I am on vacation, as I am sure many people are at this time of year. This means the usual things for me — cleaning up the home office, this time in the most annoying manner I can think of; playing with personal projects I haven’t had time for during the year; and just… resting. Part of resting for me is reading, which is how I happened up this excellent blog post about how the expectations placed upon Silicon Valley engineering managers have changed over the last couple of decades.
The post resonates strongly with me — I think the idea that the expectations placed upon managers have changed in noticeable eras is true, but it also explains my own mixed feelings about the Silicon Valley of today. You see, as the industry became less passionate about treating engineers well and building things which genuinely improved the world over the last couple of years, I became less passionate about being treated poorly by my employers. It is definitely true that an employer is within their rights to let you know that you’re a replaceable asset of convenience, which I think is definitely a thing Cisco reinforced as often as possible, but the inverse is also true. If this employment thing is a purely commercial relationship, then it is simply rational for me to take a better offer if it comes along without feeling any guilt.
That is, I wonder if the industry will enjoy reaping what they are currently sowing when those better opportunities do inevitably come along?