https://www.c—roachlabs.com/blog/why-i-left-ibm/
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I first saw the headline and thought he said he left the c—roaches at IBM. Which summed up my feelings about the many layers of managers I left when I left there.
I used to be in a trio of "hackers" as a kid. We were the ones who were always learning new stuff about programming. We picked up before anyone else in our community at an early age, and we also explored Digit magazine CDs and discovered Ubuntu earlier. This was a time when most people didn't even have an internet connection (oddly me included) The two others who were with me were better at it than I was. One is at Broadcom, if you have a Samsung phone, your Bluetooth works because of her. Quite literally. She is the best at the drivers. The other is in some silo at IBM. He's been there forever, and he says he's found his peace there.
These two wrote their own music player in VB during high school, called it FireAMP. They used to do things that I couldn't understand. Right now, neither of them is even writing a blog. They're in their silos and I'm praying someone gets them out and helps them share their knowledge with the world.
They're the best programmers I know, and I've been at several conferences and spoken at a few. I wish they'd not sunk into their corporate holes so hard.
Seems like younger tech companies finally realized IBM was full of mid to high end talent that is severely underpaid. For instance Facebook and Amazon have poached a lot of the Linux kernel talent that used to work on POWER arch and performance.
Although the products tend to be interesting, seeing the sheer fame and popularity younger companies and contributors are enjoying must be a downer. It's bittersweet because a well run IBM would still deliver a lot more interesting projects than most startups that are hanging on for dear life until the big event like an IPO or acquisition.