. Even one would surprise me, tbh. * Mr. Patterson has largely been protected from the vast and growing gulf between productivity and wages; from the increasing inequality (now at French Revolution levels), from the economic and social effects of our illegal forever wars. How many homeless people does he even see in a day? How many disabled veterans? ... How do you think a homeless veteran would feel on being advised to "take time to have fun", or "Have good friends and a good family"? How would a single mother working three jobs feel on being advised to "look for opportunities"?! * Did David think to pay any lip service to the devastation of nature over the last half century? To tech's role in it? To academia's role? Nah, let's just 'appreciate' it, and leave it at that. * I didn't see any attempt to call out America's increasing war mongering, which has been directly enabled by the very companies and institutions which he says he "loved" working for. Rather, he touts his support for DARPA partnerships as an unambiguous virtue: "Ed Lazowska and I campaigned to change a new DARPA policy that would have cut academic funding nearly in half." That's certainly an opinion one can have, but it doesn't reek to me of self awareness or perspective. * David touts his bravery with another example: "I organized a letter from 25 Turing laureates on how immigration crackdowns were driving away talent and that we should support candidates who would change that policy" ... That letter was written as an endorsement of Biden, who in fact deported more people than Trump did. Biden's previous admin as VP built the camps holding immigrant kids in wire cages, drinking toilet water and sleeping in foil blankets; a policy which only attracted liberal attention during Trump Admin I and became invisible again under Biden. The Obama/Biden admin expanded ICE by over 3,000%! Etc. There's a profound wilful ignorance there, combined with a smug superiority, that is and has been utterly impervious to the reality of the situation. And now, after all the facts are in re Biden and immigration, Mr. Patterson cites this letter as an example of his courage. It's wretched; and that's without even considering the lack of comment on how tech and academia are now complicit in genocide. * How much money has Mr. Patterson made for the yacht class? Certainly at least 100x more than he's earned. Why isn't that important to reflect on? * Was there any acknowledgment of the role luck plays in our lives? Nope. Not even when we got the sage advice to "have a good family". Why not? Because people like Mr. Patterson tend to believe that they earned their comfortable well-bubbled lives entirely through virtue, merit, and hard work. I could certainly write much more, but I think you have more than enough to dismiss my view as that of a socialist crank, or that of a jealous layabout, and continue with your day.
b3lvedere 2y ago
Only lesson 16 is extremely important when you’re out of money and luck. Sure, you want to practise the other 15, but you can’t.
medhir 2y ago
“Have a job you love” - As someone who has basically never had the chance to work in an environment I’d say I “love”, I’m not sure how to take away any sort of lesson. Sounds great on the surface, but how many people are afforded the privilege of selecting a job based on what they’re passionate about?
- closewith 2y ago
  That probably means you're not in the right field of work. I also have never had a tech job I love, but work part-time as a SAR EMT which I do love. Software pays the bills, but I'm working towards being able to retire at ~45-50 and will work in pre-hospital medicine for the rest of my useful life thereafter. I'd do it for free (and often do, as a volunteer).
  - selimthegrim 2y ago
    Might you be interested in combining the two fields? If you’ve got an eye on tech consulting/startups in the EMT space, give me a shout out. My email is my HN profile at gmail.
- anal_reactor 2y ago
  A lot of advice shown here isn't really actionable, and is a more sophisticated version of "get born in a developed country, don't be unattractive". Of course I'd like to have a job I love, the problem is that such jobs are extremely difficult to find. Of course I'd like to focus on building relationships with people, the problem is, I'm an outcast and my personality is compatible with very few. Of course I'd like to focus on important things in life, the problem is, life is inherently pointless, so there's no objective way of telling what is important and what is not.
  - meiraleal 2y ago
    “don't be unattractive” is a very actionable advice which most nerds ignore. > the problem is, I'm an outcast and my personality is compatible with very few. Are you willing to change? Our personality isn't set in stone, pretty much the opposite. Every social skilled person had to learn it at some point.
llimani 2y ago
[flagged]
quectophoton 2y ago
I would add: If there's anything worse than feeling bad at work, it's feeling bad because of not getting a job. Bad experiences at your workplace might make you want to quit without having another job offer lined up, and you might even feel good for the first 1-2 months. But do not underestimate how soul crushing it is to look at your savings go down while having your bills always on the back of your mind, and being constantly ghosted or rejected, for months, even for positions that sound literally aimed at your skillset or are basically the same of your last role. Just, don't.
- quectophoton 2y ago
  Also: If you move to a different location, be aware of how that would affect your ability to rely on your network if you need to find a job. Even if you work primarily remotely and your network is mainly working at on-site jobs, you might need to rely on them at some point. And by the time your situation gets bad enough that you start seriously considering hybrid or on-site positions, you might not be able to relocate, so it would be as if you had no network at all.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  I’ve been laid off twice over the past two years in 2023 and last year. Both times looking for a job was focused on two tracks - the type of job I wanted and the types of job (or contract) I didn’t want but was qualified for. The main goal was to get any job that would pay enough to keep me from going through savings or in 2023, savings or my three and half months severance. I wasn’t going to let my ego get in the way. In 2023, I got Amazoned and wasn’t too proud to get any old enterprise CRUD job. Luckily, it didn’t resort to that either time and both times I found the job I wanted within three weeks.
  - quectophoton 2y ago
    > I wasn’t going to let my ego get in the way. Also important. The rest of this comment is not aimed at you specifically because it doesn't apply to your situation (being laid off), so when I say "you" I mean in the generic sense: --- When leaving voluntarily, if you realize it was a grave mistake, don't let your ego prevent you from getting back in touch with your previous employer and asking if there's any chance to work for them again, assuming you're prepared to stay with them for an even longer time (this is the important part). The first time you make a mistake like this, it's likely due to lack of experience, you didn't realize how good you had it, or you didn't know it could get this bad, and you learned the hard way. If it happens a second time tho, that's on you. Also, remember that taking unpaid leave for a few months might be an option depending where you live. Maybe your thoughts of leaving are just because of burnout and all you need is to take a longer break. But yeah, first priority is getting a job that lets you stop running through your savings. After you have that and can stop worrying about bills, you can walk your way up again from there with a clear mind.
grezql 2y ago
this is just boomer talk, I am sorry but todays world is different to the one he grew up in. We face challenges that makes prioritizing 100% on family extremely hard.
- TacticalCoder 2y ago
  [dead]
- Clubber 2y ago
