I recently saw this Tweet by John Carmack about developing new operating systems. Carmack is of the opinion that it’s rarely justifiable and when it is, “[Y]ou practically need an isolated monastic order of computer engineers.”
I don’t have an opinion on the matter and I’m willing to concede that either side of the argument may be right so this post isn’t about that. Rather, what caught my attention was this remark by Carmack about his strenuous objections to a plan by Meta to build XROS, a new operating system:
They also got me reported to HR by the manager of the XROS effort for supposedly making his team members feel bad…
Did you get that? Some reputedly grown up engineering manager went crying to Mom because someone was saying mean things that made him and his team feel bad. If you’re a parent, you’ll be familiar with this behavior from your five year olds but you’re probably expecting better from your colleagues.
Sadly, this behavior is wider spread than you’d expect. I remember a friend of mine getting reported to HR because his keyboard was too loud. The complainers didn’t talk to him and try to resolve things. They just went running to Mom.
I don’t know about you but I find this sort of behavior revolting. Grow up for goodness sake. It’s been a long time since you were five.