[diggum]

I worked at one of the bigger companies (not a FAANG, but right near there) for almost 19 years before leaving last year. When I joined, it was as amazing a company and culture as I’d imagined, having used their products for years and being a big fan. It was very engineering-driven, with brilliant people being given a loose rein to explore and invent. Cool inventions would find their way into one of the products. Incredible ones would become new products themselves.

Several years later, after some meaty mergers and exec shake-ups, it changed into a product-driven culture. It was less about boldly exploring and more about shoring up the product line and making sure it was as all-around essential as could be.

Then, the MBAs swarmed in. Average tenure went from double digits to mid-singles. Another round of exec shakeups and the new order was clearly marketing: protect the franchise at all costs. VPs who had shone a little early on were now erratic and damaging - to products and morale - with little attention from corporate. It was not about creating amazing things. It became about circling the wagons and squeezing every fraction of a penny everywhere possible.

Working on a more niche line of products, it was an almost Brazil-like routine of pointless effort being praised, ignored, then quickly forgotten. When the trends presented became apparent, then it became a blame game of who was at fault, rolling downhill, of course.

It wasn’t until I was actually on my way out I could recognize how toxic it all was. Like a cancer that grows so slowly, you don’t really notice that small bump has become a bowling ball sized tumor on your neck.

Not sure what advice I have other than to trust your gut, and put aside any loyalty or connections you have to the things you helped create because they’re not yours and will be handed over to the next person without any fanfare. You are not the company you work for. Disconnect the feelings of identity and cut the umbilical as soon as you feel it attaching itself.