Note to author: it might be worth moving the "How are CEOs failing software engineers?" section to the beginning of the article. With a title like "Why are CEOs failing software engineers?", the first thing i want to know is how the CEOs are failing. Only afterwards do i care about the why. This felt a bit like i was thrown head-first into a new framework for classifying types of management before I could figure out whether or not I wanted to learn about it.
Aside from the structure, really interesting piece!
[edit: I overlooked the direct call-out to Indigo in the original post, my mistake. Nevertheless, I'll leave this as perhaps its helpful to others who don't know the company.]
I worked for a satellite imagery start-up who was acquired by Indigo in December of 2018. I'm obviously biased, but i can genuinely say that the level of innovation taking place throughout this company - towards so many different parts of the agricultural system - has not ceased to astound me since I joined.
They've managed to capture/create/cultivate one of those unique scenarios that rarely happens in any industry: a scenario where all participants benefit. They're helping consumers gain access to healthy, responsibly-sourced food, they're helping to make it profitable for the farmer to provide these foods, and they're helping to make it beneficial to the planet to produce them.
They started as a microbial seed treatment company. By coating seeds with naturally-occurring microbial organisms, these microbes would help crops by making them more resistant to harsh conditions like drought, heat, etc. Kind of like probiotics, but for plants.
Since then, they've expanded into many different parts of the agricultural system, but perhaps their most innovative & potentially impactful contribution is their most recent: the Terraton initiative. They're helping to remove a trillion tons of carbon from the atmosphere by making it financially beneficial for farmers to adopt regenerative agricultural practices to bring this carbon out of the air and into the soil.
I could go on, but the videos and content on their website describe their mission and their work better than I can. I'm really excited about the work we're doing there - I hope you'll think so too.
I feel like this headline is a bit misleading. If you read the actual conversation, the question posed to this Google Exec seems to be more about manners than anything else. The question reads to me as: "Do you think you should let your houseguests know that you have a camera in the house?" to which the answer is clearly yes. The way this headline is structured seems to imply that the Google Exec is warning users that they're always being watched/recorded.
Again, this is simply my interpretation of the conversation, but I feel as though it's a reasonable one. And one that was likely shared by the Google Exec in this article.
I'm glad this story was reported, and I'm thankful to the author for putting in the work required to report this story. But after the first five paragraphs, the author's shameless, repetitive self-promotion and insistence on referring to himself in the third person almost made this unreadable.
The headline was enough to pique my curiosity to explore Brave's product offering. Unfortunately, actually reading the article had the exact opposite affect.
I thought the exact same thing after reading the first few paragraphs but didn't even notice that the author IS Johnny Ryan, the person mentioned in the story, until you pointed it out.
I didn't make it to the end, closed the tab and went over to HN comments for a summary.
1. Most importantly, set your own expectations correctly.
No matter how you slice it, switching domains after years of experience is going to be tough. That's not to say it isn't the right decision, or won't be incredibly rewarding. It's just going to be challenging. I've had more personal success in these scenarios after accepting that fact, and not being so hard on myself for the ramp-up time.
2. Identify people with expertise, and talk to them.
Don't get stuck in a research/reading rabbit hole. It can be tempting to sit back and try to replicate your prior expertise by reading/studying your new domain. Rather, find people you identify as experts and talk to them. Learn from their experience. Chances are it is your experience that made you an expert in your last domain, so do your best to learn from those with experience in your new domain.
> Assuming your current salary is X. "So I currently make (X * 1.20), but in order to make the jump I need at least (X * 1.40)."
Regardless of whether or not the employer actually does due diligence, why put yourself at risk by lying? The second half of that statement is the only part that matters. If you simply say "I need (X * 1.40) to make the jump", you'll accomplish your goal without putting yourself at risk by being dishonest.
Due diligence or not, dishonesty during a job interview can only come back to hurt you.
They can sometimes find out that you've lied. I've known people who had this happen, and the offers were rescinded. In all of those cases the person had already quit their job, were in the transition period and were told they were no longer going to work at the new place.
Note to author: it might be worth moving the "How are CEOs failing software engineers?" section to the beginning of the article. With a title like "Why are CEOs failing software engineers?", the first thing i want to know is how the CEOs are failing. Only afterwards do i care about the why. This felt a bit like i was thrown head-first into a new framework for classifying types of management before I could figure out whether or not I wanted to learn about it.
Aside from the structure, really interesting piece!