What does "playing politics" mean for software engineers?

pjmlp

Really this needs a guide? Anyone that has worked on big corp gets thrown into office politics since day one.

smokedetector1

During my first role at <big company>, I believe I accidentally made an enemy of a couple of directors due to ill-timed interpersonal awkwardness and unwillingness to suck up. What can I say - I thought tech was about meritocracy and cutting the BS. I was laid off in the next round despite doing good work. I learned my lesson and now I’m (I think) well-liked.

wolvesechoes

It is funny. Well-socialized person doesn't need this kind of guide, as unwritten rules of social play are learned in the process of growing-up. But it is clear for "nerds" and "hackers" social is impenetrable, thus preference for interacting with the machine and towards techno-solutionism. What, by the way, the main reason FOSS movement will never liberate anything.

p-as-software

This is a recipe to make the work place (the world) a worse place every single day. The powerful people get affirmation and validation for their evilness. But it is not all. The caving and ducking people will inevitably start to adopt that evilness. It is culture after all. It is obvious that treating people "under oneself" badly it the way to be and to become powerful. It is the dictatorship of the strongER. I guess this is why/How world leaders lick the A-Hole of DJT. I advocate standing your ground, discovering the micro Iran in yourself. And let us put the evil back in the box!

ramesh31

This is the best advice I've read on HN in a long time. Kudos to those with FU money who can ignore it, but this is how you stay employed and thrive in a corporate environment.