The Ungrateful Software Engineer

A tipsy Twitter software engineer spins in his Herman Miller chair as his two teammates nearby quibble over the company's poor quality free swag. They all hold beer from the floor's kitchenette and the beer is now warm.

I only have “out of body” experiences in states of inebriation (including a marijuana high): it was late on a Friday evening, as I listened to my teammates talk about Twitter swag, that I had a revelation: I have become an ungrateful software engineer.

After working at Twitter for over 3 years, I still don't have a good sense of the company's early days. However, it's evident to me that a company does not make revenue on Twitter's scale by accident. Some people at the company probably put their blood, sweat, and tears into making the company succeed early on.

But now it's 2018 and the company is 12 years old. Although many people at the company continue to give their all, it seems largely unnecessary for most of us, who are riding the company's coattails.

I, the software engineer, am one of the many replaceable screws in the middle-aged company's toolbox. I do good work, securing two pieces of wood together, but ultimately I wouldn't know how to fix a wobbly table, let alone make the table extendable.

Who am I to complain about swag or the number of conferences I can attend per year? I revel in the occasional look of admiration I get when I name drop my employer, but I didn't create the Twitter brand. How easy it is to criticize leadership when I have no clue how the company works!

My takeaway was not guilt, but rather renewed empathy for the people above me and before me. No idolization, but a humble recognition of valiant effort. A reminder that my knowledge and expertise is finite... very finite.

A more sober Twitter software engineer stares into the abyss of tech lore of battles hard fought by his ancestors as his two teammates nearby quibble over the cleverest programming interview question. They all hold kombucha and the kombucha is still cool.

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