  I mean two can play the poor me game. My uncle grew up half starving in a shack in Alabama during the depression then signed up for WWII and served in the Pacific Theater. After that, he volunteered to fight in Korea, "because I needed the money." When he came back he used the GI bill to get an education and became a teacher. Boomers got drafted to fight in Vietnam and a lot of them died and had pretty rough patches if they made it back. They lived through probably the worst inflationary period in the 1970s along with the oil shock, and got replaced by computers and offshoring in the 80s and 90s. Their crushing factory jobs got outsourced and most of the farmers had to sell off their multi-generational family farms because massive agribusiness made it so they couldn't compete. A lot of them couldn't take it and killed themselves. Go back further in time and it gets worse. I'm not saying you don't have it rough, but put it in perspective. Lots of generations, including the Boomers, had it rough.
  - fuzzfactor 2y ago
    Good observations. Things were not very uniform 50 years ago either. Patterson was already out of college in 1972, Howard Hughes was still alive and was the richest man in the US, but Hughes was reclusive and accomplished more without attracting attention, compared to someone like Musk in a similar position today. But Hughes Tool and Hughes Aircraft were only somewhat similar to working for Tesla or Spacex. This was the '70's and Hughes had made so much money decades earlier that his manufacturing operations were much more old-fashioned and he provided intentionally better jobs and security for engineers and workers than alternative contemporary employers like oil or automotive. Everything like that was still expected to be "career for life" if you wanted it to, with constant advancement in pay at least, if not job title. All these companies had tons of applicants so like today the vast majority of highly qualified candidates never had a chance. I was around back then so I'm officially a boomer according to current guidelines. But I was not quite out of high school around 1972, so it was a little too late to be very similar at all. This would be an exact quote in that long gone time frame, from millions of people my age, allow me to embellish: "(1976) I am sorry but todays world is different to the one he grew up in. We face challenges that makes prioritizing 100% on family extremely hard." IOW, this is what millions of the younger "boomers" sounded like by that time. Talking about fortunate people only a few years older than themselves. Not 50 years older at the time like Patterson is now. Being extremely aware of things like this for 50 full years myself, people like Patterson with his background and philosophy, I really have always admired more than anything else. It's easy for me to appreciate high-performers thriving in a more flourishing landscape without envy. For one thing, that can set an example of what it is supposed to be like. It's not my fault that the economy had been destroyed while I was still a teenager, and those who were already adults had opportunities that were never going to reappear. And it's not their fault either, they were just barely adults at the time. I figured I could whine over the roll of the dice, or focus on the reality of the situation. Edit: No doubt I was born into an equally prosperous time as Patterson, that's what makes me "officially" a boomer. It was just too good to last once the crooks came into political power.
reinvantveer 2y ago
This is a thought-provoking article for sure. > At the opposite end of the personality spectrum are insecure people, who I’d also avoid, as they tend to see credit as a zero-sum game, needing to diminish you to bolster themselves. As a self-proclaimed insecure person, I take a lot of issue with this statement, putting it mildly. I have no idea where Patterson got this idea, but it is, of course, utter nonsense. To write off insecurity like this is as much an ableist statement as any, as if you have to be confident (from the start!) about anything you do. It is almost an immediate write-off of people in the autism spectrum, with attention deficit disorders, people with mental or physical disorders, with anxiety disorders (like myself), "neurospicy" people (includes me as well) to name a few, or just anyone with traits that make them feel that it's hard for them to fit in. I wholeheartedly agree with the advice to focus on people and to "choose happiness" but this is no strategy for dealing with adversity. I have, of course, no idea what struggles Patterson's had to face in his life (we all have them, for sure), but I'd suggest reading up on Kristin Neff's works on self-compassion instead of dismissing insecure people like this. I will propose the opposite. Rather than to "avoid working closely with them" and exclude them further (feeding their insecurities), foster relationships with insecure people, and foster your own insecurities. Listen to them (the people, the insecurities), as they can tell you what you have been so sure about that you may have to reconsider. Highly insecure about posting this, fearing the backlash, but there you go.
- jocaal 2y ago
  People often prefer to see those who are similar to them in a positive light, since that’s their primary frame of reference. Some struggle to grasp that someone with a completely different perspective or set of social skills can have something valuable to offer. I see this most in hiring practices where hiring managers ask highly personal questions and claim it is to check your "cultural fit", but they are probing for people similar to them. I also see it in how people treat others they’ve just met that are from a completely different background, there is typically a faint form of aggression for literally no reason. > At the opposite end of the personality spectrum are insecure people, who I’d also avoid, as they tend to see credit as a zero-sum game, needing to diminish you to bolster themselves. Like many sweeping broad statements, it is entirely useless to base decisions on. The world isn't black and white, there are shades of gray all around.
keeptrying 2y ago
At a corporate job, starting projects will catapult you more than finishing them. Especially long multi year projects. My mentor mentioned this to me and it took me a LONG time to understand it. Starting an AI project for example will: 1. position you as the AI thought leader just becuase you were first to the idea 2. associate AI used anywhere with you 3. bring you up in any conversation about AI It's really weird but this how all those useless executives operate. Start projects and leave :) . Highly recommend reading "Stealing the Corner Offfice" https://a.co/d/5dTRSNQ https://a.co/d/5dTRSNQ if you don't plan to do a startup.
- nyokodo 2y ago
  > this how all those useless executives operate Being visible in a positive way to the right people is 100% necessary for career advancement inside companies. The fact that this is abused by otherwise incompetent people is unfortunate, but good people need to understand and use this knowledge to advance also.
  - f1shy 2y ago
    I think incompetent people (Management above) get abused by other incompetent people. When the circle starts, is the slow decay of the Company.
  - qwertyuiop_ 2y ago
    Spot on. One look at LinkedIn posts tells you everything about this “paperclip” optimization.
- scarface_74 2y ago
  Opposite view “smart and gets things done” https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/10/25/the-guerrilla-guide-to-interviewing-version-30/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/10/25/the-guerrilla-guid... When it’s time to interview, interviewers ask for results. That’s the entire “R” in answering interview questions in STAR format.
  - mikesurowiec 2y ago
joshdavham 2y ago
> Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion. This is a great one that I’ve really taken this to heart this last year. It’s become fashionable in recent years to think that habit building, discipline and ‘systems’ are the key to success, but I’ve been finding more and more that passion and intrinsic motivation are far more powerful. This is unfortunately unmarketable though since you generally either have intrinsic motivation for a specific thing or you don’t.
paulcole 2y ago
