First of all, I acknowledge that I am incredibly privileged and absolutely grateful for where I am in my life. I don't wrestle with poverty and worry about meeting my daily needs. I am not in a war zone and have to worry about my safety.
I do acknowledge that the problems I wrestle with is likely a first world problem, but I have to admit, the amont of mental health issues I have developed and the stress that exists because of the corporate politics and the existence of the manager class is unbearable.
The absolute worst thing about working in the big tech is not the obscure problem solving or crazy bugs and SEVs.. its managers.
No matter how much they like to embellish their roles with statements like
- Google also tried to get rid of managers but failed (which was 20 years ago when the tech and the people process were much more primitive)
- Good manager shields you from politics
- You've only had bad managers.
It doesn't change the fundamental fact that the fundamental nature of the manager class is that
- you take credit for the work your reports do
- your job entails “cracking the whip” – managing people out, sometimes in really insidious and malevolent ways
- asking for status updates
- expecting reports to manage you up while you contribute absolutely nothing in the technical domain.
In some tech companies, managers expect you to come up with the scope & road mapping for the team while not delivering anything technically themselves.
Managers will defend their position most times by saying that hierarchy is human nature and unavoidable, and that manager is the necessary evil, but people 200 years ago said the same thing about monarchy and nobility.
I really hope the day comes when modern corporate hierarchy and the manager class is viewed the same way we view monarchy and feudalism today. personal computers and the internet gave us possbility, although weren't sufficient to provide a better alternative than the manager class, but I hope the ever accelerating technology and AI will help us get there this century. I hope our children and grandchildren and the people in the 22nd and 23rd century will live in a more just and less cruel system than the modern corporate hierarchy.