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So because this guy can't manage high-end talent, his answer is to fire any high-end talent that somehow makes it through the door. Great advice :/ I've mentio

So because this guy can't manage high-end talent, his answer is to fire any high-end talent that somehow makes it through the door. Great advice :/ I've mentioned it previously here (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4503224 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4503224) but this is a classic example of management ineptitude and ego passing up opportunities because it's "hard" to be challenged by someone more intelligent than yourself.

seivan 14y ago
Great read, thanks!
batgaijin 14y ago
Where does this attitude come from? It's like saying "Well, I could hire someone with a power-tool to fix up my house, but I don't know how those fancy machines work. I know! I'll hire that old carpenter down the street and watch him work over his shoulder!"
- ajross 14y ago
  It comes from the fact that the power tool user won't just fix your house, she'll also yell at you about how the design is bad and you need to be doing these other six things to fix it. The carpenter will just shut up and do his job. So if you're someone who wants to plan your own house (and especially if you're someone who feels like you need "authority" to do it) you have a built-in incentive to ban power tools from the workplace.
bjourne 14y ago
How would you feel if someone was doing a 10x better job than you? That's the difference between a brilliant engineer and an average one. It doesn't matter if the guy is the nicest person on earth, people will feel threatened by that kind of skill. I don't know how to deal with that situation, the normal human response seem to be to ostracize outliers which an extremely talented developer is.
- malvosenior 14y ago
  I'd feel like I had no business working with such a person and it would be management's fault for hiring me. Excellent engineers should only be managed by excellent managers. Excellent managers should only hire 5X+ developers, there's no reason to hire anyone worse than that. If you absolutely must, keep the grunt team heavily partitioned away from the real team and DON'T let them dictate strategy or culture. I think the root of this problem is that most of the people who have access to capital really aren't 10X at anything so you have an extreme mismatch of skill vs. authority in most companies.

seivan 14y ago

Great read, thanks!

batgaijin 14y ago

Where does this attitude come from? It's like saying "Well, I could hire someone with a power-tool to fix up my house, but I don't know how those fancy machines work. I know! I'll hire that old carpenter down the street and watch him work over his shoulder!"

ajross 14y ago
It comes from the fact that the power tool user won't just fix your house, she'll also yell at you about how the design is bad and you need to be doing these other six things to fix it. The carpenter will just shut up and do his job. So if you're someone who wants to plan your own house (and especially if you're someone who feels like you need "authority" to do it) you have a built-in incentive to ban power tools from the workplace.

bjourne 14y ago

How would you feel if someone was doing a 10x better job than you? That's the difference between a brilliant engineer and an average one. It doesn't matter if the guy is the nicest person on earth, people will feel threatened by that kind of skill. I don't know how to deal with that situation, the normal human response seem to be to ostracize outliers which an extremely talented developer is.

malvosenior 14y ago
I'd feel like I had no business working with such a person and it would be management's fault for hiring me. Excellent engineers should only be managed by excellent managers. Excellent managers should only hire 5X+ developers, there's no reason to hire anyone worse than that. If you absolutely must, keep the grunt team heavily partitioned away from the real team and DON'T let them dictate strategy or culture. I think the root of this problem is that most of the people who have access to capital really aren't 10X at anything so you have an extreme mismatch of skill vs. authority in most companies.