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Jobs in high tech rant posted Friday, July 16, 2004
Every software company is dysfunctional in its own way - and some are more dysfunctional than others. After travelling through a few of these companies Ophelia has made some observations...
1. Just when you think that there can't be a worse company to work for.....there can! (I can't imagine what my next place is going to be like!!!)
2. It's easier to work with bad process or bad product then bad people. In the "software-company-triangle" of product/process/people you are generally going to score negatives on at least one of these points and more likely two. These all really suck...but bad people should be an immediate deal breaker! Run!
3. Most managers in high tech have no flipping clue on how to manage people (many of them really don't have a clue about anything!). In fact - I'm convinced that someone is breeding a collective of Tommy-Hilfinger-jean-wearing lobotomised robots to try to run software companies....
4. In the battle between time to market and quality - quality will always lose. Sometimes, rarely, it gets away with a black eye but usually it's picked up off the battlefield using tweezers and a box of Ziploc baggies. This experience is not so great for either the bagee or the bagger...
5. Most worker bees have zero to no respect for those above them in the corporate food chain. Most managers, directors, and executives are oblivious of these sentiments. So - this one is for those at the top of the pyramid..we all think you are a big joke! Just wanted to let you know.
6. Many people are embarrassed by the product/service their company provides. It's like the joke where the research group loads a bunch of software company CEOs in a plane and then announce "Your company built the software for this plane and we will take off in five minutes!". All the CEOs run off the plane except for one smugly smiling guy. When asked why he didn't also flee in terror he laughed: "If my R and D department built the software for this thing we'll never get off the ground!".
7. Many companies stifle the best their employees can offer because the companies themselves are so toxic. Employees can't afford to care about their work and are forced to find spiritual refuge in apathy in order to survive. In software QA this is known as "a typical day at the office".
8. Many companies lose their best people because they won't *really* listen to why people are unhappy. Just a note - *really* listening implies taking action. Just to simplify for those in management: listen->act.
9. Almost every problem has a root cause of faulty communication - and most can be fixed by getting the communication working. It's so simple that nobody has figured it out yet.
10. Overtime is the sign of a badly managed company. Period.
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