Re:Twitch is hacked, and its source code leaked
by superfrank on Wednesday October 06, 2021 @07:16PM
(#28779693)
> From what I heard about Twitch-interns over the years, it seems the company is more a third-rate-s*hole that grew too big too fast and accumulated a huge amount of technical debt and fatal security flaws.
I mean this as a genuine question, but is there any company that didn't end up like this after an exponential growth phase? I'm not saying it's okay, but this feels par for the course. I've now been at two start ups during that hockey stick growth time and both went through this as well.
I'd be curious if anyone here has worked at a large, fast growing tech company where they didn't accumulate a ton of technical debt during growth. If so, what did the company do to prevent that?
Re:Twitch is hacked, and its source code leaked
by slightwinder on Wednesday October 06, 2021 @07:35PM
(#28779843)
Generally yes, but Twitch is not your average startup. It's now 10 years old, and 7 of those years it was owned by Amazon, which should have enough competence and manpower for bringing it onto a good course. But from what I heard, Amazon did neglect Twitch for a long time and focused too much on making it a profitable business by all costs. Because of which they had all those scandals and problems in the last years. It's a business-platform, where technology is just an afterthought.
From what I heard about Twitch-interns over the years, it seems the company is more a third-rate-s**hole that grew too big too fast and accumulated a huge amount of technical debt and fatal security flaws. Making billions doesn't mean anything if you don't invest them back into the important corners of the company. It's considered a miracle that the platform is still working that well in that state. And what comes from the leaks so far supports this view.
Though, said that, it seems they did start to improve one or two years ago, just too late to prevent this critical hit. But considering this was also a strike that avoided the deadly parts (yet), maybe there is a different aim here and the company can grow from this? It will be interesting to see how Amazon will react to this.