> No one’s last words are, “I wish I had spent more time at the office.” Rich people love saying this. I bet there are some dudes who die penniless in a gutter who do wish they had a bit more money.
saltcod 2y ago
Greatest cookie banner I’ve ever seen.
OldGuyInTheClub 2y ago
I read the tips and thought, "Well, good for him I guess?" It is easy for very successful people to write homilies like this but what worked for them may not/will not work for most. This guy clearly has a few more brain cells than the average person and was in good environments. To his credit, he made the most of them and contributed greatly to his field. When I hear people mumblefrotz about "passion" my skepticism ramps to 11. This is the stuff of management consultants and motivational speakers. A very few can write their own ticket, the rest of us have to make do with what we can get. In my case, I wish I had worked much harder and with more focus in my youth and early to mid career. Whatever time I did take off I should have spent differently. Hell, I should be doing something more worthwhile right now. Can't go back of course but I expect to think that way even in my last moments.
- research_pie 2y ago
  Why do you wish you had worked harder?
  - OldGuyInTheClub 2y ago
    I could have made contributions in line with the support and advantages I have been given.
marhee 2y ago
> 13. “Audentes Fortuna iuvat.” (Fortune favors the bold). And luck favours the prepared mind.
neilv 2y ago
> Until recently, one company had a highly visible 10-step technical ladder, which led some engineers to pick projects that were the safest path to getting promoted by avoiding high-risk, high-reward projects. In my opinion, that behavior was bad for their careers and bad for the company. I won't ask what company that is, since maybe there was a good reason not to say. But is there a new fashion about this (edit: moving away from the now-familiar promo ladder gaming), spreading to other companies? If so, is it genuinely to improve effectiveness, or something less laudable to workers (e.g., to reduce staffing costs)?
- ugh123 2y ago
  I've seen stuff like this at several companies. It's created by HR to improve "fairness" and to help certain groups find clearer paths to promotion. But OP nails it in finding that it's often used as a "checklist" for people to do the bare minimum and then point to that when demanding promotion. It's rather gross IMHO.
- horrible-hilde 2y ago
  As a retired manager in tech for 20 years this is a way to get the promotion hunters out of your face. There are many only interested in titles. I don't consider them good hires but man do they rise up in the ranks and they end driving the company down. IME. Id say it is about 50/50, the chaff from the wheat. I think this has been true thru history.
neilv 2y ago
> Lazowska and I had a hard time finding other leading computer scientists to join us out of a well-founded fear that criticizing DARPA might make it much harder to get DARPA funding. While I had DARPA funding for the prior 20 years, for the next two projects after that op-ed I needed to learn how to raise funds from industry to replace the substantial DARPA funding of the past. I also lost a consulting role from a company with ties to DARPA due to my stance. I really like that he says that sometimes principles have costs, but he advocates principles anyway. By contrast, the LinkedIn story version would end more like, "...and that dog turned out to be the head of DARPA, and gave me a big raise!"
neilv 2y ago
> They believe there is nothing to learn by asking for feedback, which leads to them making disastrous decisions. Whether or not my diagnosis is accurate, I’d steer clear of such people, as in my experience catastrophe is just around the corner. > At the opposite end of the personality spectrum are insecure people, who I’d also avoid, as they tend to see credit as a zero-sum game, needing to diminish you to bolster themselves. You avoid them in situations in which you don't think you can influence them to be more like you think would be better for them (and you)? Can you sometimes influence them?
- notjoemama 2y ago
  Depends. For the insecure, yes, but in a way you take on a mantle of parent or mentor where you repeatedly compliment and reassure them, allowing them to fail and seeing its not about them or their character but just another problem to solve. It helps when they see you fail publicly and handle it with grace. This often takes years, but it can work. But sometimes it doesn't, as if the psychological damage is well outside the workplace. For the grandiose, I've never had that experience. It could be they have narcissistic, sociopathic, or psychopathic tendencies. It could also be from some other neurodivergent influence, in which case all you can do is work around them, not with them. If you are put in a position where you are the sacrificial goat, quit. Leave. There be dragons.
  - cutemonster 2y ago
    > It helps when they see you fail publicly and handle it with grace. I like that mindset, it also removes some nervousness before presenting or performing something :-) > could be they have narcissistic That's what I thought too when skimming the article. I though it was odd that the author didn't seem to recognize this, but instead wrote about "people who think they are smarter".
holografix 2y ago
tl;dr brilliant baby boomer who was at the right place, at the right time with the right brain was given great opportunities in life. He then highlights his unwavering moral compass when taking positions that would impact him and his family in a limited way financially. Good for you bud. Now let me return to real life as a millennial of average intelligence in 2025 tech faang.
neilv 2y ago
> And if you come across such an environment and are offered a spot the consider it carefully, even if it isn't the highest paying offer. Also be aware that places aren't always what they seem. Several times, I've made the big decision to go to the place I want to be, with the people I want to work with and learn from. The majority of times, great things followed. But don't get overconfident. One really bad move can wipe out all the others. If I had to pick some guidelines from my small number of data points: * Avoid the places where everyone has to be a kind of salesperson or evangelist, even for something that should have merit. (Manipulators and liars will thrive, and corrupt.) * Be cautious when considering going to a magnet for the privileged and status-seeking. (I actually had a great experience at one of them, and still think well of it, but most are mixed at best.) * Listen carefully to your mentor-types, when they hint that a move you're considering is a bad move. (They might not want to discourage you in some dream. So they might pause, have a note in their voice of concern rather than enthusiasm, and say carefully-worded advice for how to do well there. But it's advice they shouldn't have to give, unless something is very wrong with the place.)
moominpapa 2y ago
Was this actually written by a human being? I made it halfway through with eyes glazing and gave up. I would love to hear from the human that wrote this.
- dinkumthinkum 2y ago
  This is David Patterson; he's a giant of computer science ...
  - moominpapa 2y ago
    I know, but it looked like a load of fortune cookies were cracked open and someone added a word salad
- tra3 2y ago
  Are you suggesting that this is llm-generated? I don’t get that vibe… what makes you think that?
  - moominpapa 2y ago
    Gut instinct perhaps. Maybe the author is best placed to answer. Happy to believe there is a human there. Just have a few questions.
pottash 2y ago
Thanks for sharing that was insightful
qwertyuiop_ 2y ago
“There are no losers on a winning team, and no winners on a losing team.” Doesn’t this go against Stack Ranking very team twice a year and pushing out the “subjective” lowest performer ? Why should anyone on the team work for the team when the stack ranking disincentivizes team cohesion.
- BeetleB 2y ago
  Indeed. My experience in a large company is that you get a promotion faster by joining a low skills, low performing team than joining a very successful team.

