Careerist v/s engineers
Having worked in FAANG, I couldn't help but notice one common trend 📈, careerist folks run over companies by sidelining genuine engineering talent. Google , MSFT or AMZN were all built by folks with engineering mindset, in fact even IBM , but as the companies grow big, careerist, smart talking crowd takes over the unorganized, hapless engineering crowd. it initially feels great, companies do well but then the utility of squeezing last ounce of the juice can only go so far and the initial trait that built the company and made it great is not there anymore - the hapless, hardworking unorganized engineering is long gone. Innovation and building things takes time, feels unreasonable at times and gets cut short when careerist people run your company. Case in point - Google was an amazing company. since Sundar took over, it did great with revenue etc, the product mindset has set in, product folks rule the roost and engineering is sidelined. I've worked at Google in the past and now work with folks from GCP on and off , it's a sad state to say the least . GCP support sucks every time without fail, their support engineers were the most technically incompetent that I've dealt with among the clouds I've used. Product mindset is good but it kills the innovation because it will lead to product managers calling the shots after a point of time and engineering leadership takes the easy route of just being part of the decisions. Every Google product I use has gone downhill in experience and it can be felt experience is shit without doubt, it's unbelievable for a company that's lead by a CEO that was product manager. Industry, especially the tech industry rewards the ones who dress well, talk the phrases that make one sound knowledgeable and executive like, those that cannot market themselves will fall by the wayside. The careerist group has occupied most leadership positions in all FAANGS now but it hurts companies that thrive on innovation the most. Careerists just focus on growing their career not building and delivering something valuable and innovative, because building and innovating is risky and statistically has lower probability of success. I've seen the change in the past few years in tech industry , people hop jobs and they are good at presenting ambitious plans to build something, get leadership buy in, budget, deliver a POC and haggle for promotion and raise and move to the next gig. Reality is , launching something is the easy part but growing it and sustaining it is hardest. If companies don't recognize and differentiate a careerist to a hardworking person that wants to make things happen, they will become the IBM. Great IBM was led by careerist sales and marketing CEOs to the ground. My time at MSFT made me realize one thing that selling to enterprises is a talent and skill and only MSFT has that and both AMZN and Google suck at it. I'm an engineer turned careerist , I've many of my friends, absolutely brilliant engineers feeling cheated now because they remained hardworking engineers and in that they lost their identity because they were taken over by careerist bosses. My work as an engineer was way more valuable but as a careerist I get the recognition and power I never got as an engineer, as an engineer I always wanted to build something, but as a careerist, I'm always looking at the next git as I manage up the chain . Industry works how it works, important for all of you to understand and be mindful of what you choose to be.
i had a feeling Google was going down hill when I saw the kinds of people they were hiring. With that said, I’d still work there regardless because companies like that make it easy to talk your way into coasting.
Nowhere do I tell people to work somewhere or not. I'll work again at Google too if I find a role I like. I'm just telling folks to look at the industry as a whole and be smart with your choices, people largely think this is about which company you work for , however, the choice is how/where to position yourself.
2 questions: - 1. As a former engineer, are you happy as a careerist? Would you do it again if given a choice? 2. What are few (maybe top 3) things an engineer should do to transition to being a 'careerist'? Overall I feel pretty negative about the state of this industry, but I try not to think about it too much and instead focus on what's workable and productive.
I am unhappy that some of my friends who sucked at engineering are now at director level positions
Careerists can be a people leader or an IC but I would define them as someone that is good at furthering career, just look around you and you will know who these are. I'll suggest, the first thing you strive to do is to build financial stability for yourself. Cushion of money helps you realize what makes you happy, you needn't find happiness in being an engineer or careerist etc. I'm happy or not is irrelevant , my happiness is neither, I'm financially at a very different place today and even confidence wise , I'll probably be way more content being a Walmart store greeter. Transition to careerist is hard because it changes the basics we have lived with , as engineers , we are a bit of a snob , especially about technical things and important to shed it and you need to learn to lose arguments willingly and play well with the product and program setups and not always opposed them.
This can be said about pretty much any industry that became mainstream.
Right, things/companies become mainstream and Careerists takeover and it stops being an outlier in how they pay or how that industry innovates etc.
good analogy about IBM. sad to see google in current shape.
Meta still has a very solid engineering culture. Most likely because Zuckerberg himself is an engineer and he has majority vote power so there’s no room for the “careerists” to take over. That’s not to say every team is perfect but by and large that’s been my experience here.
Please don’t call Sundar a product person. There is nothing wrong with having a product person in charge: see Apple. The problem comes when your company is run by dogshit masquerading as a product person.
But folks at Apple may disagree with you, other than apple M series procs, it's all Steve Jobs that keeps it going still Also, no clue about Sundar being a nice guy or not, that's not at all the main point of my post.
I used to work at Apple, Steve is dead :P
Carrieriest are everywhere. But they are not alone in creating this situation. The mad hiring spree of companies has fueled this by rewarding engineers to move every 2-3 years. The engineers refusing to evolve to take bigger roles have also fueled this. Social media like linked in has also fueled this by constantly flashing the progress. The levels.fyi has fueled this by making people realize how less they make. The blind followers of blind who scream about 'tc or gtfo' have fueled this. Unfortunately, that's what society wants. But there will always be a group of people who desire to create great engineering marvels, and they will keep winning before they get run over by carrierists.
I learned that hiring is a game played by Careerists to promote themselves. My org is this big is ego boost also ladder 🪜 to promotions
Sudar is from McKinsey. He is just changing the dna of Google to get back to his roots
+1