If capital is doing the work, why on earth are they getting paid?

They’ll use your product and your data to later sell a product back to you.

The team insisted this person had a big heart, a lot of passion, and they’d make a difference. We extended an offer and they accepted.

They ended up being unremarkable in every way. It was a drag on the company. We let them go a year later and set ourselves back on a topic our customers cared about.

Anyway, some people are great. Some are not. The idea that there’s this hidden special knowledge trapped inside teams, if only the executives would unleash it, is nonsense. I personally feel for anyone who loses their job, but companies will always pick the most productive and efficient path to a result.

Also so does the labor market. How many people, when given the option for more pay and benefits, decline out of loyalty to their employer? At least in tech, this is almost never the case.

I think we’re a bit lost. On one hand, certain people don’t trust these big employers and think they’re evil, and on the other hand really really want their job at said evil megacorp.

This experience brought a couple of firsts:

My first time using the internet on a screaming fast, dedicated T1 line. Unbelievable to see Netscape load a site so quickly.

And: my first time seeing an SGI Indy. A row of them, in fact. This set off a fascination with operating systems outside System 7. I was so excited to get my hands on MkLinux, BeOS and later Rhapsody/OS X developer preview.