419 points by zdw 2y ago

Some great stuff here's my thoughts on 3 of the 16 points >Choose happiness This one stuck out to me because recently I've been struggling with some stuff but making sure I had some routines that made me happy (having food at consistent times, a little morning routine with a walk/yoga) has made me more composed and lets me go after things. >It’s not how many projects you start; it’s how many you finish. Juggling a few too many open projects right now. Some of them that would be quite cool to show off are just stuck because I don't find the time and they aren't in a presentable state yet. >Look for the positive opportunities Surprisingly enough this is about how he got together with his wife even though it's in the career-focused segment. The story is sweet though and repeats the oft-repeated advice of making up after arguments.

bruce511 2y ago

My career isn't quite as long as his, but I concur with all the sentiments. I will note that some of these are easier to say in hind-sight than do at the time.for example There's a lot of pressure on you in your early career to prioritize work over family. I would add the following; if you have the choice, work at a place you like to go to, doing work you like to do, either people you can grow to work. I know that's not practical advice for most, but if you are in such a place don't trade it away just for money or status. And if you come across such an environment and are offered a spot the consider it carefully, even if it isn't the highest paying offer.

qq66 2y ago

For those who may not know, Patterson is the father of RISC CPU architecture and with John Hennessey (former Stanford president) the author of the standard intro computer architecture text.

gunian 2y ago

very cool read although I wish one of these days I click on a link and it talks about how someone overcame a cult, being doxxed etc and finished their project or ended up getting a PhD so I can believe there is hope

sudohackthenews 2y ago
Hey bro I was looking through your profile and it seems like you’re in a rough spot. Send me an email, I want to see if I can help. It’s in my profile
erikerikson 2y ago
I can't help you with belief and I struggle with it myself at times but there is always hope. Next focus on manifesting your hopes into reality and modifying then in response to everything you learn doing so! :)
deleted 2y ago
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matt_daemon 2y ago

> The cost of praise is small. The value to others is inestimable. Cannot overstate this point. Many people I've worked with (myself included) have suffered from imposter syndrome at one point or another. Hearing from your manager or someone you respect that you've done a good job often makes a world of difference.

theletterf 2y ago
I often wonder why it's so hard for some managers to provide praise. It's almost as if they didn't want to feed egos out of fear.
- vvanders 2y ago
  Fear and a scarcity mindset, many people treat things as a zero-sum game when in practice the sum is usually greater than the individual parts. The advice in the article is great, and much of it resonates with what I have seen over my career as well.
  - closewith 2y ago
    Praise is only valuable when scarce. US-style "great job" praise for fulfilling basic tasks devalues actual positive feedback and should be avoided. Failing to acknowledge actual great work is also detrimental. There's a balancing act and it's hard to get right. It also depends on the person.
    - silvestrov 2y ago
      I would say: Praise is only valuable when honest (rather than scarce). Praise should not be seen as "money": the problem is not the amount. Praise should be seen as a feedback tool, i.e. getting to know the truth of how valuable the work is. Feedback without honesty is not usable.
      - closewith 2y ago

bytescrafter 2y ago

Nice article. Thanks for posting. I'm almost 15 years into my work and my favorites are, > “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” > Fortune favors the bold If you're not naturally born with it, it requires you to push yourself out of your comfort zone, but once you experience it working, you'll feel Übermensch, as Friedrich Nietzsche describes it.

rawgabbit 2y ago

Numbers 8 and 14 resonated with me. I worked with people who thought so highly of themselves and with those who actively undermined me. For the first I learned to let them rant and I might ask a clarification but after their lengthy polemic I make it a point to say I disagree. Albeit in a monotone non confrontational voice as possible. For the later, I can only pray to keep my composure as the ridiculousness of their attacks is an affront to logic, civility, and basic decency. I also remind myself there is a reason why this person was hired and I will only be wasting my health trying to fight the powers that be. I can only hope to avoid being collateral damage as their behavior will eventually cause their career to self destruct.

