Comment by ng12
7 years ago
I think there's a trade off there. There's something to be said for "getting shit done" in the short term, voraciously arguing why it was bad afterwards.
7 years ago
I think there's a trade off there. There's something to be said for "getting shit done" in the short term, voraciously arguing why it was bad afterwards.
Weirdly enough, "getting shit done fast" were the exact words used in the meeting where it was explained why my contract wouldn't be renewed.
Like I said, the feeling was mutual. Every company and person can decide how deeply they're willing to cut corners. My speed-quality equilibrium and this company's speed-quality equilibrium did not match.
(But seriously can I get a show of hands on HN as to how many devs would be willing to accept FTPing non-versioned code changes to a live, high-traffic website as a standard of practice? I don't think my speed-quality equilibrium is extreme by any means.)
It's not a good practice, but I've done it. The thing is, most live high traffic websites are doing things that are absolutely pointless and the world would not be greatly harmed if they went down. It might even be improved!
It's not my job to prevent some assholes from taking whatever risks they want with their piece of shit non-critical website, once they're in full possession of the facts.
Actual critical systems where lives are on the line are another story completely.
You have to decide for yourself how much you can tolerate and still respect yourself. I'd have made the same choice as OP, and because I know that about myself, I keep fuck-off money in my bank account in case I ever need to take a stand that gets me fired. Self-respect is more important to me than any one job.
Yeah, I'm with you there. Like at the end of the day, I don't want to work for a company that treats a client's site with such gross negligence. The client was trusting us to manage the site responsibly and we would have been majorly violating that trust with those actions. To me, it felt like an ethical issue, I wasn't even thinking of legal ramifications (which I imagine there are some). I was very young then.
Nowadays I'm in the medical field. If you let standards slip to "get shit done fast," you can kill someone.
I don’t yet have that luxury, but this is one of my big overriding goals - FI by early 40s.
I’ve been in one or two situations where I would have walked if not for my mortgage and being sole provider with a young family.
Absolutely hated not having that choice, remembering how disempowering that was keeps me on track to work towards that freedom.
(I am not in SV, and good options at my level in my location take a few months to find)
It's easier to stand your ground when you're young, single, and mobile (which I was at the time).
As a medical student you might see something unethical or negligent happen during rotations, but even speaking up could risk your career (superiors give you a bad eval, this affects residency applications down the line). This hasn't happened to me personally, but you hear stories from other students with all kinds of actions and outcomes. So I really feel ya there. There isn't a one size fits all walk off point because stakes are always different.
Good luck on your FIRE plans!
There's also a thing called negligence for which you can quite rightly be dismissed and sued for.
Then all you are left with is shit.