The programming talent myth [LWN.net]

The programming talent myth

Posted Apr 29, 2015 8:22 UTC (Wed) by roc (subscriber, #30627)
Parent article: The programming talent myth

I'd like to see a debate between this guy and his supporters and the Netflix "we fire everyone who's not above average" people.

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The programming talent myth

Posted May 4, 2015 19:26 UTC (Mon) by kaidenshi (guest, #102354) [Link] (3 responses)

The thing I find interesting about Netflix's hard line is, what determines "above average"? If they have, say, 2000 employees, then they fire anyone average or below, in theory they just fired 1001 of their employees. Now out of those 999 left, they suddenly have a new average, and they would have to fire another 500 to meet their new quota.

I realize it's not that simple, but I think it's more of a hiring tactic than anything else. Anyone with the slightest hint of self-doubt won't even bother applying to Netflix or responding to their recruiters, and they end up with only Alpha-types who can both demonstrate their talent and feel good about their abilities. In some ways that's a good thing, but it also seems to me that they end up weeding out more empathetic potential employees. A large company like Netflix might be able to get by with a bunch of "brogrammer" types for a while, but eventually they will need the fresh perspective of someone who doesn't see the world the same way they all do. Unfortunately, that personality type doesn't fit in with the "we're all rock stars and you all suck!" attitude they put forth.

The programming talent myth

Posted May 4, 2015 23:42 UTC (Mon) by viro (subscriber, #7872) [Link] (2 responses)

Good sodding grief... you are trying to derive profound sociological conclusions from an obvious employee motivation specialist bullshit line, pardon the redundance. Of the "your employer trusts and values you; the pride for belonging to Our Insanely Great Team(tm) should serve as a compensation" variety. Sane reaction is to roll your eyes (when out of eye contact with said BS artist) and ignore it, same as when given an equally worthless boilerplate tokens of appreciation. And above everything else, do not let it affect your judgement regarding your worth, or that of your coworkers and employers. In any direction.

The theory is obvious; I don't know if it's taught to MBA in that form, but basically it goes like that

* employee's degree of satisfaction affects its productivity and should be considered as an investment.
* optimizing return on investment is a good practice.
* replacing the costly investment with cheaper alternative that gives an equivalent output is a good practice.
* telling the mark that it is special greatly increases its gullibility; any successful scammer knows that.
* once upon a time an engraved watch used to serve as demonstration that coworkers and management remember and value the recipient. These days a plastic paperweight with inscription on it demonstrates that a script ran from crontab over HR database has put the recipient's name and address into monthly (or quarterly) bulk order form. However, it still counts as a token of appreciation, and that's what matters.
* attaching "... because you work here" to "you are special" (see above) improves loyalty and you can't overdo that - the people who will roll their eyes at over-the-top bullshit won't take you serious anyway. And it demonstrates your worth to upper management.

No matter where you go, these pests are inevitable. Anywhere, including the job of burger-flipper in McDogfood, janitor in railroad station WCs, etc. As well as really wonderful jobs in great places. Learn to recognize the noise for what it is and filter it out; it's nothing personal, they are just taught that way...

The programming talent myth

Posted May 13, 2015 13:18 UTC (Wed) by kaidenshi (guest, #102354) [Link] (1 responses)

"Good sodding grief... you are trying to derive profound sociological conclusions from an obvious employee motivation specialist bullshit line"

I thought it was obvious that I saw it for the BS it was, when I said "I think it's more of a hiring tactic than anything else". Nothing profound about it, and no need to be so hostile about it.

The programming talent myth

Posted May 13, 2015 13:36 UTC (Wed) by viro (subscriber, #7872) [Link]

I sincerely doubt that it affects the distribution of personality traits in the people they are hiring (or has any effect on the reality, for that matter). As for hostility... IMO that kind of PR folks are waste of what could've been functional human beings, but that's (chronic) disappointment, not hostility...