javaunsafe2019 2y ago
Sounds like you are thinking of yourselves highly as well. Early in my career as a tech lead I had some junior with your mindset in my team. Maybe my ideas weren’t perfect at that times but that junior sabotaged everything with I guess the mindset you described above. So my takeaways is nowadays to identify such non team players as early as possible and get them off the team asap.
- mlvljr 2y ago
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matsemann 2y ago

My best leaders have been those who "share their Legos", so to say. That don't hoard information, but instead step aside and let others take on more responsibility. My first tech lead when I started working had a great reputation. Everyone in the company knew him. I looked up to him. He knew everything! Whatever feature I worked on and needed to ask details about our integration partner, he could answer. Only later did I realize it was more because he had put himself in the middle, than it actually being helpful. I was the one working on something, but he was the one going to all meetings and talking with others. It made it harder for me, never being directly involved. Maybe it made him feel more useful, enjoying being the goto-guy etc? Then I got a new tech lead, and she was the one that made me realize what a manager could be. She encouraged me to own the stuff I was working on completely, and joined meetings more as a backup for me but wanted me to be the main point of contact. Instead of being the middleman of everything, she instead enabled me and mentored me. So I've always aimed to be like her. Now that I'm at 10 yeo experience, can I enable those "under" me and let them learn by allowing them to take on some of my responsibility? It's a constant conscious decision, because the default is to keep feeling important.

ulnarkressty 2y ago
That's an interesting viewpoint, since the usual mantra is 'a good manager protects the engineer' by going to meetings and letting them do deep work without distraction. Maybe in your case she saw the potential of a future lead/manager and wanted to push you in that direction?
- small_scombrus 2y ago
  I imagine it depends on the type of meeting and how many pointless busywork meetings a company mandates
- PaulRobinson 2y ago
  (Good) meetings are deep work. Too many engineers think that engineering work is sat in front of the thing they're building, building it. You need to know what to build. You need feedback on how to build it (no matter how experienced you are, you want other perspectives to help improve your thinking). You need feedback on iterations. You need to discuss and get ideas on problems. These are all done with other people. The best way to discuss them with other people is not to swing by and have a chat. It's to block out some time. If you spend too much time in meetings, the balance is wrong. But so is too little. If your manager is going to the meetings, you're not being a good engineer, and they're not letting you be a good engineer. I'd recommend to try and block these up a bit, have meeting free days and the like, but if you're the kind of engineer who thinks meetings are not work, you're going to lose out to those engineers who want to collaborate and engage with colleagues, partners and other stakeholders.

fumeux_fume 2y ago

[flagged]

mandmandam 2y ago
Glad someone said it (lesson 4!). Trite, insipid, self-centered, self-congratulating; and wholly lacking in perspective or self-awareness of where computing, academia, Google, the US, and nature really are right now. > Embracing these 16 life lessons and remembering to say (all of) the nine magic words may, and hopefully will, help you have a blissful, lifelong relationship and a happy, successful career. Ignorance is bliss - but only for the ignorant. Glad Jack's alright, but he might do well having a look outside his bubble.
- zeeed 2y ago
  Care to elaborate what perspective the author has been missing and why these lessons or words are ignorant?
  - mandmandam 2y ago
    > Care to elaborate what perspective the author has been missing Not really, no. If you have to ask, then it's practically guaranteed to be a painful conversation for both of us. It is fair to ask though, since I brought it up. So, without writing a book on the topic, here are a few points: * When Mr. Patterson sent his draft out to be reviewed by ten people (lesson 5!), how many of those people do you think were in the bottom 80% of household net worth? If it was more than 1, I would be shocked. Even one would surprise me, tbh. * Mr. Patterson has largely been protected from the vast and growing gulf between productivity and wages; from the increasing inequality (now at French Revolution levels), from the economic and social effects of our illegal forever wars. How many homeless people does he even see in a day? How many disabled veterans? ... How do you think a homeless veteran would feel on being advised to "take time to have fun", or "Have good friends and a good family"? How would a single mother working three jobs feel on being advised to "look for opportunities"?! * Did David think to pay any lip service to the devastation of nature over the last half century? To tech's role in it? To academia's role? Nah, let's just 'appreciate' it, and leave it at that. * I didn't see any attempt to call out America's increasing war mongering, which has been directly enabled by the very companies and institutions which he says he "loved" working for. Rather, he touts his support for DARPA partnerships as an unambiguous virtue: "Ed Lazowska and I campaigned to change a new DARPA policy that would have cut academic funding nearly in half." That's certainly an opinion one can have, but it doesn't reek to me of self awareness or perspective. * David touts his bravery with another example: "I organized a letter from 25 Turing laureates on how immigration crackdowns were driving away talent and that we should support candidates who would change that policy" ... That letter was written as an endorsement of Biden, who in fact deported more people than Trump did. Biden's previous admin as VP built the camps holding immigrant kids in wire cages, drinking toilet water and sleeping in foil blankets; a policy which only attracted liberal attention during Trump Admin I and became invisible again under Biden. The Obama/Biden admin expanded ICE by over 3,000%! Etc. There's a profound wilful ignorance there, combined with a smug superiority, that is and has been utterly impervious to the reality of the situation. And now, after all the facts are in re Biden and immigration, Mr. Patterson cites this letter as an example of his courage. It's wretched; and that's without even considering the lack of comment on how tech and academia are now complicit in genocide. * How much money has Mr. Patterson made for the yacht class? Certainly at least 100x more than he's earned. Why isn't that important to reflect on? * Was there any acknowledgment of the role luck plays in our lives? Nope. Not even when we got the sage advice to "have a good family". Why not? Because people like Mr. Patterson tend to believe that they earned their comfortable well-bubbled lives entirely through virtue, merit, and hard work. I could certainly write much more, but I think you have more than enough to dismiss my view as that of a socialist crank, or that of a jealous layabout, and continue with your day.

