1. We had an all-staff conference call, and right as it was starting a baby started crying loudly. The CEO laughed and said it had been a really long time since he's heard that in his house. Once it was quiet, he carried on as if nothing happened.
2. I was in the middle of a conference call, speaking about something or another and my son starts his guitar lesson with the amp turned up way too loud. The executive on the call yells out "Smoke on the Water! Sounds great!" and while I'm frantically texting my wife to get the volume turned down he talks about how he got to play basketball with his son in the driveway at lunch and how great it was to see his kids so much more now.
Our company has been doing a lot better than expected since the pandemic started, so that probably takes a lot of the pressure off.
If there's anything the corporate world could do with, it's probably this. And not the fake kind of human that's been popularised by "modern" companies (where things seem bubbly but aren't backed up by an actual culture of respect).
I honestly believe that we can all make better products and company cultures this way.
Over the last 20 years, our SHORTEST engineering hires have stayed for at least 5 years. Most stay longer. Core has been together for 19.
I take that as a sign of a pride.
On the other hand I only had limited experiences working at big companies I didn’t want to work at.
They're great about everything. They get you have more productive days than others, things happen, and it actually motivates me to put in extra time at times, late nights at home after the kids go to bed (granted it's also about just sharpening my skills and etc to me).
There are advantages and disadvantages for both IMO.
“Here’s a hotline, don’t kill yourself”
and
“Here’s 15 days pandemic leave if you get covid”
What I would have liked is the ability to go on leave like my wife. I don’t care if it’s unpaid, I just can’t take the kids being around the house with noting to do now that my wife’s leave is done.
I took 6 weeks of parental leave when my kid was born. It definitely hurt my career and my bonus was 1% instead of the target 8% (we're pay for performance).
Meanwhile check - Wood vs. Concrete blog https://bit.ly/3eU17fh