I feel like larger orgs have too many incompetent idiots and useless layers of management to appropriately manage people. So you have people extruding AI slop because that’s optimal for getting some fucking ghoul middle manager to see you. The guy who fixes bugs and writes useful tests isn’t going to impress fucking Joanne who can’t even code but somehow is still in charge of the department.

I think this is a big problem at Google. You get rewarded for shipping something, even if that means killing a better product.

Other than that, yeah I guess it’s a social game. Getting people to like you matters more than you might think it should.

and the thing they do is they tell themselves they need to almost cosplay being a more senior engineer than they are.

I don’t think it’s just engineers telling themselves this. Every place I’ve worked has had the credo that you have to demonstrate the abilities of Engineer Rank N before you can be seriously considered as a candidate for Engineer Rank N. In practice this makes everyone, but especially juniors looking to move up in the company, overwork themselves in an attempt to demonstrate that they can handle the promotion they may or may not (but statistically, not) ever receive. The few that do start angling for the Rank N+1 promotion, and so on all the way up the pyramid. I think this is a major factor in the “you have to leave to get a promotion” phenomenon, because every major shop is essentially trying to get everyone working for pay one rank below where they’re actually performing.

I think in moments like this, the thing you need to do is actually a little counterintuitive. but you have to start from a position of assuming that everyone around you is operating in good faith, okay? like, they hired you for you. they didn’t hire you for who you think you’re going to be in six months. they like you for who you are right now, bro.

This is good advice, but I think it’s worth highlighting that you start with that assumption. I think finding a healthy employment situation is kind of like dating in that way. If you operate on the assumption that they like you for who you are, you will quickly get feedback on that assumption, for better or worse. If you get positive feedback, yay, they’re cool with you and you can be yourself in the relationship. If they want you to change it gets more complicated. I think there are ways that a good manager can help you grow professionally, but it’s tricky because they can also manipulate you by dangling a series of carrots in front of you that you will never reach the end of. If you don’t chase that carrot with the alacrity they expect, you might get PIP’d. That’s your cue to leave, IMO. I’ve never seen someone come back from a PIP in any shop large enough to have a formal PIP process.