b3lvedere 2y ago

Only lesson 16 is extremely important when you’re out of money and luck. Sure, you want to practise the other 15, but you can’t.

medhir 2y ago

“Have a job you love” - As someone who has basically never had the chance to work in an environment I’d say I “love”, I’m not sure how to take away any sort of lesson. Sounds great on the surface, but how many people are afforded the privilege of selecting a job based on what they’re passionate about?

closewith 2y ago
That probably means you're not in the right field of work. I also have never had a tech job I love, but work part-time as a SAR EMT which I do love. Software pays the bills, but I'm working towards being able to retire at ~45-50 and will work in pre-hospital medicine for the rest of my useful life thereafter. I'd do it for free (and often do, as a volunteer).
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  Might you be interested in combining the two fields? If you’ve got an eye on tech consulting/startups in the EMT space, give me a shout out. My email is my HN profile at gmail.
anal_reactor 2y ago
A lot of advice shown here isn't really actionable, and is a more sophisticated version of "get born in a developed country, don't be unattractive". Of course I'd like to have a job I love, the problem is that such jobs are extremely difficult to find. Of course I'd like to focus on building relationships with people, the problem is, I'm an outcast and my personality is compatible with very few. Of course I'd like to focus on important things in life, the problem is, life is inherently pointless, so there's no objective way of telling what is important and what is not.
- meiraleal 2y ago
  “don't be unattractive” is a very actionable advice which most nerds ignore. > the problem is, I'm an outcast and my personality is compatible with very few. Are you willing to change? Our personality isn't set in stone, pretty much the opposite. Every social skilled person had to learn it at some point.

llimani 2y ago

[flagged]

quectophoton 2y ago

I would add: If there's anything worse than feeling bad at work, it's feeling bad because of not getting a job. Bad experiences at your workplace might make you want to quit without having another job offer lined up, and you might even feel good for the first 1-2 months. But do not underestimate how soul crushing it is to look at your savings go down while having your bills always on the back of your mind, and being constantly ghosted or rejected, for months, even for positions that sound literally aimed at your skillset or are basically the same of your last role. Just, don't.

quectophoton 2y ago
Also: If you move to a different location, be aware of how that would affect your ability to rely on your network if you need to find a job. Even if you work primarily remotely and your network is mainly working at on-site jobs, you might need to rely on them at some point. And by the time your situation gets bad enough that you start seriously considering hybrid or on-site positions, you might not be able to relocate, so it would be as if you had no network at all.
scarface_74 2y ago
I’ve been laid off twice over the past two years in 2023 and last year. Both times looking for a job was focused on two tracks - the type of job I wanted and the types of job (or contract) I didn’t want but was qualified for. The main goal was to get any job that would pay enough to keep me from going through savings or in 2023, savings or my three and half months severance. I wasn’t going to let my ego get in the way. In 2023, I got Amazoned and wasn’t too proud to get any old enterprise CRUD job. Luckily, it didn’t resort to that either time and both times I found the job I wanted within three weeks.
- quectophoton 2y ago
  > I wasn’t going to let my ego get in the way. Also important. The rest of this comment is not aimed at you specifically because it doesn't apply to your situation (being laid off), so when I say "you" I mean in the generic sense: --- When leaving voluntarily, if you realize it was a grave mistake, don't let your ego prevent you from getting back in touch with your previous employer and asking if there's any chance to work for them again, assuming you're prepared to stay with them for an even longer time (this is the important part). The first time you make a mistake like this, it's likely due to lack of experience, you didn't realize how good you had it, or you didn't know it could get this bad, and you learned the hard way. If it happens a second time tho, that's on you. Also, remember that taking unpaid leave for a few months might be an option depending where you live. Maybe your thoughts of leaving are just because of burnout and all you need is to take a longer break. But yeah, first priority is getting a job that lets you stop running through your savings. After you have that and can stop worrying about bills, you can walk your way up again from there with a clear mind.

grezql 2y ago

this is just boomer talk, I am sorry but todays world is different to the one he grew up in. We face challenges that makes prioritizing 100% on family extremely hard.

TacticalCoder 2y ago
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Clubber 2y ago
I mean two can play the poor me game. My uncle grew up half starving in a shack in Alabama during the depression then signed up for WWII and served in the Pacific Theater. After that, he volunteered to fight in Korea, "because I needed the money." When he came back he used the GI bill to get an education and became a teacher. Boomers got drafted to fight in Vietnam and a lot of them died and had pretty rough patches if they made it back. They lived through probably the worst inflationary period in the 1970s along with the oil shock, and got replaced by computers and offshoring in the 80s and 90s. Their crushing factory jobs got outsourced and most of the farmers had to sell off their multi-generational family farms because massive agribusiness made it so they couldn't compete. A lot of them couldn't take it and killed themselves. Go back further in time and it gets worse. I'm not saying you don't have it rough, but put it in perspective. Lots of generations, including the Boomers, had it rough.
- fuzzfactor 2y ago
  Good observations. Things were not very uniform 50 years ago either. Patterson was already out of college in 1972, Howard Hughes was still alive and was the richest man in the US, but Hughes was reclusive and accomplished more without attracting attention, compared to someone like Musk in a similar position today. But Hughes Tool and Hughes Aircraft were only somewhat similar to working for Tesla or Spacex. This was the '70's and Hughes had made so much money decades earlier that his manufacturing operations were much more old-fashioned and he provided intentionally better jobs and security for engineers and workers than alternative contemporary employers like oil or automotive. Everything like that was still expected to be "career for life" if you wanted it to, with constant advancement in pay at least, if not job title. All these companies had tons of applicants so like today the vast majority of highly qualified candidates never had a chance. I was around back then so I'm officially a boomer according to current guidelines. But I was not quite out of high school around 1972, so it was a little too late to be very similar at all. This would be an exact quote in that long gone time frame, from millions of people my age, allow me to embellish: "(1976) I am sorry but todays world is different to the one he grew up in. We face challenges that makes prioritizing 100% on family extremely hard." IOW, this is what millions of the younger "boomers" sounded like by that time. Talking about fortunate people only a few years older than themselves. Not 50 years older at the time like Patterson is now. Being extremely aware of things like this for 50 full years myself, people like Patterson with his background and philosophy, I really have always admired more than anything else. It's easy for me to appreciate high-performers thriving in a more flourishing landscape without envy. For one thing, that can set an example of what it is supposed to be like. It's not my fault that the economy had been destroyed while I was still a teenager, and those who were already adults had opportunities that were never going to reappear. And it's not their fault either, they were just barely adults at the time. I figured I could whine over the roll of the dice, or focus on the reality of the situation. Edit: No doubt I was born into an equally prosperous time as Patterson, that's what makes me "officially" a boomer. It was just too good to last once the crooks came into political power.

