Why I Quit a $450k Engineering Job at Netflix

> Resting and vesting — doing as little work as possible while waiting for your stocks to vest

There’s golden handcuffs, then there’s being a golden turd.

> “Rest and vest”

Hmmm. I thought Netflix was famous for their “dream team” philosophy and “keeper test” where nearly everyone is constantly on the edge of receiving a “generous severance package” (“but don’t worry, at least you can say you played for a dream team!”)

Is this not the case anymore at Netflix?

Had no idea you could engineer your severance package. That's pretty smart.

I had a similar experience at Google (with the only difference being haven taken a pay cut). Had a few cool months, eventually got disinterested in the work, tried to move laterally, failed upon learning of the year-long minimum to transfer internally, got a pre-PIP conversation, left for a better place. Got questioned by everyone for a while after that; almost the same questions, actually.

I don't regret my decision at all.

I wish everyone realized this too is a form of worker exploitation. Most of us are working dead end jobs at the end of the day, and not letting you have career progression is almost like a paycut, they absolutely can give you superior roles that you are able to perform they just withhold them.

It's normal to recognize that you want to do something else. I highly encourage everyone to check in on whether their job gives them what they're looking for. It's also normal for output to suffer when you're unmotivated.

But personally I wouldn't work for, or with, a guy who deliberately set out to do the bare minimum to not get fired. Never mind your boss, that usually means you're just being a dick to your colleagues or the people who work with you at a level of less privilege.

It's possible that every word of this is true, but I'm skeptical. The man has a new startup to publicize and the "why I quit" narrative is an essential part of Our Incredible Journey. Here he establishes that he was just too amazing for Netflix to contain.

This clip from Jon Stewart's New podcast sums it all up for me. People want to be fulfilled, intellectually and socially, from their jobs. They don't simply want the maximization of salary, societal benefit/value, praise, etc. They just want to be fulfilled doing interesting work they feel utilizes their talents to make the world better (or at least not worse).

https://youtu.be/Vewz1v4rQYg

This is an absolutely wonderful article. May I ask what is your age? I have seen a lot of people close to 30 going through this phase.

"pre-emptive severence package... save you some money and not drag this out" .. i'm definitely saving this article as that is a wonderful way to frame the discussion

$450k/year then at the bottom,

> if you enjoyed this article, I’d greatly appreciate your support if you could buy me a coffee here

What’s going on there?

Was he asking to get paid the same for the PM position? I highly doubt they pay that much for PMs.

450k per year! I would do that job for 10 years or even 5 years and I would be set for life.

I really wish I could do this. This is privilege that H1Bs don't have. I hate my job despite it being well-paid ($900k/yr). I wish the system were more equal.

well it looks like Netflix should have fired you way sooner, they're getting soft. This is a very entitled blog post and disconnected from reality.

1) I can never understand why an engineer would want to be a PM. 2) This article doesn't reflect well on the author's character. I understand playing the game, but his interactions with his manager and the firing come off as pretty slimy.