6 ms·

Life and Career Lessons – 2012

92 points by codercowboy 14y ago

michaelochurch 14y ago
Usually, these "about my year" posts are filler, but this was some excellent stuff. Thanks for sharing it. That takes courage. I’m not advocating ladder climbers, I’m not advocating jerks being jerks for the sake of jerktitude, I’m just saying, they have a place, and when you find the right asshole, they’re going to deliver and kick ass while doing it. The delicious irony will be, 5 years from now when your midsize is larger than midsize, the asshole who everyone hates will be the only executive of the lot who arguably deserves his merit badge title. Think on that. Yup. I call this the "DFA Light". DFA = Done Fucking Around. http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/flow-ownership-and-insubordination-plus-d-f-a/ http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/flow-ownershi... DFA usually means that in 6 months, you'll either be running something or fired. On open-plan offices: What you describe isn't open plan. Open plan is this horrible bullpen where everyone's visible and no one has personal space. It sucks. http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/no-idiot-discomfort-is-bad/ http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/no-idiot-disc... What you want is for people to have laptops, and have private offices for people who need them, and open/communal spaces. I worked at a think-tank that had 3:00 tea (with board games that occasionally went till 7:00) and it was brilliant. Let people choose whether they work in the open or in private. Work space is not to be skimped on. 150 SF per person of private and 150 SF of communal. It pays for itself, because typical open plan offices reduce productivity by 50-80%. This hybrid-plan is something Google does extremely well (although it's technically cubicle-based, anyone who wants privacy can take an office). On getting fired: there are good fires and bad fires. I won't share my "number" but its nonzero on both sides (being fired and participating in firing) and I've seen good and bad. A good fire is when they treat it as a no-fault lack-of-fit, come up with a reasonable severance (depending on their finances, this could be zero for a cash-strapped startup, or ~6 months for a rich corporation) and a positive reference. Then it's just a breakup: good people break up with each other all the time. A bad fire is when they cold-fire you and refuse to support your career recovery needs. For me, it's really about references. I don't need a severance, but if you don't agree on a good reference I will do everything in my power to fuck up your reputation. No or bad reference => war.
- codercowboy 14y ago
  Yeah in this case it was totally the former, on good terms, I'd highly recommend working at the place post-fire, and many of my colleagues, including the guy who had to do the fire and didn't necessarily agree with me offered to be a reference. I'd be a reference for him as well, any day. I'm with you on the personal space per employee thing with communal areas being the right way to go, completely. It just seems the new kool-aid to drink is open space big brother/weird style where it seems to be mostly about minimizing sq foot per employee, which sucks, I agree. Thanks for your comment, it's nice to hear some intelligent feedback :)
- gruseom 14y ago
  if you don't agree on a good reference I will do everything in my power to fuck up your reputation But what if you don't deserve a good reference?
  - michaelochurch 14y ago
    That's never been my situation.
    - tptacek 14y ago
      Well, we'll never know now, will we? :)
- tptacek 14y ago
  This is why real reference checks rarely rely on the references you provide.
  - michaelochurch 14y ago
    That's a huge invasion of privacy (except in national-security cases, wherein people know to expect an intensive background check) and of questionable legality, but yes, it happens. This is why it's a good idea to speak with someone after you're called for a reference. If their prospective employer is calling shadow references (e.g. references they didn't volunteer) they have a right to know that it's going on. ETA: If you're worried about shadow references, the best thing you can do is fake an offer with an "exploding" date to get a decision shortly after you interview. If they only have 2 days to make a decision, they'll stick to the references you provide and not nose around in your past where they don't belong. One can question the ethics of faking an offer, but it's no worse than calling shadow references, so do what you will.
gz5 14y ago
Great essay, much better than the usual year-in-review. Re: telecommute and resultant lack of face time, highly recommend non-purposeful video/audio calls - video ping me just to chat. Took me 5+ years of being a remote worker to learn the value of those - they sub to some degree for the random hallway/kitchen type conversations of the office. Very different experience from the audio/video of the normal remote meetings, and helpful in making up for the lack of face time.
codex 14y ago
What's great about this post is that it's a win/win: the author gets a lot of value out of simply crystalizing his thoughts on paper, and readers share that benefit. I'd encourage everyone to write as much as they can (especially periodic reflections), as writing something like this probably gives you 10x the value of reading it.
arscan 14y ago
Thanks for this post. I expected a fluff lunchtime read here; a quick bulleted list of platitudes that you see over and over again this time of the year. But it really was a very well told, personal and clearly authentic story of your year and the hard-learned lessons you learned along the way. It reminds me of the power of a story. I think we tend to jump right to the TL;DR these days, but in a rush to condense everything into concise take-aways, we lose something along the way. >> ...stick with me, this’ll be worth it. Glad I did, and I definitely think it was. I don't have much to add regarding the actual content. Some of these lessons I've learned as well (salespeople are surprisingly great, right?), some I haven't. I just felt like this post deserved more praise than a simple upvote.
seanoliver 14y ago
This is why I read Hacker News. Every now and then you find something so candid and real that it makes you sit back for a moment afterward and really consider the decisions you're making and the things you're focused on. Thanks for sharing.
j_baker 14y ago
I don't agree with the OP's definition of "asshole". Some people set a higher standard, and this oftentimes rubs people the wrong way. It's a mistake to label these people assholes, because they usually serve a valid purpose. The people that you really have to watch out for are the Machiavellian assholes who care nothing about the job at hand and will do anything to cut others down for their own aggrandizement.
- codercowboy 14y ago
  from one jason m baker to another, hello :)
- wissler 14y ago
  It sure is a mistake to label them that way, but that's how they are usually labelled, so making his point this way really makes the point best: it may cause some reflection by the masses who really mislabel. Emphasis on "may".
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

