Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Do not think only in terms of technical skills. Large companies operate via easily scaled algorithms for everything including promotions and hiring. The simplicity of these algorithms often means that they can be circumvented. You want to get hired at Google. What do you do ? Spend 3 years doing side projects or spend 3 months befriending and impressing some engineers so you get a referral.

There maybe god level engineers who are stuck at junior levels because they simply don’t know how to fit into the gears of the hierarchy. If you want to get promoted your relationships and trust with the management chain is as important as the quality of your work.

Don’t buy into the official stories about systems and processes work. Learn how they actually do.




I have to do my 6-monthly plug of The Inner Ring [0] by CS Lewis here. Dives into some of this, drawn from War and Peace.

[0] https://www.lewissociety.org/innerring




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: