In the Hacker News discussion of a recent post by a programmer who had publicly quit Google, I ran across a comment that I wished I could have sent back in time to the younger, angrier version of myself who was constantly frustrated with the goings-on at his early developer jobs.
People were debating how to win the “political game” that seems to determine one’s success in a larger organization. In discussions like this, I’ve noticed (and participated in) a common cynicism about “politics” amongst developers—that one’s technical merit is chronically underappreciated and that you must scheme your way to the top.
It took me years to come to the difficult realization that maybe the people who were placed in positions of authority were there because they had a better grasp of the needs of the business by which we were employed. Maybe they had strived to understand a broader context for their work and how it impacts the profitability of the company.
Are there boneheads in management? Of course! Just like there are at any level of an organization. But I personally found it better for my mental health and career satisfaction to develop some humility about my relationship to the broader organization.
My advice for a younger me would be this: Listen to the folks in your management chain that you have regular exposure to and try to develop a sense for the kinds of problems they tend to think are important, and then focus yourself on those areas. Also, you don’t know everything.
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