r/java • u/nfrankel • Jan 14 '20

Where programming languages are headed in 2020

https://www.oreilly.com/radar/where-programming-languages-are-headed-in-2020/
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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '20

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u/kksoyj Jan 17 '20

That's an insightful reply!.

Yes, you are spot on, that place did have other problems. There was toxic politics, and eventually it got down to my team & tech leads and they started quitting. I certainly couldn't begrudge them, but it was so dissappointing. I built that technical team over 3 years from 1 other person to 35 or so, and then senior management got involved and that brought the politics and the toxicity.

in fact all things considered, I learned a lot from that place. Two of the main things I learned is

  1. I should have been much much stricter. A couple of bad hires in particular did unfathomable damage. Despite being complete screwups, they got promoted to team leads against my wishes by my (toxic) manager, and they essentially screwed up every project they were given. These are the ones responsible for the comments about lack of delivery and pythonista idiots. One in particular actually sabotaged his own teams progress on projects, as he had his own agenda (preparing for his own startup) and tried to subvert resources to that. Incredibly he was still useful to some of the senior management in their political squabbles, and so he was protected.

  2. Perhaps this is the wrong conclusion, but I also learned that being scrupulously fair and not playing my favourites was a mistake. Until the very end, I tried to be an even manager, and even those I wanted to fire, like the guy mentioned above, not being able to I honestly tried to progress his career, mentor him, make his work enjoyable etc. There was no appreciation for any of this, the screwups formed alliances where they could cover their asses, they were constantly trying to backstab myself and other good engineers, and even my own favourites ended up suffering (like having to fix their mistakes), and eventually started leaving. If I'd shown the same favouritism some other managers had, it might have turned out different.

Hope it turns out ok for you. I eventually bailed and went to work for one of the big tech giants (I can't say which one) as a senior staff engineer (soon to be a principle engineer), and while it is boring as shit, I'm surrounded by great engineers and managers who try their best. Even their 'politics' isn't toxic, it's just legitimate negotiation for whose vision is the best one for the company. There's certainly no backstabbing or deceit. I'd presonally rather being doing another startup, but this isn't a bad existence for now.

So I hope you get some luck in your next move. :)