←back to thread

Googler... ex-Googler

(nerdy.dev)
975 points namukang | 1 comments | 11 Apr 25 20:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.305s | source
Show context
ivraatiems ◴[12 Apr 25 03:57 UTC] No.43661224[source]▶
The reality of one's lack of value to one's own employer is often baffling. It makes you wonder how anyone manages to stay employed at all, since apparently everyone is replicable and unimportant. I have been through layoffs where other people on my team, doing the same job I did approximately as well, got laid off. No explanation given for why them and not me. And it could happen to me at any time.

It doesn't matter how good my evals are or how big my contributions. It doesn't matter that there are multiple multi-million-dollar revenue streams which exist in large part due to my contributions. It doesn't matter that I have been told I am good enough that I should be promoted to the next level. Raises barely exist, let alone promotions. Because theoretically some other engineer could have done the same work I actually did, the fact that I'm the one who did it doesn't matter and I deserve no reward for doing it beyond the minimum money necessary to secure my labor.

Under those conditions, why should I - or anyone - do any more than the minimum necessary to not get fired for cause? If the company doesn't see me as more than X dollars for X revenue, why should I?

replies(10): >>43661523 #>>43662032 #>>43662738 #>>43664956 #>>43678264 #>>43678520 #>>43678568 #>>43678789 #>>43679236 #>>43684555 #
hyperliner ◴[12 Apr 25 05:06 UTC] No.43661523[source]▶
If you do only the minimum necessary to not get fired, then wouldn’t you be the person that needs to be fired the next time the the budget is cut, since you are the lowest ROI of all, all other things equal?
replies(2): >>43661634 #>>43678106 #
1. tgsovlerkhgsel ◴[14 Apr 25 04:40 UTC] No.43678106[source]▶
In theory, you'd think so.

In practice, due to the phenomenon described here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43662738, it's less relevant than you think. Specifically at Google, there have been reports of high performers, recently promoted with excellent ratings before and after the promotion, getting the sack.

In my experience, people who do good work do so because they enjoy the work and feel motivated, not due to any kind of performance management system or threat. Destroy the joy or motivation, and you've just destroyed a large part of the performance of these self-driven people.

People often talk about "10x engineers", but not how it's possible to destroy a 10x engineer and turn them into a (let's be generous) 2x engineer, and I think capricious layoffs are a great way to do just that.