I just talked with a tech lead based out of Ukraine at EPAM, a tech company with more than 10K employees in Ukraine & 4K in Kyiv. EPAM also has large offices in Belarus and Russia.
Here's what I learned about the situation at the company, how the war affects it and how to help:
1. Evacuation. There's an incredible behind-the-scenes effort both locally and outside Ukraine. In Kyiv employees help each other with medicine, supplies, transport. Within Ukraine they transport each other+families. On the borders in Poland & Romania EPAMers pick up families.
2. The company's current priorities are
a) People
b) Revenue
c) Profits
d) Reputation
They are putting people's safety first to the extent that they can. Which is also why their CEO gave a watered-down official statement many criticize. He wants to keep *all* employees safe.
3. The tension between Russian, Berlarusian & Ukranian employees. In general, people are supportive and all shocked. Most of them work together fine, and apart from a few flare-ups there's not much drama. This story is more of an outlier than everyday:
4. The Ukranian work morale. This employee was working in a part of the country not yet invaded, but at risk. He was doing it out of his own will.
In his group of ~50 people, 45 showed up for work on Mon. The company told everyone to put their safety first over work: and still.
5. Belarusian colleagues. Belarus police state. There's an incredible amount of information policing. Being an admin of a telegram channel can get you
imprisoned. There's fear for police taking away colleagues even from EPAM.
6. Russian colleagues. There's an incredible amount of propaganda and access to external media is very difficult. LinkedIn is banned, Twitter and Facebook hard to access etc.
The amount of propaganda Russians have had for a decade is truly nuts.
7. "How can we, outside Ukraine help?" I asked this tech lead, stuck in Ukraine. His plead:
Appeal to government representatives. Ukraine needs help in the form of weapons to defend itself and even stricter sanctions on Russia. Money helps the least right now.
8. From other locals. Money *does* help they say.
I also think it does: both to the Ukrainian Army, Red Cross. But also don’t forget helping refugees (those who managed to escape).
At EPAM, a company that has more than 10K employees in Ukraine, but also ones in Russia and Belarus, massive internal conflicts are raising due to the CEO not taking sides: they have yet to say Russia is responsible for the war.
Some refusing to work with those based in Russia.
Management has tried to shuffle so Belarus and Russia-based teams report into “neutral” managers (eg ones from Poland, Hungary).
It’s starting to break down. Employees demanding the company be clear if they are on the side of Russia+Belarus or rest or rest of world.
It’s not just EPAM in this position but outsourcing companies Luxoft, DataArt, GridDynamics with offices both in Ukraine and Russia where management tries to balance but anger is growing as the war progresses.
Most clients of these companies are in the US and Western EU.
Back to office announcements are happening and some are not pretty.
As a CEO announced a record, $1B profit, on the same all-hands said "if sw engineers all think they can work from home, we can hire someone from Asia and pay them €300."
They will have dev attrition problems.
We are talking about a traditional company - one that became far more profitable during COVID, with remote work.
Their stance is clear though, and the post-COVID strategy is this: "The new way is the old way, and we will all go back to the office."
Good luck. They'll need it.
The same company normally makes all-hands videos available to all. They did not do with this all-hands.
Later the CEO apologized for the comments and backtracked, kind-of - see the apology below.
But all engineers know where the company really stands & what they can expect.
NFTs about one thing: buy an NFT today, have it’s value go up and sell some point later for $$$.
Prices only go up if new buyers join in droves (aka it goes mainstream).
But if scams are everywhere: it both scares new buyers from joining. Also chills existing ones from selling.
A reminder that the web, in its infancy in the 90s was *never* this insecure: because payments were built on an existing credit card/banking infrastructure with plenty of consumer protection (eg chargebacks, multi-step confirmations etc, legal recourse).
I was giving advice to a friend who recently started a freelancing business after a decade of being an employee.
Here are 12 habits that work fine when an employee employee, but ones worth unlearning to be a more successful entrepreneur/freelancer:
1. Old habit: your time is equally valuable throughout the day.
New habit: parts of your time are far more valuable. E.g. working with a higher-paying client, or on projects with more opportunity cost. Generating valuable leads. Etc.
2. Old habit: follow the beaten path outlined in a company and career path. Get promoted to senior, then to above or a manager path etc.
New habit: carve out the path where *you* want to get to. There's less of a beaten path to follow - and why would you?