Top all-time · #184
Michael Church
Personal blog · michaelochurch.wordpress.comcareereconomicsphilosophy
Michael Church writes Michael O. Church, a personal blog at michaelochurch.wordpress.com about career, economics and philosophy. Since 2011, 235 different Hacker News readers have linked it 566 times, most often “Why “Agile” and especially Scrum are terrible”. The last post was in 2023, but the archive is still widely read.
Rarely recommended · 3 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Michael Church's posts on programmer careers, skill rating scales, and tech employment and startup equity. Most links are cited as support for the commenter's own point rather than praised directly.
- Recommended for · 3 comments
- One commenter calls it an interesting perspective and one a good scale; another says nice and that they must check it out.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Rants, essays, and diatribes.
Most-linked posts?
- Why “Agile” and especially Scrum are terrible11 people · 11 mentions · first linked 2015-06-06
- Programmers don't need a union. We need a profession.10 people · 13 mentions · first linked 2012-11-19
- Don’t waste your time in crappy startup jobs9 people · 15 mentions · first linked 2012-07-09
- An Adventure in the Low Status of Software Engineers9 people · 12 mentions · first linked 2014-07-22
- Open-plan offices, panic attacks, all in the game9 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2013-06-17
- The trajectory of a software engineer… and where it all goes wrong.8 people · 24 mentions · first linked 2012-01-28
- MacLeod’s hierarchy, the Technocrat, and VC startups7 people · 13 mentions · first linked 2013-02-28
- "Don’t waste your time in crappy startup jobs."7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2012-07-10
- Tech companies: open allocation is your only real option.6 people · 11 mentions · first linked 2012-09-04
- /5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2013-04-17
What Hacker News says?
I think I'm going to have to go over michaelochurch's article again on unions and bloc voting power, which are very relevant to these ideas: http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/statistics-co...
Comment linking /2013/08/01/statistics-cooperation-politics-and-programming
on “Hyperloop”Submitted How rich kids already won the career game as a story · 301 points
HN discussionIt depends if lying as such would be "ethical", but of course that too is open to interpretation. Although this not exactly written for the audience of CEO's here's one viewpoint on this: http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/the-right-and...
Comment linking /2014/04/02/the-right-and-wrong-way-to-lie-in-business-part-1/
on “Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla CEO”Submitted How the Other Half Works: an Adventure in the Low Status of Software Engineers as a story · 205 points
HN discussionI don't have a strong opinion either way about Docker, but I understand the OP's gripes. Stack is the new term for "I have no idea what I'm actually using". This was great. It leaves me to wonder what "full-stack" means. For one thing, we have a culture of trust inversion. I wrote about it in a blog post about a month ago: https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/never-invent... . The "startup" brand (and it…
Comment linking /2015/03/25/never-invent-here-the-even-worse-sibling-of-not-invented-here/
on “The sad state of sysadmin in the age of containers”Submitted Employees at Google, Yahoo, and Amazon lose nothing if they unionize as a story · 180 points
HN discussionHowever, the problem it was attempting to solve (you got hired at one level, but performed at a lower level, because you managed to fool people in the interview) is a real one and there is no good solution for it. These levels are a convenient fiction. Performance is way too context-dependent to believe that there's some "platonic" level for each engineer. This ( http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/the-tr…
Comment linking /2012/01/26/the-trajectory-of-a-software-engineer-and-where-it-all-goes-wrong/
on “Why I Left Google”Submitted Don’t waste your time in crappy startup jobs as a story · 160 points
HN discussionI get a personal penalty, because someone with moderation powers (possibly PG, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt) is a wolfbagging pissant. Apparently being brutally honest about VC means that everything I say is of low value. For more, go here: http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/heres-why-pau...