92 points by codercowboy 14y ago

Usually, these "about my year" posts are filler, but this was some excellent stuff. Thanks for sharing it. That takes courage. I’m not advocating ladder climbers, I’m not advocating jerks being jerks for the sake of jerktitude, I’m just saying, they have a place, and when you find the right asshole, they’re going to deliver and kick ass while doing it. The delicious irony will be, 5 years from now when your midsize is larger than midsize, the asshole who everyone hates will be the only executive of the lot who arguably deserves his merit badge title. Think on that. Yup. I call this the "DFA Light". DFA = Done Fucking Around. http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/flow-ownership-and-insubordination-plus-d-f-a/ http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/flow-ownershi... DFA usually means that in 6 months, you'll either be running something or fired. On open-plan offices: What you describe isn't open plan. Open plan is this horrible bullpen where everyone's visible and no one has personal space. It sucks. http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/no-idiot-discomfort-is-bad/ http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/no-idiot-disc... What you want is for people to have laptops, and have private offices for people who need them, and open/communal spaces. I worked at a think-tank that had 3:00 tea (with board games that occasionally went till 7:00) and it was brilliant. Let people choose whether they work in the open or in private. Work space is not to be skimped on. 150 SF per person of private and 150 SF of communal. It pays for itself, because typical open plan offices reduce productivity by 50-80%. This hybrid-plan is something Google does extremely well (although it's technically cubicle-based, anyone who wants privacy can take an office). On getting fired: there are good fires and bad fires. I won't share my "number" but its nonzero on both sides (being fired and participating in firing) and I've seen good and bad. A good fire is when they treat it as a no-fault lack-of-fit, come up with a reasonable severance (depending on their finances, this could be zero for a cash-strapped startup, or ~6 months for a rich corporation) and a positive reference. Then it's just a breakup: good people break up with each other all the time. A bad fire is when they cold-fire you and refuse to support your career recovery needs. For me, it's really about references. I don't need a severance, but if you don't agree on a good reference I will do everything in my power to fuck up your reputation. No or bad reference => war.

codercowboy 14y ago
Yeah in this case it was totally the former, on good terms, I'd highly recommend working at the place post-fire, and many of my colleagues, including the guy who had to do the fire and didn't necessarily agree with me offered to be a reference. I'd be a reference for him as well, any day. I'm with you on the personal space per employee thing with communal areas being the right way to go, completely. It just seems the new kool-aid to drink is open space big brother/weird style where it seems to be mostly about minimizing sq foot per employee, which sucks, I agree. Thanks for your comment, it's nice to hear some intelligent feedback :)
gruseom 14y ago
if you don't agree on a good reference I will do everything in my power to fuck up your reputation But what if you don't deserve a good reference?
- michaelochurch 14y ago
  That's never been my situation.
  - tptacek 14y ago
    Well, we'll never know now, will we? :)
tptacek 14y ago
This is why real reference checks rarely rely on the references you provide.
- michaelochurch 14y ago
  That's a huge invasion of privacy (except in national-security cases, wherein people know to expect an intensive background check) and of questionable legality, but yes, it happens. This is why it's a good idea to speak with someone after you're called for a reference. If their prospective employer is calling shadow references (e.g. references they didn't volunteer) they have a right to know that it's going on. ETA: If you're worried about shadow references, the best thing you can do is fake an offer with an "exploding" date to get a decision shortly after you interview. If they only have 2 days to make a decision, they'll stick to the references you provide and not nose around in your past where they don't belong. One can question the ethics of faking an offer, but it's no worse than calling shadow references, so do what you will.

gz5 14y ago

Great essay, much better than the usual year-in-review. Re: telecommute and resultant lack of face time, highly recommend non-purposeful video/audio calls - video ping me just to chat. Took me 5+ years of being a remote worker to learn the value of those - they sub to some degree for the random hallway/kitchen type conversations of the office. Very different experience from the audio/video of the normal remote meetings, and helpful in making up for the lack of face time.

codex 14y ago

What's great about this post is that it's a win/win: the author gets a lot of value out of simply crystalizing his thoughts on paper, and readers share that benefit. I'd encourage everyone to write as much as they can (especially periodic reflections), as writing something like this probably gives you 10x the value of reading it.

arscan 14y ago

Thanks for this post. I expected a fluff lunchtime read here; a quick bulleted list of platitudes that you see over and over again this time of the year. But it really was a very well told, personal and clearly authentic story of your year and the hard-learned lessons you learned along the way. It reminds me of the power of a story. I think we tend to jump right to the TL;DR these days, but in a rush to condense everything into concise take-aways, we lose something along the way. >> ...stick with me, this’ll be worth it. Glad I did, and I definitely think it was. I don't have much to add regarding the actual content. Some of these lessons I've learned as well (salespeople are surprisingly great, right?), some I haven't. I just felt like this post deserved more praise than a simple upvote.

seanoliver 14y ago

This is why I read Hacker News. Every now and then you find something so candid and real that it makes you sit back for a moment afterward and really consider the decisions you're making and the things you're focused on. Thanks for sharing.

j_baker 14y ago

I don't agree with the OP's definition of "asshole". Some people set a higher standard, and this oftentimes rubs people the wrong way. It's a mistake to label these people assholes, because they usually serve a valid purpose. The people that you really have to watch out for are the Machiavellian assholes who care nothing about the job at hand and will do anything to cut others down for their own aggrandizement.

codercowboy 14y ago
from one jason m baker to another, hello :)
wissler 14y ago
It sure is a mistake to label them that way, but that's how they are usually labelled, so making his point this way really makes the point best: it may cause some reflection by the masses who really mislabel. Emphasis on "may".

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]