u/buttholewax wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I worked at CodeSmith and left when I saw the writing on the wall. I offered solutions and even talented people years ago that could step in and help. Instead you all have proven that maybe a degree does matter, maybe experience does matter. A bunch of idiots playing company.
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
To be contrarian, I think they - specifically Will - should get credit for doing one thing well, which is building an organic community through sheer will (no pun intended). I think they figured out how to take high potential people with low self-confidence/low confidence in their SWE abilities and increase their self-confidence (which is not an easy feat).
But everything else about the company I'm extremely critical on and have been puzzled for years why the heck they wouldn't take my feedback.
For years, defending, defending, defending. Even Alina when she joined posted something about how how I'm 'reddit competitor' going after them - trivializing my feedback and mischaracterizing it.
If they friggin listened to the friggin feedback they would have had a better shot andit's too late now because they have zero engineering talent (they might have potential, but no serious talent) and there's no way they can just rebuild or pivot right now successfully.
The way they milk the smallest thing for appearance might help their advertisements look good, but it doesn't change the underlying reality and the amount of talent they need is impossible to build.
You have AI engineers being paid $100M at Meta and these people aren't' volunteering their time to Codesmith because they love the community. Instead you get graduates 1-2 years out who give back the best they can, but it's just not enough.
I guess that's the lesson: listen to the critics, reflect on yourself - engage. Not just from me, but I've heard from many staff who feel exactly like yourself - that 'leaders' don't listen to feedback.