I’d rather be known as a person who sticks to my principles and strives to do good work than someone who molds myself into whatever shape is necessary to succeed.
This isn’t to say that one should be blind to political realities, but to actively participate is to perpetuate the problems at best, and to destroy one’s reputation at worst.
These environments need people who challenge the bullshit. And in tech, we’re pretty privileged in that it’s generally going to be possible to find something else if necessary.
The parent had it right. Times change. Values change. Adapt or die. Don't end up like me.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t adapt, or make smart decisions given the circumstances you’re in.
But they’re a big difference between political awareness/navigation and becoming part of the problem.
> Integrity is not a virtue anybody respects these days.
No offense, but this seems like an incredibly jaded response. It sounds like you went through something that led you to believe that, but I know from direct experience that this isn’t true.
I do think it’s harder and harder to find, but the decline of integrity is hastened by people who choose to embrace the opposite.
I'm probably you in different skin, and goddamnit, get back on the horse. These people will drive everything into the ground if we let them win. People like us are needed. The inflexible ones to convenience. The crazies that set the bar high and keep it there. As soon as that bar slips, it slips hard. Eventually, we'll all end up in approximately the same locations, and shit'll be cash.
Loss of integrity is not an option. Let the schmucks blow themselves up. We're the ones people look up to, and know when we throw in the towel, there is damn well a good reason.
C'mon man. On your feet, we have Windmills to fuck up!
There is a line between challenging bullshit and baseless obstinacy. Every firm is replete with brilliant engineers with whom nobody wants to work, or nobody hears about, and thus who go nowhere, and whose ideas go nowhere. You shouldn’t do anything immoral. But disregarding how a firm communicates aims and values, the essence of politics, is debilitating at best.
Political awareness and the ability to navigate these environments is absolutely a necessary skill.
But there’s a big difference between awareness and smart communication vs. directly perpetuating the worst aspects of such environments.
Baseless obstinacy is a road to nowhere.
Of course, if doing so requires you to abandon some of your core values, then perhaps that organization or job isn't a good fit for you anyhow. :)
But I’ve worked with two very different types of folks:
1. Those who understand the game, hate it, but do their best to work within it.
2. Those who love, embrace, perpetuate the most problematic elements of said game.
To me, playing the game is the latter.
Operating within the game is the former.
There are some lines I’ll never cross. But that doesn’t mean I won’t work within a challenging environment when necessary.
It's a total dick move to rope them into your problem. They (presumably) have nothing to do with any of the politics or age discrimination that might be going on. They're just some young engineer that got something like their dream job and (presumably) want to learn from a principal engineer with decades of experience. Teach them what you know and don't make your problem their problem.
More importantly, it's just unwise. They received a very important piece of information and reacted instead of taking some time to think about the best course of action. Reacting in a way that causes the junior engineer to report it to HR sets off a chain of events that may not be in your interest.
Because drum roll.... HR is not your friend. Their role in this scenario is to protect the company. And the easiest way to protect the company is to root out the malcontent in a way that doesn't get them sued. Especially in this sort of scenario where someone with political capital in the organization is gunning for you. Reaching out to the CEO just sealed his fate.
It's not a matter of principles or doing good work. It's having a basic understanding of how an organization works and acting in a way that will maximize your and/or the companies well being.
Maybe he didn't kiss the right ring or he inadvertently made someone powerful but incompetent look bad in a meeting or something.
Your values may not align with another group values, or its state (good groups can rot). Always, always observe and adjust.