Ask HN: What STEM field is currently the wild west | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What STEM field is currently the wild west

16 pointsoldsklgdfth10 comments

I work at a generic large corporation writing software. My main gripe is how checked out everyone is and how shitty our process is. This seems to be the case across the board. MBAs join exec teams and gamify work and come up with grandious policies.

I hear stories from the 90s of all these rockstar engineers and scientists that would go from job to job just getting shit done and not having to worry about corporate bs.

So what field is that? What field is in it's corporate infancy were the life hasn't been sucked out of it by execs and shareholders. What is the get-shit-done field? The pre-IPO google? Is that a thing or am I building up ideas in my mind?

Background: I have an undergrad in electrical engineering and applied math. I got into software. Currently I work on low level sutff and firmware. It has the potential to be really amazing, but realiztically kinda sucks.

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Elon Musk's companies are this way. Getting shit done, innovating, disregarding established ways of doing things to innovate, lower costs, and release products. If you want to feel like you are breaking ground, and not being held back by bureaucracy, shit management, or established norms, I would highly recommend trying to find a job there.

Otherwise, I think you need to find the right combination of good leadership and good application. Right now I'm working on autonomous vehicles at a startup, and the application is interesting and definitely "wild west" where you are breaking ground and trying new things to get to the goal, but on the other hand the leadership is dropping the ball on hiring, trajectory, goals, etc. So it feels like a mess in terms of what and why we are working on the things we are doing. Often back tracking or throwing away work because the leadership didn't think their plans through. So I think finding something that has both great application and great leadership, involves finding a field you think is kick-ass, cutting edge, and meaningful, and then looking for leadership that has a great track record.

Have you ever worked for any of Musk's companies?

Yes, I previously worked at one of his companies.

> I hear stories from the 90s of all these rockstar engineers and scientists that would go from job to job just getting shit done and not having to worry about corporate bs.

Some of this may be selection bias: you're less likely to hear the stories about people in the 90s who were working in unremarkable corporate jobs because those stories were, well, (tautologically) unremarkable, despite likely being representative of the vast majority of professional experience.

That said, because I grew up with both parents in the tech (semiconductor and later more general software) industry, I did hear both kinds of stories at home.

To echo another commentor, I think you'll find that size of company matters far more than industry. Notable exceptions may be government contractors or anything heavily regulated like healthcare or finance.

I feel like I already know you by reading your thoughts. Good to know at least few people think that.

Today even pre-ipo companies have MBA's and execs. I think it has to be even smaller company < 100 people may be.

Any fast growing small company is still wild west, regardless of industry.

Would have to be something exotic like quantum computers.

China.

Wow, yes, this comment is much more acute than it might look. However I often had the impression that China seems to be this hot get-shit-done-without-corporate-bullshit place because they are improvising - both management and technical functions.

I came up with the following explanation: the Chinese are bad at abstract thinking, therefore they don't build theoretical constructs as solid as we do, therefore they are worse at devising complex processes - compared to westerners. I'm not talking about scientific prowess. I'm talking about problem solving and creativity.

Disclaimer: I worked in China and speak fluent Mandarin.

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