reinvantveer 2y ago

This is a thought-provoking article for sure. > At the opposite end of the personality spectrum are insecure people, who I’d also avoid, as they tend to see credit as a zero-sum game, needing to diminish you to bolster themselves. As a self-proclaimed insecure person, I take a lot of issue with this statement, putting it mildly. I have no idea where Patterson got this idea, but it is, of course, utter nonsense. To write off insecurity like this is as much an ableist statement as any, as if you have to be confident (from the start!) about anything you do. It is almost an immediate write-off of people in the autism spectrum, with attention deficit disorders, people with mental or physical disorders, with anxiety disorders (like myself), "neurospicy" people (includes me as well) to name a few, or just anyone with traits that make them feel that it's hard for them to fit in. I wholeheartedly agree with the advice to focus on people and to "choose happiness" but this is no strategy for dealing with adversity. I have, of course, no idea what struggles Patterson's had to face in his life (we all have them, for sure), but I'd suggest reading up on Kristin Neff's works on self-compassion instead of dismissing insecure people like this. I will propose the opposite. Rather than to "avoid working closely with them" and exclude them further (feeding their insecurities), foster relationships with insecure people, and foster your own insecurities. Listen to them (the people, the insecurities), as they can tell you what you have been so sure about that you may have to reconsider. Highly insecure about posting this, fearing the backlash, but there you go.

jocaal 2y ago
People often prefer to see those who are similar to them in a positive light, since that’s their primary frame of reference. Some struggle to grasp that someone with a completely different perspective or set of social skills can have something valuable to offer. I see this most in hiring practices where hiring managers ask highly personal questions and claim it is to check your "cultural fit", but they are probing for people similar to them. I also see it in how people treat others they’ve just met that are from a completely different background, there is typically a faint form of aggression for literally no reason. > At the opposite end of the personality spectrum are insecure people, who I’d also avoid, as they tend to see credit as a zero-sum game, needing to diminish you to bolster themselves. Like many sweeping broad statements, it is entirely useless to base decisions on. The world isn't black and white, there are shades of gray all around.

keeptrying 2y ago

At a corporate job, starting projects will catapult you more than finishing them. Especially long multi year projects. My mentor mentioned this to me and it took me a LONG time to understand it. Starting an AI project for example will: 1. position you as the AI thought leader just becuase you were first to the idea 2. associate AI used anywhere with you 3. bring you up in any conversation about AI It's really weird but this how all those useless executives operate. Start projects and leave :) . Highly recommend reading "Stealing the Corner Offfice" https://a.co/d/5dTRSNQ https://a.co/d/5dTRSNQ if you don't plan to do a startup.

nyokodo 2y ago
> this how all those useless executives operate Being visible in a positive way to the right people is 100% necessary for career advancement inside companies. The fact that this is abused by otherwise incompetent people is unfortunate, but good people need to understand and use this knowledge to advance also.
- f1shy 2y ago
  I think incompetent people (Management above) get abused by other incompetent people. When the circle starts, is the slow decay of the Company.
- qwertyuiop_ 2y ago
  Spot on. One look at LinkedIn posts tells you everything about this “paperclip” optimization.
scarface_74 2y ago
Opposite view “smart and gets things done” https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/10/25/the-guerrilla-guide-to-interviewing-version-30/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2006/10/25/the-guerrilla-guid... When it’s time to interview, interviewers ask for results. That’s the entire “R” in answering interview questions in STAR format.
- mikesurowiec 2y ago

joshdavham 2y ago

> Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion. This is a great one that I’ve really taken this to heart this last year. It’s become fashionable in recent years to think that habit building, discipline and ‘systems’ are the key to success, but I’ve been finding more and more that passion and intrinsic motivation are far more powerful. This is unfortunately unmarketable though since you generally either have intrinsic motivation for a specific thing or you don’t.

paulcole 2y ago

> No one’s last words are, “I wish I had spent more time at the office.” Rich people love saying this. I bet there are some dudes who die penniless in a gutter who do wish they had a bit more money.

saltcod 2y ago

Greatest cookie banner I’ve ever seen.

