Re:Ask HN: What is a good company for you?
by Bakary on Wednesday October 26, 2022 @11:53AM
(#33345564)
On one hand, values could stand to change to great effect. On the other, these characteristics didn't pop out of nowhere. It's a bit like cryptocurrency today: as some have put it, a 19th century speedrun towards rediscovering the reason why banking regulations exist.
The other distinction is between companies that have this horizontal ethos AND have a profit generating golden goose (Valve, Motion Twin/Evil Empire) and those that adopt the ethos without it. This is where the real test comes in.
Personally, I would take a 32 hour/4 day workweek at full comp over all of these values put together. Except maybe team-set salaries, that would be interesting if also dangerous for some
People, vision and ways of working. With time, I've developed my values and principles that makes me practically unemployable if I don't turn a blind eye to some of them. Alternatively, I could start my own company.
Like XP, they complement each other. So, in order to actually reap the benefits of a practice, other practices ought to be adopted too. Many of the cargo-culted practices and problems fade away when doing things fundamentally different. And very few places challenge the status quo (especially when it comes to management). Forming a (real) team is very hard, and very fragile. Like trust, which I didn't mention above, as I believe it to be a natural consequence of building such an environment.Needless to say that it is pretty much impossible to find a place like this. Although, with some compromises on my values and principles, I consider the current company I'm working with way above average; granted, I helped shape the culture, which seems to be diluting/changing now as the compromised values are missed. The company is trending towards mediocrity in that sense.