Dear dudes, instead of telling me I'm overreacting, you can now refrain because I have written you this general response thread:
1. This ad reinforces a long-standing and widely-believed trope in tech that is actually quite harmful: that code ("building") matters more than communication ("talking").
Github is NOT your resume, and building is NOT more important than talking.
Github is NOT your resume, and building is NOT more important than talking.
2. This ad also reinforces the harmful trope that developers (the "builders") are more important than the product managers, people managers, or salesfolk (the "talkers").
Try not having those people, and see how successful you are. Builders alone don't build good things.
Try not having those people, and see how successful you are. Builders alone don't build good things.
3. Successful companies can still be messy on the inside. That doesn't mean you should emulate them. Often they're successful DESPITE the mess on the inside, and many companies that no longer with us were sunk BECAUSE of their mess.
See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors…
See also: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors…
4. "Overreaction" is a criticism of my emotional response. The word is lobbed much more often at women (see also: 'abrasive') than at men. If a man had made this tweet, he'd have gotten waaaay fewer "you're overreacting" responses.
Literally, you all used that word. STOP.
Literally, you all used that word. STOP.
5. You can lawyer my words all you want (another gendered response, btw), but the ad is clearly aimed at builders (or people who fashion themselves as such) and clearly marks building as more important than talking.
6. Marketing is always, always, always trying to tie itself to the zeitgeist of the moment. So, given #5, this ad implies that Amazon thinks that the zeitgeist of the moment is that there's been TOO MUCH TALKING and NOT ENOUGH BUILDING.
7. This is a frequent response I see from developers who've been asked to learn to communicate - usually implicitly asked, when the team diversified. They complain they spend too much time in meetings or helping other people, and not enough time coding.
8. Those are the people who should absolutely code less. Uninterrupted, they go down rabbit holes for days or weeks at a time that often don't result in anything positive for the product.
Feedback loops for code are best when the timescale is hours, or at most, days.
Feedback loops for code are best when the timescale is hours, or at most, days.
9. If you don't want to learn to be a talker, you're severely limiting your career. Even on an Individual Contributor track, the upper levels are reserved for people who can communicate across teams and get buy-in for their ideas.