OldGuyInTheClub 2y ago

I read the tips and thought, "Well, good for him I guess?" It is easy for very successful people to write homilies like this but what worked for them may not/will not work for most. This guy clearly has a few more brain cells than the average person and was in good environments. To his credit, he made the most of them and contributed greatly to his field. When I hear people mumblefrotz about "passion" my skepticism ramps to 11. This is the stuff of management consultants and motivational speakers. A very few can write their own ticket, the rest of us have to make do with what we can get. In my case, I wish I had worked much harder and with more focus in my youth and early to mid career. Whatever time I did take off I should have spent differently. Hell, I should be doing something more worthwhile right now. Can't go back of course but I expect to think that way even in my last moments.

research_pie 2y ago
Why do you wish you had worked harder?
- OldGuyInTheClub 2y ago
  I could have made contributions in line with the support and advantages I have been given.

marhee 2y ago

> 13. “Audentes Fortuna iuvat.” (Fortune favors the bold). And luck favours the prepared mind.

neilv 2y ago

> Until recently, one company had a highly visible 10-step technical ladder, which led some engineers to pick projects that were the safest path to getting promoted by avoiding high-risk, high-reward projects. In my opinion, that behavior was bad for their careers and bad for the company. I won't ask what company that is, since maybe there was a good reason not to say. But is there a new fashion about this (edit: moving away from the now-familiar promo ladder gaming), spreading to other companies? If so, is it genuinely to improve effectiveness, or something less laudable to workers (e.g., to reduce staffing costs)?

ugh123 2y ago
I've seen stuff like this at several companies. It's created by HR to improve "fairness" and to help certain groups find clearer paths to promotion. But OP nails it in finding that it's often used as a "checklist" for people to do the bare minimum and then point to that when demanding promotion. It's rather gross IMHO.
horrible-hilde 2y ago
As a retired manager in tech for 20 years this is a way to get the promotion hunters out of your face. There are many only interested in titles. I don't consider them good hires but man do they rise up in the ranks and they end driving the company down. IME. Id say it is about 50/50, the chaff from the wheat. I think this has been true thru history.

neilv 2y ago

> Lazowska and I had a hard time finding other leading computer scientists to join us out of a well-founded fear that criticizing DARPA might make it much harder to get DARPA funding. While I had DARPA funding for the prior 20 years, for the next two projects after that op-ed I needed to learn how to raise funds from industry to replace the substantial DARPA funding of the past. I also lost a consulting role from a company with ties to DARPA due to my stance. I really like that he says that sometimes principles have costs, but he advocates principles anyway. By contrast, the LinkedIn story version would end more like, "...and that dog turned out to be the head of DARPA, and gave me a big raise!"

neilv 2y ago

> They believe there is nothing to learn by asking for feedback, which leads to them making disastrous decisions. Whether or not my diagnosis is accurate, I’d steer clear of such people, as in my experience catastrophe is just around the corner. > At the opposite end of the personality spectrum are insecure people, who I’d also avoid, as they tend to see credit as a zero-sum game, needing to diminish you to bolster themselves. You avoid them in situations in which you don't think you can influence them to be more like you think would be better for them (and you)? Can you sometimes influence them?

notjoemama 2y ago
Depends. For the insecure, yes, but in a way you take on a mantle of parent or mentor where you repeatedly compliment and reassure them, allowing them to fail and seeing its not about them or their character but just another problem to solve. It helps when they see you fail publicly and handle it with grace. This often takes years, but it can work. But sometimes it doesn't, as if the psychological damage is well outside the workplace. For the grandiose, I've never had that experience. It could be they have narcissistic, sociopathic, or psychopathic tendencies. It could also be from some other neurodivergent influence, in which case all you can do is work around them, not with them. If you are put in a position where you are the sacrificial goat, quit. Leave. There be dragons.
- cutemonster 2y ago
  > It helps when they see you fail publicly and handle it with grace. I like that mindset, it also removes some nervousness before presenting or performing something :-) > could be they have narcissistic That's what I thought too when skimming the article. I though it was odd that the author didn't seem to recognize this, but instead wrote about "people who think they are smarter".

holografix 2y ago

tl;dr brilliant baby boomer who was at the right place, at the right time with the right brain was given great opportunities in life. He then highlights his unwavering moral compass when taking positions that would impact him and his family in a limited way financially. Good for you bud. Now let me return to real life as a millennial of average intelligence in 2025 tech faang.

neilv 2y ago

> And if you come across such an environment and are offered a spot the consider it carefully, even if it isn't the highest paying offer. Also be aware that places aren't always what they seem. Several times, I've made the big decision to go to the place I want to be, with the people I want to work with and learn from. The majority of times, great things followed. But don't get overconfident. One really bad move can wipe out all the others. If I had to pick some guidelines from my small number of data points: * Avoid the places where everyone has to be a kind of salesperson or evangelist, even for something that should have merit. (Manipulators and liars will thrive, and corrupt.) * Be cautious when considering going to a magnet for the privileged and status-seeking. (I actually had a great experience at one of them, and still think well of it, but most are mixed at best.) * Listen carefully to your mentor-types, when they hint that a move you're considering is a bad move. (They might not want to discourage you in some dream. So they might pause, have a note in their voice of concern rather than enthusiasm, and say carefully-worded advice for how to do well there. But it's advice they shouldn't have to give, unless something is very wrong with the place.)

moominpapa 2y ago

Was this actually written by a human being? I made it halfway through with eyes glazing and gave up. I would love to hear from the human that wrote this.

dinkumthinkum 2y ago
This is David Patterson; he's a giant of computer science ...
- moominpapa 2y ago
  I know, but it looked like a load of fortune cookies were cracked open and someone added a word salad
tra3 2y ago
Are you suggesting that this is llm-generated? I don’t get that vibe… what makes you think that?
- moominpapa 2y ago
  Gut instinct perhaps. Maybe the author is best placed to answer. Happy to believe there is a human there. Just have a few questions.

pottash 2y ago

Thanks for sharing that was insightful

qwertyuiop_ 2y ago

“There are no losers on a winning team, and no winners on a losing team.” Doesn’t this go against Stack Ranking very team twice a year and pushing out the “subjective” lowest performer ? Why should anyone on the team work for the team when the stack ranking disincentivizes team cohesion.

BeetleB 2y ago
Indeed. My experience in a large company is that you get a promotion faster by joining a low skills, low performing team than joining a very successful team.