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These are great points. It's a little off topic but what you bring up is why i advise new grads to spend the first couple years of their career in small eat-what-you-kill companies. I think software devs who start out in large companies get this distorted view that their twice a month direct deposit is just magic and comes from the ether no matter what they do. The whole industry would be better off if everyone started out in a "you don't deliver, you don't eat" company and grew from there.

by weitendorf10 hours ago|

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Strong agree, but I also think some roles in big companies (for me, infrastructure) or in certain industries (eg trading/finance) can help build the same understanding without as much of the variance/raw exposure to bottom line.

Now that the role of the ticket-cruncher is on the path towards full commoditization, and individuals can move much more quickly (and even more carelessly!), I think product roles will probably shift towards one where developers are more deeply embedded in the product/business process so that they own/understand what to build without as much separation between the decision-making and prioritization of what to build. Or at least, they should.

It was eye opening to me to run the math of "should X people work for Y months on this project to save Z per year?" and realize that in so many cases, the time and effort it would cost to stop "wasting" money on things is WAY more than you could actually save on it. Even "small" projects can very quickly become $1M+ investments in time and resources, and the diminishing returns add up quickly (but also a good way to justify the value of your contributions, when done). But the job only exists if it saves money or makes money...

by girvo5 hours ago|

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While starting my career in the late 2000s in web design agencies wasn't good for my stress levels, it absolutely gave me an appreciation for some things that working at a ~15k employee corporate just doesn't. I can tell exactly which of my coworkers come from the "outside world" vs those who joined here as a grad and have only ever worked here haha

by wasabi9910111 hours ago|

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This is really insightful, thank you.

Can you share a bit more about how you shifted to be more aligned with P/L? And how to accurately estimate incremental upside?

I'm an early PhD student with interest in ibdustrial research/R&D, and currently struggling to understand how to think about how to navigate through my career.