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Gergely Orosz

@GergelyOrosz

2 Oct

"Why are you looking to leave your current employer?" is a question I've asked hundreds of times when hiring at Uber. There are few things I've not heard.

Save for how Revolut treated engineers.

Here's how to build a culture where the hardest-working people voluntarily leave:

This was years back. I was doing the hiring manager interview. I ask the question and expect one of the common reasons - challenges, money, boredom etc.

"I'm pissed off, that's why. I put my heart and soul into this company, worked 80-hour weeks, and get slapped in the face."

Okay, this was new. "Can you give more details on what happened?"

"I didn't get a bonus."

"Well " - I think to myself - "that's not much to be pissed off about."

"So why did that tick you off?" - I ask. The person continues to explain this is not your usual bonus situation:

Read 12 tweets

Gergely Orosz

@GergelyOrosz

2 Oct

@mcdickenson

There is so little information written about equity for tech employees, and even less by software engineers who benefitted from it.

Uber and Square engineer @mcdickenson wrote the book Equity Compensation for Tech Employees, which fills this gap.

Here's the table of contents:

I reviewed the book before it was out, and it's a must-read if you are either based in the US or are/will be working for US-based companies issuing equity. Or if you want to know more on this important topic.

Get the book here: gumroad.com/a/276534387

@mcdickenson

What I *really* like about this book is the first-hand perspective theoretic approaches.

@mcdickenson was there when Uber went IPO (all engineers had RSUs/options). He works at publicly-traded Square where engineers get equity.

This is a book by an employee, for employees.

Read 4 tweets

Gergely Orosz

@GergelyOrosz

30 Sep

https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1443439366181949441

I dug deeper and the Amplitude founder is a legend.

They were the *first* company to introduce a 10-year post-termination exercise window. Their lawyers said they cannot be done. They did it, and open-sourced it, other companies following.

The implications of this are massive:

https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1443439366181949441

A 10-year post-termination exercise window means that an employee who joined in 2012, left 4 years later *still* made $10M, without having to exercise any options until now.

It's hard to beat a policy like this. They did this in 2015: amplitude.com/blog/employee-…

Summarized in a comment I added to the thread here: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=287040…

Read 4 tweets

Gergely Orosz

@GergelyOrosz

29 Sep

While there are many posts criticizing how difficult hiring processes are, especially for entry-level roles, it's only in private you hear interviewers and hiring managers talk about the other side.

Here's a short thread on a few observations that also explains some criticisms:

1. Entry-level applicants are on a very wide spread skillset-wise. They range from people who can only follow a tutorial to those who are hands-on with production-ready code. It skews towards the former though.

This is one reason there are so many automated closing assessments.

2. Resumes don't tell you much about entry-level people. Within the same bootcamp grads, there will be some strong candidates, and plenty of week ones. Same with colleges. It's impossible to predict how well a person will do on a coding exercise.

Read 8 tweets

Gergely Orosz

@GergelyOrosz

29 Sep

That first day as the Head of Engineering at a fast-growing startup is always glorious.

Not an engineering manager anymore, but a Head Of. The non-technical-at-all founder hired them because they *really* needed someone to get sort the eng problems.

A new story starts today:

The first week is done, and it's exciting. Well, a bit annoying as well. The founder keeps checking in, and talking about how they see this role, and what they want the EM (not Head of Eng) to do.

Problem is, much of it is not how the EM worked in the past, and it doesn't work.

Like the obsession the founder has with what are essentially micromanagement practices.

"This is how we work. High autonomy+high accountability is our culture". But then eng is told the work they should do, given deadlines with no input, and judged on "getting shit done".

Read 15 tweets

Gergely Orosz

@GergelyOrosz

28 Sep

Engineer: "Can I expense this $500 noise-canceling headphone? Makes it easier to focus."

Manager: "Sure."

Compliance: "That's against policy."

Manager: "It's $500. 0.3% of their salary. It helps them do better work."

Compliance: "It's policy."

Manager: "Ok, how about this:"

Manager: "Can you remind me of team morale budget rules?"

Compliance: "$1,500/person, per year."

Manager: "So it comes out of team morale."

Compliance: "But..."

Manager: "But, indeed, if we don't buy this, team morale will plummet due to stupid corp policies."

True story.

This was how I went getting noise-canceling headphones in an open-plan office* for my team at my previous gig.

*corp policy was handing out $100, non-noise canceling, uncomfortable headphones, purchased in bulk for savings.

Policy still the same AFAIK, as is the workaround.

Read 4 tweets

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