Needless Crunchtime- run or rough it out?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8752965

by aretx • 12 years ago

10 8 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Startup had non-coding CTO and a Lead Engineer coding in PHP. New CTO (in his 20s.. warning sign #1) joined back in February (this one codes), and the Lead Engineer ended up leaving. I joined ~6 months ago.

The first two envelopes were already opened by the new CTO (previous guy, equipment) when there was simply a lack of interest in investigating the actual issues because "PHP is digusting/stupid, ______ is an idiot.". (keep in mind it took a single guy two years to build the product)

Language choice? Golang. CTO thinks VIM is the one true way and everyone else is a heretic, but everyone on the team except for his buddy from another other startup greatly prefers an IDE. (there's also "80 cols" or the PR gets rejected: warning sign #3)

Original schedule had us starting at the beginning of September and launching at the end of December. Feature requests on the old product moved the start to the middle/end of October. The finish date moved to the end of November. (that didn't happen)

Delivery date has been dictated to be the second Monday in January. CTO is working 11/17 days until then, his buddy 13/17- they're the guys who are (still building) the core of the product in Golang, and are the in-house knowledge resource for how the core product downcasts almost everything to interface{} when fetching from the database.

What particularly concerning is that management at that level didn't/couldn't smell a horrible idea (the rewrite)

Not sure if I should (or any combination of these)

- just put my hours in

- yolo, take off same days as management

- take a bunch of vacation to job hunt over Christmas

- go to the CEO and say something to the effect of "What are you smoking that makes you believe the CTO taking time off during crunch-time is a good idea?"

andrew_gardener• 12 years ago

If you're unhappy if your job in general, go with the 3rd option (look for something better during the holidays).

If you're only unhappy if the pending deadline and the ensuing chaos, go with the 1st or 2nd option. This depends on how you feel the CEO will react to the deadline not being reached (he could take it out on the people around him or the people who took time off).

If you genuinely care about the company and what its trying to do, go for the risky 4th option. If it doesn't pay off, fallback to 3rd option.

my 2 cents

jtchang• 12 years ago

Feel free to contact me. My e-mail is in my profile. There are many good opportunities for devs out there.

I would look for something over the holidays but continue to state your objections.

hkarthik• 12 years ago

Sounds like the new tech leadership is taking the opportunity to scratch a technical itch (learning and building stuff on Golang) rather than giving a crap about the actual business they are helping to build and move forward.

With such an aggressive delivery date, they have already figured out they have no hope of reaching it, so they aren't going to blow their holidays on it. But they aren't telling you (and presumably the rest of the team) because they want to see what you can accomplish.

From here you have a couple options:

1) Get jazzed up about the technology and hitch your wagon to theirs. The project will likely fail spectacularly, but you might learn some skills that will come in handy for your next job.

2) Run, don't walk to your next gig.

My suggestion would be to stick things out through the holidays and start looking for a new gig in January when the job market is usually better. But don't work any more hours than you normally would.

chandrew• 12 years ago

PHP ain't that bad.

aretx• 12 years ago

"Hey, you have this product with some rough edges. Let's smooth them out."

davismwfl• 12 years ago

I pretty much agree with all your warning signs, so I guess it mostly depends on your love for the product/startup. If you feel compelled and love it, and it is concerning you that this direction is wrong. Which by your account it sure seems to be. Then use the holidays to do some searching, talk to the CEO to feel him out and see where you are in the first week of January. You may find out the CEO is just as confused and dumbfounded as you are, but is trusting the people he hired. Or you may find out that he is a technology chaser and wants to be able to say Golang to whomever asks.

Either way, they aren't overly dedicated to making this happen given their schedule, so I wouldn't bust my ass in this case, but I wouldn't half ass it either. I would give it 100% because it is your reputation that you are protecting here.

Lastly, sometimes we don't see all the details or have all the answers even when the issue looks so clear from our current seat. So asking direct questions without being accusatory or sounding derogatory can really be enlightening. And that new knowledge can go either way of course, but that makes your decision easier.

tptacek• 12 years ago

Honestly, just having a CTO in a small startup is a bit of a warning sign. More so if the CTO isn't a founder (in 2+ founder companies, sometimes people get the CTO title just because it's the only C-level title that doesn't have misleading business connotations, so you cut them some slack).

danielweber• 12 years ago

First, I'm really glad that we let new accounts submit stories that don't get autokilled now, because people like 'aretx need them.

Second, you won't have much luck job hunting over Christmas, although you should use it to clear your head and do some passive investigation of the job market.

Needless Crunchtime- run or rough it out?

Related Stories