PMs and UXers are the Tom Sayers of the software world, whitewashing aunt Polly’s fence and making the other kids do the work and pay for the privilege.

Google Web Toolkit was a thing at some point in time. ;y current company still maintains some apps which are written in it.

I see, didn’t think of the case of somebody with visa requirements. I don’t really know how to compare US salaries to my German salary, since taxes and social security and cost of living are different, but for 162k Euro I’d probably also would rather not resignate, but do “Dienst nach Vorschrift” (= doing exactly what your asked for, but not showing extra initiative)

Wow. Since I presume that you didn’t stay there: how curt was your letter of resignation?

The crucial point to me, which I could not read out of your first post, nor will I implicitly assume it as a given, is that there still is a feedback loop from product development to the staff/principal level.

I’ve been burned by a code base that was created by a principal engineer, who tossed it over for maintenance and moved on to greener pastures (still in the company though). It is more to blame on the organization, than on the engineer, but still such an experience leaves a slightly bitter taste.

So, you don’t actually do real work and have to live with the technologies that are chosen on your recommendation? Sound like a sweet deal. The senior engineers that have to actually make software that is sold and clean up the mess will hate your guts though.

More likely that I am the naive one - I know that there is no place without politics (we’re all humans after all), but I strive to minimize politics, because it drains me.

What I meant specifically were those two points:

How to indulge a senior manager who wants to talk about technical stuff that they don’t really understand, without rolling your eyes or making them feel stupid

and

How to get other engineers to listen to your ideas without making them feel threatened

Beyond basic human courtesy, I don’t agree that the fragility of other peoples ego should be the leitmotif of communication in a professional setting. I’d think a senior engineer should be able to speak up without beating around the bush, both to peers and higher-ups. I would assume for the higher-ups it should be more valuable to get candid responses from those in the trenches than smile-and-nod-yes-men responses.

And I think the counterpart of the second “listen to other engineers’ ideas without feeling threatened” is really good advice, because unlike the other one it is under your control and also a good thing in itself.

Then I also find “How to get another engineer to do something for you by asking for help in a way that makes them feel appreciated” has a bit of a manipulative touch.

Most of the points are good advise, a few of them rub me the wrong way. Considering that the author is somebody in higher management, a few of them sound like “how to collect brownie points” and “how I’d like my butt to be kissed by my underlings”, utterly self-serving - OTOH maybe those indeed are the rules of the game, and those who think that particular game is worth playing might want to pay attention.

Assuming that your company has a profitable business, and you are working on the part brings in the revenue that pays the bills, you’ll keep that as long as your company is interested in keeping that business. Your CTO is burning money (and fast!), maybe they’ve picked that habit up in a zero-interest environment, but well interest rates aren’t zero anymore, so I’d be more worried if I were part of the secret internal startup.

Why is that?

Programmers are humans and that’s the way humans behave. You’ll find plenty of ego everywhere, you just selected yourself into our profession and probably don’t meet too many people on a different professional path.