Comment linking /2013/11/03/heres-why-paul-graham-probably-owes-me-an-apology/
on “How Hacker News ranking really works: scoring, controversy, and penalties”Submitted Why Most Software Engineers Lose Nothing by Unionizing as a story · 126 points
HN discussionIs this him? https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/
Comment linking /
on “Welcome Home, Garry Tan”Submitted Y Combinator and Paul Graham are bad for the world (Part 1) as a story · 91 points
HN discussionI think there's a knee-jerk reaction against the popularization of computer programming, and I think it's unfounded. We have a sense that, because some 80 (possibly 90) percent of programmers write shitty code, that encouraging more people to program is going to flood the field with mediocre programmers and that we're personally going to have to maintain their legacy monstrosities. Somehow, I'm guessing that I'm not…
Comment linking /2012/01/26/the-trajectory-of-a-software-engineer-and-where-it-all-goes-wrong/
on “Please don't learn to code”Submitted Y Combinator and Paul Graham are bad for the world (Part 1) as a story · 58 points
HN discussionI have been working 25 hour weeks for a little over a year now, but agonizing over finding a good number for years before that. I've found that for difficult problems to crack, I may only work 1 or 2 hours per day. But for easier stuff like initial setup, a little refactoring, translating wireframes to layouts, etc, I can easily manage 6 or 7 hours per day. 8+ is too much, and working 3 or more days in a row at that…
Comment linking /2012/11/18/programmers-dont-need-a-union-we-need-a-profession/
on “Ask HN: 16-hour work week jobs?”Submitted "Fail fast" is no excuse for being a moron, flake or scumbag as a story · 57 points
HN discussionhttp://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/dont-waste-yo...
Comment linking /2012/07/08/dont-waste-your-time-in-crappy-startup-jobs/
on “Letter To A Young Programmer Considering A Startup”Submitted Why “Agile” and especially Scrum are terrible as a story · 55 points
HN discussionI really despise the way HN is moderated-- there are childish vendettas, there's filtering of inconvenient truths to the VCs and the startup world-- but I never thought PG was sexist or racist. In fact, I hate the fact that, despite being more progressive than most VCs (and willing to discuss these issues rather than equivocating) he's become a lightning rod. What The Information did to PG was almost criminal. The p…
Comment linking /2013/12/14/vc-istan-6-the-isms-of-venture-funded-technology/
on “Female Founders”Submitted An Adventure in the Low Status of Software Engineers as a story · 47 points
HN discussionI wasn't at Google for very long, so my picture of its long-term trend has had to come from other people. I think Google made several mistakes. First, the language issue. C++ is undoubtedly the right language for some of the work, but their language policy leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of systems that should be in a language like Scala or Python are in languages like C++ or Java. The problem isn't "bad languages…
Comment linking /2012/04/13/java-shop-politics/
on “Valve Employee Handbook”Submitted Why “Agile” and Especially Scrum Are Terrible as a story · 39 points
HN discussionWell, I don't think hierarchy is prima facie evil. Conceptual hierarchy is how people think. The problem with human organizations (and "managers" and the bad rap they get) is that hierarchies are easy to corrupt by aiming at the top, and that they usually promote the wrong people-- social climbers instead of leaders. Managers get a bad rap, but good managers (possibly 10-20%) are worth their weight in gold. Bad mana…
Comment linking /2012/01/26/the-trajectory-of-a-software-engineer-and-where-it-all-goes-wrong/
on “Valve Employee Handbook”Submitted It might be time for software engineers to unionize as a story · 36 points
HN discussionYou have fought the hydra bravely, and I commend you for that. May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. What do you suppose we do? For the long-term, here's the financial structure for the solution that I see: http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/gervais-macle... . Essentially, I think VC-istan and MegaCorps are both dead ends when it comes to genuine technical excellence (whi…
Comment linking /2013/03/26/gervais-macleod-17-building-the-future-and-financing-lifestyle-businesses/
on “I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane”Submitted How the Other Half Works: an Adventure in the Low Status of Software Engineers as a story · 34 points
HN discussionIt's the worst week in 11.5 years to joke about what a part of me wishes he had done, for the good of society, so I won't. Seriously, though, we need to fucking take this industry back. (I am so fucking serious about this issue that I am willing to fucking split infinitives with "fucking".) These executive assholes are destroying trillions in value ( http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/programmer-au... )…
Comment linking /2012/11/25/programmer-autonomy-is-a-1-trillion-issue/
on “I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane”Submitted Here’s why Paul Graham (probably) owes me an apology. as a story · 32 points
HN discussionI don't think the guy in the story felt guilted into doing more work. He was trying to "climb the corporate ladder" by doing the only thing he knew how to do--working harder. He didn't understand the effort thermocline[1]. [1] http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/gervais-macle...
Comment linking /2013/02/28/gervais-macleod-5-interfaces-meritocracy-and-the-effort-thermocline/
on “I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane”Submitted Never Invent Here as a story · 30 points
HN discussion
